About

Welcome!! I am so glad you found your way to my little slice of the internet. I'm Meghan!

A Little Background about Me

I was born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona and Houston, Texas before moving to Corvallis, Oregon right before high school started. I have always loved color, interior design, decorating, arts and crafts, baking and organizing. I guess the creative spirit has always been a part of me. I also did competitive gymnastics and cheerleading from 3-17 so I've enjoyed being a part of a group or team.

In college I studied Merchandising Management with an emphasis in Interiors and a minor in Business. Ever since watching A Miracle on 34th Street (the 90s version) I have been obsessed with how huge department stores can turn windows and stores into magical little worlds. From that, I really decided I wanted to do something along those lines - visual merchandising. I loved the idea of curating, designing, and decorating for catalog shoots. Turning an ordinary room into a place of wonder, relaxation, joy, and art. Well, I graduated during the latest recession and got married 6 weeks after graduating. It was a bit more about finding a job that provided income and benefits than finding something that aligned with my career goals, as those opportunities were so sparse anyway. 

After five years of marriage, lots of different jobs, a move to California and back to Oregon, I found a part time job at Crate + Barrel in the merchandising team. It was exactly what I needed to just dip my feet into the Interiors world again and see what I wanted to do moving forward. And what would you know, I got pregnant one month after starting at C+B! I was able to work throughout most of my pregnancy but by the end, I was just large, couldn't carry much product, go on ladders, move shelving/sets around so I mostly just did price changes and sat on my booty. 

In June of 2014, I gave birth to my son, Everett. I didn't have that magical connection to him in the hospital that some moms talk about. I remember right when the nurse laid him on my chest for the first time, I just thought and said out loud "That's a baby." I think I was just tired and dumbfounded that I had actually made a baby! But after a couple days at the hospital, we went home. And the first night I laid on the couch with him on my chest, my husband made us dinner and with my dog at my feet - that is when I fell in love. We were home. We were a family.

Around 4 months into being a first time mother, I was exhausted, felt like I had nothing to show at the end of the day and was just on a hamster wheel. This is when my postpartum depression set in. I really couldn't find joy in my days. I hated showering and getting ready - what was the point? All I did all day was clean a baby bum, cook, laundry, clean, rinse and repeat 500x. By the end of the day the house looked the same as when my husband left that morning. There wasn't anything tangible to show for what I had done all day. I felt so unproductive and so unmotivated by this new life. I felt like I was failing and I couldn't understand my son's constant changes. The second you think you know your baby, they grow and change and you are constantly learning. Let me tell you, I don't enjoy learning something new. I like to know what I am doing. I like to feel productive and successful. And soon enough, some of my close friends started noticing how unhappy I was. Mind you, not a single one of my friends who had had babies had experienced postpartum depression. So the only thing they could see was that experience was very different from their own. It felt incredibly isolating but they were so supportive in encouraging me to go talk to a doctor and seek out some help. 

I was resistant at first because I felt like I was just doing something wrong. Something was wrong with me but I could fix it! I could love my baby better, I could clean the house better, I could have a better routine. I could be better. Then, one day, after a terrible night of sleep my husband left for work. I was laying in bed and about 30 minutes after he left, I just completely lost it. I couldn't stop crying, I couldn't get out of bed, I couldn't do anything. It felt like I was paralyzed and I was gasping for air. I called my husband and incoherently sobbed on the phone saying "I can't do this, I can't do this, I can't get out of bed, come home, come home, come home." He came flying home and it was after that day that I went and got help. I was diagnosed with postpartum depression and given tasks to do each day/week. I made sure to leave the apartment, even just to go grab the mail each day. That slowly turned into a walk around the complex, then a walk around the block, then the neighborhood and then miles a day. I went back to work very part time to get out of the house and remember I am Meghan first. I am still an individual human that is more than all of her roles and responsibilities. I made sure to make 1-2 social engagements a week so I would be with friends and community. And lastly, I tried to find something for me to do as a hobby, for fun. To give me some joy and creativity back into my daily routine. Guess what I found?

