Who is Melinda Bula?

Melinda Bula lives in Bakersfield, California and has been sewing since she was a young girl. Melinda has been in love with fabric all of her life and knew when she was 16 years old that she was going to be an artist, which became her major in college. Soon she was off to Hawaii as a flight attendant, a real job that lasted 8 years, and met her husband during this time in the San Francisco Bay Area. She worked in the interior design field for 15 years as a fabric and wallpaper designer. She and her husband, Joe, started their own wallpaper and fabric design business soon after the birth of their son, Matthew, in 1988.

The company, Melinda Bula Designs, sold their hand silk-screened wallpapers and fabrics nationwide. Melinda’s wallpaper and fabric designs have been featured on the covers of Better Homes and Gardens magazine as well as Sunset design books in addition to other noted publications.

Since moving to the Sacramento area in 1996, she has been involved in quilting and wearable arts, which has always been her first love. Her sense of color and design has won her numerous awards for both quilts and wearable arts. Her wearable arts are dynamic and modern and she loves to experiment with new techniques.

Her Fabulous Fusible Flowers quilts are unique. With the wonderful look of a painting, she uses fabric and thread to create beautifully artistic quilts. She has been lecturing and teaching, both in the United States and internationally, which she really loves and has been featured on The Quilt Show. Creating and designing is an obsession with Melinda and whether it is fabric, wallpaper, or quilts, it is her passion.

She has written 2 books on her Fabulous Fusible Flowers technique, Cutting Garden Quilts and Candy Cane Lane, both published by the Martingale Company. Melinda has had the honor of exhibiting her quilts in some amazing venues like the Shelburne Museum in Vermont, Quilt Expo en Beaujolais in France, International Patchwork Festival in Sitges, Spain and at the Texas Quilt Museum.