About Me

Phase 1:  Learning to Sew

When I was a wee lass growing up in rural Saskatchewan, all of my family participated in 4-H, in the beef club, showing 1 year old championship steers every June. Several factors combined to bring this beef club era for our family to an end, and I was old enough to sign up for 4-H just as the sewing club was forming. A very patient leader gave generously of her time and her spirit to teach a handful of us rowdy, or urchins my oldest sister might say, 10 year old girls to sew. Little did she know. . . Turns out I had some talent, and continued sewing in the 4-H club until I finished high school.

Phase 2:  Tailoring

After high school, I went off to tackle the big city of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and landed a piece-work job on the sewing line.  Somehow I knew I wasn't cut out for sewing the same seam day after day. So this lasted a year, until I decided to return to school, where I studied tailoring at NAIT in Edmonton, Alberta.  I did  a lot of tailoring in the years after that, alterations, making shirts and suits and the like, much of it for other people, and some for myself.

Phase 3a:  Management

Some years later, another move took me across the country to Ryerson in Toronto, Ontario, where I studied the industrial side of the apparel industry.  I found myself back on the factory floor, this time as an industrial engineer.  It was more to my liking.  I was good at designing work stations, improving production flow, and teaching sewers how to make more efficient use of their hands.  The bonus was that I could use the machines at work to do my serging, buttonholing, and pressing. I made all of my own tailored pants, skirts, blouses, and jackets that I wore to work. This phase coincided with Phase 3b.

Phase 3b:  Kites

It was about this time that I discovered kites.  Time spent at Toronto's air-conditioned Reference Library one hot summer brought me to KiteLines magazine, and making kites soon followed. See my Kite-Flying Gallery link here . I made and flew award-winning kites for over a decade, staying up late at night to sew like mad to finish kite orders. I made nearly a thousand kites during this time.

Phase 4:  Quilts

Ancestral Jewel
Pieced Wool Quilt
Flannel Backing, no batting

The sewing industry in Canada was in a state of transformation in the 90's, and sewing factories were on the endangered species list.  I began to look outside the garment industry for employment, and found work at a company that required wearing a uniform.  The days of wearing my tailored outfits had come to an end, and I took great pleasure in cutting all of them up into small squares to make a blanket.  My ancestors had done just that.  I remember as a kid sleeping under quilts made of old suits that were heavy and warm. Thus began my quilting phase, a time that I am greatly enjoying, and in which I will hopefully spend a great many productive years.