Parts Of My Creative Journey
I have always been creative. As far back as I can remember .
Me circa 1970ish
I colored and drew all the time. I loved school supplies and art supplies and received many throughout my growing up.
When I was 8-10 years old I joined a Brownie troop. I learned to sew on a sewing machine and made my first pieces of clothing. A peach polyester pair of pants and a matching shirt. I don’t think I ever wore them! But I learned a lot about garment sewing.
that’s me on the right in the brownie suit 8-10 years old
When I was in 8th grade Home Ec. I made my first quilt. A baby quilt. My mom gave me blocks she had embroidered on and I paired them with gingham in pastel colors. We were taught to sew the quilt top/batting and backs right sides together and turn the quilt right side out. There was no binding. Even then my brain was always coming up with new ideas and different ways to do things. So I added some eyelet ruffle to the seam. I still have the quilt and we used it with each of our boys.
Our son Brennon on the quilt in 1990
I took Home Ec. every year from 7th grade on. I loved baking, cooking and sewing.
In high school I helped often with programs and invites and handouts. And took art classes whenever I could.
Before we could design digitally! We copied things from clip art books, glued them to another page and then copied that page. And the copiers weren’t all that great either! LOL
high school graducation 1984
Later in life I became good friends with Becky (she was the mom of friends I grew up with). She was a master quilter (and super creative in all things). She helped me with Eleanor Burns’ star log cabin quilt pattern. You can still find her book HERE. It’s one of my most favorite quilts. I even quilted it by hand on a large embroidery hoop on my lap. I consider it my first “real” quilt.
Eleanor Burns Star in a Log Cabin Quilt Pattern from her Star Log Cabin Quilt Book
I made a few more quilts after that - mostly baby quilts -
baby quilt - hand quilted - 1990’s
In the 90’s I got a job at our local Craft Warehouse store. I was what they called a Home Crafter. The store would assign me a certain craft to make using their supplies. The end result would be something to display to help sell certain product.
I loved that job. I would take my youngest son Andy and plop him in the cart and grab the shopping list they gave me. I’d fill up my cart, then I’d go home and make a dozen craft projects and get them ready for display. Then I’d take the projects into the store, drop them off and load up my cart with another project. It was the perfect job for me! I got to work from home, and Andy spent many hours sitting next to or across from me creating with all my scraps. (Andy’s a material artist for a computer gaming company now)
the scrapbooking department in Craft Warehouse 2002/2003
I got heavy into scrapbooking and became the department head for the scrapbooking department at the same craft store. Then I became a team member for the corporate buying team for scrapbooking. I had many other jobs at that store as well, including the floral department.
For a short time I painted old wood berry baskets and sold them at a local antique store.
“belly buster” for picking berries I found on a neighboring farm’s burn pile
I painted pine wood shapes in the wildly popular days of making signs that said things like “stocking feet only”, with bailing wire for a hanger and ripped fabric ribbons and raffia tied to them. Do you remember those?
I did paper piecing for scrapbooking and sold them on ebay for a while.
paper piecing for scrapbooking - sold on ebay - late 1990’s
I dreamt of being published and realized that dream - eventually being published in crafting, scrapbooking and quilting magazines.
featured in a Moda Bake Shop ad - 4th down on the far right - pin wheels and prairie points baby quilt tutorial
In the early 2000’s I became super hooked on Quilting. Our neighbor Vina who I met when we moved into our current home in 2002 is a quilter, and she reignited my love of quilting.
I started blogging more about my quilting after I started Pleasant Home. Soon I was writing patterns and coming up with sewing and quilting notions.
one of my early patterns
In the mid 2000’s a crazy idea I had to paint stainless steel magnetic parts bowls went viral. You can read more about my pin bowl story HERE.
one of the very first pin bowls I painted 2009
Pin bowls led to a partnership with Riley Blake Designs, and I was able to see my creations manufactured and sold all over the world. I did a fabric line too.
May Belle fabric line 2018 with Riley Blake Designs
When my contract with Riley Blake expired in 2019, I chose not to renew. And as I’ve mentioned before; we found ourselves in the midst of a pandemic along with some other life events that caused me to take a fairly long pause from Pleasant Home. During that time I chose to pursue another life long dream of mine, but two years into it… I realized I really missed creating and sharing my creations. Presently I am thoroughly enjoying creating again, and I have new ideas, plans and goals. I can’t wait to share them with you!
