“My happy place has always been a pile of fabrics and a sewing machine.”

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My passion for making quilts comes from a life-long obsession with sewing things together. My mom was an expert seamstress and at an early age I gathered snippets of her remnants to craft doll clothes, mixed media book report covers and “fashionable” accessories. Creating something new, that had never existed before, has always made my heart sing.

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Growing up outside of Pittsburgh, PA, I majored in Textiles and Design at Carnegie-Mellon University. After graduating I moved to the NYC area, where I worked for several companies in the sewing and fashion industry including Vogue and Butterick Patterns. My love of textiles led me to complete an apprenticeship in a handweaving studio practice. I founded Elaine Schmidt Designs, a product development and marketing consulting firm that focused on bringing products to market, experimenting with new uses for existing materials, and serving as company spokesperson on TV and at trade shows. My designs were featured in numerous publications, and I authored three books, including “The Complete Guide to Ribbon Crafts”.

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Throughout those years, I sewed and gathered an impressive stash of fabrics and threads. After my husband and I and our dog Rudy relocated to the Annapolis, MD area to be close to our growing family, it was time to open a studio practice and focus on quilting.

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