 Designs by Michele Crawford |
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Designs by Michele Crawford |
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 Michele and Tom Crawford met the night before the first day of college in 1972 at Miami University in Oxford, OH, and became a "team" when they were married in October 1976. Michele was an elementary teacher in Sandusky, OH; and Tom worked at the American Crayon Company. Myk was born in 1980, and Michele has been a "stay at home mom" with a home-based quilting business which has evolved over time. She is blessed to have her family revolve around her business and her business around her family. They moved to Lima, OH, where Kevin, David and Kelly were born. Yes, there were 4 children under the age of 5! It was quite a crazy time for several years. Tom was offered a job at Columbia Lighting in Spokane, WA in 1986 so they moved to the "other side of the world" according to their family and friends. The Crawfords were an active family while the kids were growing up with sports all year round (soccer, tennis football, basketball, baseball, and tennis) for all the children, Boy Scouts, Camp Fire, youth group plus band and orchestra events. Tom and Michele coached soccer, volunteered leading fundraisers, and were part of their children's high school's parent musical for 9 years plus the Senior All-Nighters. They also enjoyed boating with their family and friends on Lake Coeur d'Alene in Coeur d'Alene, ID for many years. As empty nesters, Tom and Michele are looking forward to the next chapter in their life, which hopefully will lead them to western Washington to enjoy life on the Puget Sound. They also share their home with a golden retriever, Molly; and Max the cat. Michele has always been involved in sewing and crafts even as a young child. Her "first business" was weaving potholders and selling them in her neighborhood. Her brother gave her first sewing machine when she was 12, and then she started sewing her own clothes after taking home economic classes in junior high. Besides sewing, she learned to knit, crochet, and embroider - basically anything to do with a needle! From 1980 -1987 she operated, The Stork Port, where she sewed items for babies and children that were sold at craft shows in Ohio and Washington. In-between she began taking quilting classes in the early 1980's and remembers making templates out of cereal boxes, sandpaper and plastic margarine tub lids. After moving to Spokane in 1986, she joined several quilt guilds and met a variety of designers including Debbie Mumm and Pegi White. She was encouraged to begin creating her own designs combining counted cross stitch and quilting which lead to her next business, Cross 'n Quilt in 1987. Her patterns were sold in stores across the country, and Keepsake Quilting. In 1989, Michele attended a seminar for a national group called the Society of Craft Designers, a group of professional designers that worked for publishers and manufacturers. Thus began Michele's 20-year career of designing projects - over 4,000 designs published now - for various magazines plus fabric and thread manufacturers, which she continues to do today. Then with much encouragement from Tom; and Laurette Koserowski, editor of The Quilter, she began to offer Quilt Kits for projects featuring new fabrics in magazines, and Flower Box Quilts was born! Also, she has been in the process of developing a line of quilt patterns and exclusive quilt kits featuring new fabric collections. She has also started lecturing and teaching quilting in Washington and hopes to branch out on the national circuit in the future. Tom cleans the house better than Michele, cooks, goes to the grocery store, fixes anything in the house and yard, handles all the finances, cuts fabric accurately for projects and kits, makes runs to the post office, supports Michele and the kids in anything they do plus a terrific loving, caring and supportive husband and father! He has been unemployed since December 1, 2008 after the company he worked at as an Industrial Engineer for 23 years moved the manufacturing plant to Mexico. The most important thing in his life is God, Michele and their children; and always puts all of them above himself. What more could Michele ask for? Nothing except a powerboat for Tom some day soon so he can enjoy his favorite hobby.  Meet the Crawford Family Myk, 29, graduated from Eastern Washington University with a degree in graphics, and is a graphics designer. He and Marnie got married on December 9, 2006. Marnie also graduated from EWU, and works at a local hotel in the catering office.  | Return Home | Quilt Kits | Quilt Patterns | Other Quilt Items to Buy | Wholesale Information | Free Quilt Patterns | Customer Gallery | Michele's Gallery | Michele's Blog | About Us | Contact Us | Links | |
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