I fell in love with patchwork and quilting in 2017. I first tried a traditional pattern but didn’t really enjoy it, so I then tried English paper piecing (EPP) and I was off! I loved the potential of it all, and how the sewing part especially was completely mindless….I had tried crochet and cross stitch before and while I enjoyed them, I didn’t enjoy the constant keeping track and counting of every stitch, it took up too much brain space that was mainly concentrating on small children!
With EPP I discovered a love for designing, I started making little EPP creatures I called ‘Quiltlets’, they were small wall hangings finished as quilts but in the shape of animals. A quick rebrand from Kim’s Keepsake Teddies to Griffin and the Bear Studio (named for my boys) and a newly opened Etsy shop and my new career path was ahead of me. The sloth was my most popular creature and I sold several of them. I started trying to write the pattern but couldn’t figure out the best way to do it. Instead I started to play with Foundation Paper Piecing (FPP). This took some learning but I fell in love with it the same way I did EPP. I had designs in my mind and started with paper and pen, then tried Inkscape and other free programs to try and draw what I wanted before giving in and investing in Electric Quilt 8. That was a big learning curve and every time I push it to its limits with the complexity and size of my designs, but they were finally getting out of my brain and the Curious Owl was born.
My first pattern had to be a Barn owl. My favourite birds to fly, I had one called Quiver who used to hover over my head until I stuck my fist out and then he’d dive bomb me like a peregrine! Instagram loved the Curious Owl. This was 3.5 years ago when Instagram actually helped small businesses and my first release was a huge success, and it is still my bestseller to date. Since then I have released 32 other animal portraits and am releasing more every month.
In 2020 in the midst of lockdown I entered my first quilt into the Festival of Quilts competition, in the Novice category. It was online that year and my quilt was shortlisted (see the Gallery page) it didn’t win but got it’s picture in the printed magazine and that gave me the bug for competing! I entered at least one quilt in the Festival in both 2022 and 2023, and this year’s entry is currently lying flat out on my studio floor (under a sheet to keep in tidy and non-faded!) waiting to be finished and entered. I have entered 2023’s Big Fish, Little Fish into two other big UK shows this year…..I am waiting for it’s return from Malvern now. I am so interested in the feedback it is getting from all the different judges and find that side of it fascinating. So much so that at this year’s festival I am doing a workshop in judging.
So with this new website and my patterns going from strength to strength I hope to be in this industry for a long time to come yet!
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