Meet our team

Ruth Burton, Sales Associate
Ruth has been sewing with Studio BERNINA since 1994. Our resident Canadian, for 28 years she worked in healthcare and retail around the globe. She loves to sew and after taking a hiatus, she returns to us with a new invigoration for sewing and seeing all the ways that BERNINA has advanced the sewing industry. She loves talking to customers, cracking jokes with her wonderful sense of humor, hearing all about your projects, and is SEW excited to talk to you about textiles (especially knits - her new favorite!). She enjoys living in Lafayette with her husband and black cat, Basha. In her free time, she loves to treat her husband to her experimental cooking.

Terry Birdsell, Certified Gem Affiliate, Quilting Teacher
Terry has been working in property management and retail management for a total of 35 years while raising eight children! She has lived her life with a can- do attitude. She jumps in feet first in all that she does, laughing all the way. She wanted to learn to quilt…and did just that. She also taught herself to use a longarm. Terry has been quilting for about seven years.

What I love most about Terry is that she teaches as she lives her life -- with kindness, grace, and humility. She knows there is a gem to be found in all of us. Terry’s advice: “Keep smiling and enjoy the journey.”

Monique Corle, Kids/Teens/Beginners Teacher & Associate
Monique started knitting, crocheting and hand sewing Barbie clothes at a young age. When she was 13, she was introduced to machine sewing and was hooked! It didn’t take long before she “needed” a serger and then an embroidery machine! During summers in college she worked at Busch Gardens in the costume shop. Later, she made all of her daughters elaborate Halloween costumes and formal dresses. When her daughter began to figure skate competitively, she learned how to make the dresses, source and apply stones one by one!

Originally from the east coast, Monique is a CU Buff and returned to Colorado a few years ago.  There she taught sewing to middle school students and would tie the lesson to community service projects. She is super creative and has so many fun projects for the kids.  She is  excited to teach our youngsters how to sew and give them a lifelong hobby.

Dawn has been quilting for about 15 years, gathering tips and tricks from dozens of teachers along the way. She's also fluent in knitting, crochet, cross stitch, needlepoint, beading, scrap-booking, cooking, gardening, and photography. An advocate for trying new things, she's always up for the next big adventure or the next attempt at something different. Dawn would like nothing more than to stay at home and craft all day long but she very much enjoys teaching too. Quilting should be enjoyable as well as productive and Dawn tries to make each class contain both. She lives in Longmont, where her life is further enhanced (complicated) by her husband, two dogs and a very large cat.