I was born in Durban, South Africa. I fell in love with stitches when I learned embroidery as a child. I’ve been working with cloth since 1971, starting out with English paper pieced patchwork medallion quilts. I’m intrigued by the art of the stitch, its story-telling magic and its power to heal women’s lives. I’ve witnessed this as a quilting teacher for 25 years, as a speaker, and working with women’s sewing groups in Labrador in the late 1970's and more recenlty in South Africa. You can see some of my work at www.valeriehearder.com

I’d be delighted if you followed my blog. Also, check out my quilting books and quilting supplies. I offer a small curated collection of fine South African crafts and collectibles that I bring back from my tours - see them at the links on this site. Contact me if you want to order something special from South Africa, I’ll try to facilitate requests, or commissions.

A little about African Threads:

I started African Threads in 2006 as a fair-trade, socially conscious import business and ran it for 7 years until 2014. I was inspired to start African Threads after hearing Stephen Lewis talk about the plight of Grandmothers in Africa. I felt the best way I could to help was to start importing and marketing textiles to generate economic flow to women artisans in South Africa. For 7 years I built strong relationships with 9 women’s craft and sewing collectives in South Africa. I visited them and marketed their glorious textile hangings, bead jewellery and woven baskets. During that time I donated a portion of the profits form sales to the Stephen Lewis Foundation and managed to donate close to $13,000. We visit some of the same groups on my Arts & Culture Tours to South Africa. The  embroidery collectives are all still going strong and have built diverse markets for their work.

A hand carved wooden block from Namibia inspired the logo on my masthead. Check out the stunning blocks by the Kavango Carvers Oshiwa group in Namibia. Use them for block printing on fabric and paper.