I started designing quilt patterns for myself years ago, and started publishing under Quilt Poetry in 2004.  Once in the world of retail management, I was enticed to take a different path and start Quilt Poetry.  What a joy it's been!  There are more twists and turns, to be sure, but it's exhilerating.

You might know exactly what I mean.  Sometimes I wonder why I didn't start Quilt Poetry sooner.  Maybe the Muses were calling, but my attention had to be  gotten through wrenching pressure, unsurety, sleepless nights, clinging to the tried and true (that seemed to always work before!), and spiritual turbulence.  Then there are decisions that seem impossible to make!  The "Clear Path" is often anything but clear before it's embarked upon.

But I don't want to dwell on the storm that drove me on, but rather the good that drew me forward.  After all, when Pandora opened the box and inadvertently released strife and pain, at the bottom of the box she found -- Hope.

Quilt Poetry is an exploration of the powerful ebb and flow within our lives, and also of the calm center and place of rest and rejuvenation.  Quilting is a craft we put our hands to, and I hope, a place to help ignite joy in our hearts. To me, quilts are poetry in fabric, the remembrance of those who sewed and stitched in past times, our heritage and loving warmth sent to those around us and those who are yet to be.  Quilts are the visual expression of so much that lives inside of we who quilt. 

Our quilted poems can be complex, simple, serious, or humorous.  We stitch a bit of ourselves into every quilt we make.  We're creating beauty with fabric and thread, one of the simple joys of life!

I learned to love what my hands could create when I was a child.  My mother, a talented seamstress, taught me sewing and needlework.  My father taught me to draw in pencil and ink.  I feel fortunate to have these gifts from my parents, and though my dad has passed away I still feel close to him any time I pick up a pencil. 

My husband, Bill, and I work together to keep Quilt Poetry running.  And there's the help and assistance from our son, Joe.  We're still learning a lot, struggling with it some, and enjoying (nearly) every minute of it.

We both enjoy talking about almost everything under the sun.  Life is too short to not tackle "the big" topics like art, philosophy, and religion, though we're by no means expert in any of those topics.  We've found you don't have to be an expert to enjoy them!  We both probably watch too much television, and are hooked on Lost, Smallville, The Office, and a Canadian program we get on DVD from my sister-in-law, Corner Gas, about the goings on in the tiny Saskatchewan town of Dog River.   And I enjoy the quilting programs, of course!