Mary Fons is a writer, editor, and livestreamer who specializes in quilt history and the life of quilts in popular culture. Her livestream broadcast, Quilt Nerd, airs weekly on Twitch.

 

Since 2016, Mary has worked in various capacities at Quiltfolk, serving as editor of Quiltfolk magazine (2017-2021), and currently as a contributing writer and workshop instructor. In 2023, she became the creative director behind the Quiltfolk Foundry project. Prior to that, Mary was editor and creative director of Quilty magazine, and developed, produced, and hosted more than 250 episodes of Quilty (2010-2015), a how-to show for beginner quilters on YouTube with combined views in the millions. On television, Mary hosted or co-hosted Fons & Porter’s Love of Quilting (PBS) alongside her mother, Marianne Fons, from 2010-2016. Mary is the author of Make & Love Quilts: Scrap Quilts for the 21st Century (C&T/StashBooks, 2014) and Dear Quilty (F&W Media, 2015), and penned a bi-monthly column for Quilts, Inc., from 2012-2015. Her articles on quilt history and culture have appeared in Quiltfolk, Blanket Statements, Curated Quilts, Modern Patchwork, and Love of Quilting, among others.

 

Mary has worked as a quilt consultant on various media projects, including Sesame Workshop® (2022-2023). She serves on the board of the International Quilt Museum at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln (2017-2023) and the American Quilt Study Group (2023-present) and lectures across the country at universities and major quilt events such as QuiltCon. She holds a BA in Theater from the University of Iowa and an MFA in Writing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

 

Mary was born in a small town in Iowa but she lives in Chicago (and sometimes in London), with her husband, Eric.