Read my story

I am a quilter for over 30 years.
In the late 80’s my husband and I moved to the Middle East (Oman) for his job, here I found my new hobby in Patchwork. Finding the right fabrics to use for traditional patchwork was hard so I contacted a shop in the US. From them I started ordering 1/4 yards for my own projects. As soon as others found out about my nice fabrics, they asked me to order for them too. Where it started off with ordering 1/4 yards of 1 fabric, I ended up ordering full bolts of fabrics for the quilting community in Oman. I started to teach patchwork and had my own little shop called ‘Patchwork Studio’ from home with fabrics and supplies. Our daughter was born in Oman and then we moved on to Aberdeen, Scotland.

In Scotland I thought there would be enough shops with patchwork fabrics & supplies, but not where we lived! My neighbour friends asked me if I could teach them how to quilt and I started a new small business called ‘Patch ‘n Pride’. It started off in the smallest room of our house but ended up in a large room of a new house with it’s own entrance and parking. I attended a lot of arts & craft shows in Scotland and started a mailorder business as well. Our son was born in Aberdeen, and then we moved as a family to Egypt.

Patch ‘n’ Pride in Aberdeen

In Egypt I did some quilting but living there took a lot of my energy. I found out about the beautiful art made by the tentmakers of Egypt. I tried to sell their art in the Netherlands but ended up with suitcases full of handmade cushion covers and wall hangings that were difficult to sell.

In 2000 we moved back to the Netherlands. I started a fabric shop in our village called ‘Stoffen Jans’. The building next door was empty and I was asked if I wanted to hire that as shop. I decided to start a children’s wear shop. This shop grew bigger and bigger with an online shop as well as a second branch in another village.
I sold my fabric shop and continued my children’s wear business for several years. It was hard work with many employees who all wanted something different.

And then came the moment that I decided to terminate my shops and pick up my hobby again…
We went on holiday to the US and I bought many quilting magazines. Back home I started browsing the web for the online stores I found in the magazines. I also tried to find a nice quilting website in the Netherlands but I couldn’t find any that fitted my needs. As I still had my website from my children’s wear store, I decided to rebuild that webshop into a webshop with quilting fabrics and supplies. My Quiltshop-online was born.

Quiltshop-online working from home

I had this idea not to grow too big and keep it all in my house. I managed to do that for a few years and then I had stuff all piled up everywhere in the house.
I needed to down size or to find a bigger space for all my merchandise. I decided to go for that bigger space and moved out of my home to an old post office in our village. I had opening hours for clients to visit and a workshop space to organise workshops. I bought a longarm quilting machine and hired someone to run my quiltservice. Soon this space was too small and we bought an old supermarket building with more than enough space to have my business. Almost five years I had the most wonderful time with my still growing business. Unfortunately due to physical health problems I had to make the hardest decision in my life to terminate my business.

Quiltshop-online

But where doors close, others will open..
We bought a house in Spain where we live as well as in the Netherlands. The sun and the warmth give me strength. I kept in contact with a wholesale dealer who sells the most beautiful fabrics. She asked me to make patterns for her company. I decided to give it a go and made a few colorful patterns that will soon be available for sale.
Making quiltpatterns makes me happy and it feels so good to be creative again. I made a quilt that hung at Sitges in Spain and at the Houston Quiltfestival 2023.

As a quilt designer I spoke to several people working in the design industry. This started to appeal to me more and more. Having a career as a surface pattern designer as well as a quilt pattern designer will be my most perfect match!
I have started my adventure to become a surface pattern designer recently. I made a few designs so far and have lots of ideas to make many more!

Since May 2024 my biggest dream came true. I became a member of the Hoffman California Fabrics team as a licensed designer. My first collection ‘Whimsical Flower Garden’ will be available in February 2025. Together with the fabric collection I have designed quilts to be made in different techniques. The fabrics and patterns are shown on this website.