New quilt and fiber arts museum director weaves southeastern ties into work here

The new director of Pacific Northwest Quilt Museum and Fiber Arts Museum has an academic and professional history rooted in the southeast but is fast becoming a key part of the fabric of La Conner.

It helps that she has a familiar sounding name.

Carla Funk, for nearly a decade the director of university museums at Florida Institute of Technology and then a curator in North Carolina, is succeeding Amy Green, who retired in July.

Funk is not knowingly related to Skagit County's pioneer Funk family – though she is searching for possible connections on a genealogical website. She terms "serendipit...