About me and my quilts

First and foremost, I'm a wife and mom. I have been married for 9 years, and we have 2 boys, ages 7 and almost 3.

I am also currently working full time as an electrical engineer. Not the kind that designs cars or electronic gadgets, I work with buildings. My background is in loss prevention systems like fire alarm and security. But I lost my job back in 2009, and after almost 2 years of being unemployed, I'm now working in lighting and power. It's a contract position though, and in this economy I'm not holding my breath that I'll get hired when my contract is up. I would certainly be happy to accept the position!

I have been quilting since January of 2007, when I jumped in with both feet and took part in 2 mystery quilts. Before that, I'd never found a craft I'd been able to stick with. Crocheting, scrapbooking, cross stitch...none of them gave me the satisfaction that quilting has. I think it's because with quilting, it doesn't take that long to make a block, and for a newbie, that's a great motivator!

Since then, I've done a few more mystery quilts and a few standard pattern quilts. Back in October of 2009, I was playing with my youngest son and we were singing the 5 Little Monkeys song. I'd always called him my little monkey, so I started looking for a quilt inspired by the song. But there wasn't one! I couldn't believe nobody had ever made one. So I decided to take it upon myself to design it. I use AutoCAD for so many things, why not for quilting? So my 5 little monkeys were born.

But it's hard to make an applique quilt pattern with no direction for the top! So I designed a fat quarter quilt top to go with it. I decided to use pretty large pieces so if someone with a large collection of monkey fabrics (such as myself) wanted to showcase those fabrics, the pattern would allow for that.

I worked on the pattern off and on (mostly off) for over a year, until I decided to try to wrap it up and publish it. In February, 2011, the first edition of Monkeying Around was sent to CreateSpace.com to be printed. I'm still waiting for my proof copy, and as soon as I get it and approve it, it will be available for sale!

I'm also working on a second quilt pattern, which will showcase owls. It's still in the design stages though, so it won't be ready for a little bit. Once my proof comes in for the monkey pattern and I can see how it turned out, I'll be able to better move forward on the owl pattern. I'm expecting the proof this week!