Growing up in a crafty family made me a crafter practically from day one. I fell into professional designing when I was let go from my day job during maternity leave and auditioned to be a model stitcher for a startup needlework magazine. I brought some of my original designs with me as samples, and the next thing I knew I was hired as a staff designer! That was more than 25 years ago, and I still freelance for several publications. But I'm also a passionate geek, and many of the designs I wanted to do were not salable to general publications because fandom is such a niche market. Thus Saving Graces was born, as a place I could celebrate my fandoms with like-minded geeky stitchers.

During my years as a designer, I have learned a lot about making clear, easy-to-follow charts. Each chart is hand-crafted square by square on professional charting software. I hand select the symbols to make them easy to read without confusion. Mindful that many stitchers are on a budget, I try to keep the number of colors low, and size my pieces to fit pre-cut fabric and ready-made commercial frames. And I try to design for all skill levels, so that even beginning stitchers can create a piece they can be proud to display or give as a gift.

That's what Saving Graces is all about: Inexpensive but beautiful pieces anyone can stitch. My logo says it all: when we work together, beautiful things happen!