My grandmother was an avid cross stitcher and quilter. She passed her love for these handmade hobbies along to my mother, and I learned to stitch and sew at a young age. I have fond memories of my grandmother carrying on with her stitching while sitting on the beach and my mom stitching away while I was practicing gymnastics and dance. They always made sure I filled my downtime with reading or making, which have proven to be wonderful skills for me to turn to throughout my life.

During the introduction of personal and home computers, I formed a deep love for the more visual arts. I developed skills for making videos and graphic animation when I was still quite young, which I carried on while obtaining a Bachelor's degree in Film and a Master's degree in Entertainment Business.

I honed my skills in graphic and web design as a way of presenting information, and ultimately ended up with a career designing user experiences for mobile and web applications, marketing campaigns, and brand strategy, primarily in the sports technology space where I worked for over a dozen years.

While I occasionally dabbled in sewing projects from time to time, I spent most of my hobby time enjoying paper-crafting, knitting, custom apparel design, and even experimenting with ink, paint, and resin casting.

In 2022 I found myself facing a tough, lengthy physical health battle, and I turned to making things as a form of therapy for my mind and body. It started with a sewing machine that I used to craft bags and accessories, especially for my pup pal. I tried to rekindle my knitting skills when I learned that crochet was far easier on my aching joints. I was hooked on sewing and fiber arts, and knew that this was a creative endeavor I wanted to pursue further.

When my grandmother passed in 2024, I was desperate to save and cherish the stitchy things that I knew were dear to her. While I was very sentimental about her sewing notions and old machines, I found a lot of her cross stitch supplies and patterns, and felt an attachment that I couldn't shake. I grew very emotional over her containers of patterns and WIPs, and I wanted to honor her memory by finishing what she started.

I hadn't cross stitched in years, but I had a piece of aida and some DMC thread stashed away in my drawer. I knew I was going to need a lot of practice before I thought about touching her incredible linens. I found videos on YouTube, discovered Flosstube, and didn't stop absorbing everything about the cross stitch world. I built up some confidence and set out, stitching small patterns, gradually moving to working evenweaves over two, and then onto higher count linens and overdyed thread.

That's when it hit me. Cross stitch design is really just pixel art, something I had a lot of experience with. The ideas flooded through my veins and I started mapping patterns. So many patterns.

And here we are. I wish there were more hours in the day, as patterns are accumulating significantly faster than I can stitch the samples. I'm on a journey of discovery and growth, building confidence in my choices, and I am excited to learn from you and with you. I hope you find something that tickles your stitching fancy and check back, because there's a long and exciting road ahead.