Quilting.

One of my best friends, Amber, had just made her first quilt and she recommended I try it. I loved fabric, I had a basic sewing machine, why not give it a try? So when my son was 7 months old, I went to Joann and bought fabric to make my first quilt. I used this free Modern Ombre Triangle tutorial from See Kate Sew. It took me two months to complete it from start to finish. But holy smokes, it felt SO good. I felt like I accomplished something, I had something tangible to show at the end of the day for all of my time and effort. There was no better feeling than that for me at the time. Here it is with Everett almost 9 months old.

And here are a couple photos of Everett with his first quilt and my first quilt. He wanted to bring it with him to one of my photoshoots in 2018 "to be like mommy" and I will cherish these forever.

Quilting gave me my spirit back. Learning something new didn't feel like such a burden to me this time. It felt exciting and invigorating. I wanted to keep learning. I wanted to play with color and fabric. Once I started, I couldn't stop. I spent the next year making custom baby quilts for family and friends. By the end of that year though, I was burnt out on making custom quilts for others. I wanted to make quilts according to my design aesthetic and color theory. I just wasn't sure how to do that and still pay for this hobby. 

This is when the light bulb went on! I could try designing my own quilt patterns. By the end of 2016 I decided I would stop making custom quilts for others. I needed a break and I wanted to make just for fun. So that is what I did, I started making quilts based on basic quilt blocks, HST, Sawtooth Stars, etc. And eventually I designed my first two patterns on graph paper. I just needed to figure out how to make them in a digital format so I could try and sell them. I was so lucky to have found and befriended Emily Dennis of QuiltyLove during this time in my life. I started testing her quilt patterns for her and we just hit it off. She offered to FaceTime with me to show me the basics of Adobe Illustrator so I could make my graphic pattern sketches and math into a real document. And that is how it all began.

I released my first quilt pattern in February 2017 and as of today I have designed and released over 30 quilt patterns.

Along the way, I have made some amazing connections with other industry quilt pattern designers, fabric manufacturers and fabric designers. I have found the most supportive community here all while sharing my story into motherhood, postpartum depression, starting and growing a small business, and just living life. 

I count myself so lucky and grateful to have found this hobby, stoked it into a passion and now built it into a career. In 2019 I was able to hire my part time assistant Alysson and she has been with me ever since. She helps with anything I need really - cutting, ironing, organizing my fabric/notions, sewing, fulfilling orders, taking care of purchase orders. But her greatest task and gift is helping me be me in this business. She listens to me spew all my thoughts, ideas, interests, worries, annoyances, passions, and dreams and then helps me narrow down where to focus my energy. She essentially takes my crazy energy and makes it understandable. She is the most organized and helpful note taker. The other week I couldn't find some tape and guess what, she had it organized in a container labeled "tape". Who would have guessed?! ;)

And as of July 2021, my husband left his full time career to take some time off and help support me in my business! So we have lots of new changes happening right now and new roles to define but it is incredibly nice to have him around every day. He is skilled with project management, all technical processes, video and photography, computer IT support. He is helping with a lot of backend things I have put off for years. I can't wait to see what the next year brings us!

Here is a photo of the team now!

A little top 10 random things!

1. Growing up I wanted to be an archeologist. I loved learning about ancient cultures and wanted to go discover old artifacts.

2. I love cooking and baking in the fall and hate doing it in the summer.

3. My favorite show to "watch" while working is Gilmore Girls.

4. I only need to hear a song 1-2 times and I have it memorized.

5. I've always thought of myself as an extrovert but as I get more settled into this creative field, I find myself becoming more and more of an introvert.

6. If I am super tired, I get into laughing fits where my face turns red and I can't stop laughing for like LONG amounts of time. "Giggle fits"

7. I love to prove people wrong. When someone says I can't do something, it fires me up to prove that I can.

8. I started therapy in 2021 and it's the best thing I have ever done for myself even though it is incredibly draining.

9. I am a morning person only. Afternoons I crash and evenings I love to sleep.

10. I am fiercely protective and loyal. 

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