MEET THE DESIGNER

Hi and thanks for dropping by to meet me!  Allow me to tell you a little bit about myself and what motivated me to start Glendon Place back in August of 2005.

As a young girl growing up in the Cleveland, Ohio area, art and sewing were my favorite pastimes.  And like so many of you, I was fortunate to have a grandmother who was more than proficient in a number of needleart specialities.  Summer vacations were spent at her home learning how to sew, embroider, crochet and whatever else she would teach me. I just couldn’t get enough and looked forward to each summer like a child looks forward to Christmas.  It was simply amazing how the creativity just flowed naturally from her. I’d like to think that it was either good genes or osmosis that allowed me to be blessed with “some” of her talent.

As I got older and finally left the nest, I focused my attention on a career in the financial services industry.  But like they say, “the acorn never falls far from the tree”!  Even though I spent 25 years in banking, most of that time was spent in the area of marketing and advertising. But in all that time, I never gave up my passion for stitching.  In fact, it was probably one of the few things that helped me to maintain balance and sanity in my life! One day at work (over 40 years ago) one of my co-workers was cross-stitching during her lunch break.  Of course at the time, I did not know exactly what it was but it grabbed my attention immediately.  From that point forward, cross-stitch became my one true needleart passion and I just couldn’t get enough!

I would buy charts of some of the most challenging projects I could find and always end up changing something … the fabric color, the threads, even adding my own borders or moving components of the design around.  That’s what is so great about cross-stitch; every piece is unique to the person who created it. Well, one thing led to another and before you know it I wanted to take the next big step and create my own designs.  It was like a woman gone mad!  Anyways, to make a long story short, many changes started to occur in the financial services industry and I just woke up one morning (in 2005), and decided I no longer wanted to do what I was doing.  It just wasn’t fun anymore.

So I pulled myself up by the bra straps and decided to take a huge leap of faith.  Rather than just going out to find “another job”, I decided to capitalize on the skills I had learned in marketing and advertising and culiminate that with my needlework creativity to pursue the one thing that had always made me happy, the one thing that had always been by my side no matter what, the one thing that I know that I would never tire of … CROSS-STITCH! Wow, it’s been nearly 20 years since I made the decision to start my own design business and I’ve never regretted it not one second!  Sure, there have been some rough spots along the way, but to tell you the truth I wish I would have done it 30 years ago! 

My sincere thanks goes out to the independent needlework shops and everyone in the industry who have supported me by either selling my designs in their shop, in their catalog, or on their website. You have all been wonderful and I will be forever grateful.To all the stitchers in the world who have purchased or may purchase a Glendon Place design — Bless You from the bottom of my heart!  It is you that allows me to continue doing what I love so dearly.

Please know that my door is always open and I welcome hearing your feedback, comments and suggestions. Just click on the Contact link in the upper right-hand corner of any page and let me hear from you! Some of my best design ideas come from my customers!

Hugs and stitches,