If you had asked me as a child, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I would have said Art Teacher or Math Teacher. I loved school: worksheets, black boards, art supplies, books, the external structure, and the instant feedback. I loved art: colors, designs, drawing, doodling, and making things. I loved math: patterns and formulas, predictable relationships, shapes, numbers, tricks and puzzles.
As a young adult, on the quest for a “real” career, I found myself in the human services and health care fields. My work became all about people: caring for them and about them, validating them, and assisting them to survive and thrive. Sometimes a little math or art snuck in, but mostly those became hobbies. In 1999, I took up quilting as a hobby.
When I found myself unemployed in 2002, I started to do what I loved most. I spent part of each day designing quilt patterns. The graph paper and colored pencils came out, and I would lose myself in the patterns and colors for hours. After another health care job, I took the opportunity to work in a quilt shop in 2004. I immediately started teaching classes and block of the month. We designed almost all of our own quilts and blocks for those classes. That lasted five years, until the shop closed its doors.
Now quilting is my life. I have never looked back. I love what I do. I love designing quilt patterns, inventing quilting tools, teaching quilting classes, going to quilt shows, and making quilts (when I have time). I love quilters, too.
I still love art and math. I get a thrill out of discovering how art, math, music, science, and nature all interrelate and contain such beauty! I try to draw on that awareness in my quilt designs. I focus on designing machine-pieced quilts that look complex but are within the abilities of the average quilter.
Let’s face it: the quilting world would not be what it is today without beautiful fabrics, and vice versa. We are so lucky to live at a time when we can surround ourselves with such beautiful materials. I can’t wait to be a part of the process of discovering new talent in fabric design.
Check out my website here.
