My husband and I were born and raised in South Africa and immigrated to America in 1999. I am happy to share that I became an American Citizen in March of 2013. We have a son that lives here in Minot with his wife and 2 boys. Our daughter is also married and lives in Belfield with her husband and baby boy. Ever since I can remember, I loved making doll's clothes but then as a young girl, I realized how much I love being a tom-boy and started ... Read Full Bio »

My husband and I were born and raised in South Africa and immigrated to America in 1999. I am happy to share that I became an American Citizen in March of 2013. We have a son that lives here in Minot with his wife and 2 boys. Our daughter is also married and lives in Belfield with her husband and baby boy. Ever since I can remember, I loved making doll's clothes but then as a young girl, I realized how much I love being a tom-boy and started running circles around any sewing machine or projects that my mom wanted to teach me. My husband bought me a 'top of the line' sewing machine in 1977 and I got excited about sewing but had to learn by trial and error how to construct garments. Without realizing, I remembered many things I saw my mom make but I found that one of the secrets of learning to sew, was un-doing what I did wrong and kept going until I had success. I think I must have inherited some of my grandmother's and mother's gifts of sewing and many other crafts as I had no formal training. We left South Africa in January 1999 and we had to start over from the beginning. We had only our suitcases and a little bit of money when we got to California and no sewing machine! In 2004 my husband bought me a sewing/embroidery machine and I started going to the embroidery classes where I met a number of ladies. I just loved embroidery and started teaching others what I've learned. I belonged to a sewing guild where we would get together once a week and take turns to teach a class. In 2005, my husband's cousin in Riverside, California, invited me to go with her to a quilt exhibit. At first, I could not understand why everybody would rave so much about quilting. Then, my first grandson was born in 2005 and I made him everything he needed for his baby room. Needless to say, I was hooked. We moved to Minot, ND in 2008 where I started working as Sewing Educator at our local Husqvarna/Pfaff store. I realized how rewarding it is to teach others what I know and if I don't know, to find out, study it and pass it on. I especially love applique on my quilts but I cannot say that I only want to focus on one thing as I love many different techniques and various crafts. I love my 3 grandbabies and they continue to inspire me to learn more and to keep sharing what I know.