welcome to
meander made

Blueberry Hill Making is reflection of my artistic journey and the ways that I have found to make my life more creative and whole.  In my 20s and 30s, I launched my career as an attorney and raised three daughters on our small farm in the country just south of Portland, Oregon.  When my girls reached school-age, I founded Springwater Environmental Sciences School, a K-8 charter school that emphasized children’s connection with science, nature, and the outdoors. 

For the next decade, although much of my focus was on work and family, I felt an increasing need to find a creative outlet.  I never thought of myself as an artist and never gave much thought to my need for creative expression, but as time went on, I found more and more that I felt like something was missing in my life.  I began incorporating creativity into my daily activities:  flower and vegetable gardening, cultivating a rose garden, picking and jamming berries each summer, sewing little girls’ clothes, and making quilts from the fabric scraps. 

Eventually, creative endeavors became my outlet for . . . well, everything!  I learned to knit and began designing knitwear patterns, took pottery classes and repurposed a backyard shed as a ceramics studio, and honed my apparel sewing skills with a veteran instructor.  My forays into creativity were inspired by other makers and I loved experimenting with so many different media:  all forms of fiber arts, but also ceramics, natural dyeing, woodworking, leather and glass work . . . you name it, I wanted to try it!  I found a way to combine these interests by creating By Hand Serial, a series of books that explored regions of creativity around the country and the artists who were part of those communities.  The By Hand series also gave me an opportunity to stretch my design skills, and each book featured my sewing and knitting patterns.  With a small but mighty team, I eventually wrote 18 By Hand books, traveling to dozens of different states (and a few different countries), and interviewing hundreds of artisans and craftspeople. 

In 2021, as the world was emerging from the pandemic, I transitioned to remote work, sold my Oregon home and most everything I owned, packed a few belongings into my Toyota 4Runner, and moved myself across the country.  After traveling for the better part of a year, taking the opportunity to experience what it was like living in different towns throughout New England, I settled in a small harborside town on mid-coast Maine. 

I’m celebrating this next stage of life as an opportunity to travel the world, deepen my experiences wherever I am presently located, and draw inspiration from the people and places I encounter.  It is truly a time to meander . . . through nature, through foreign locales, through different creative media and experiences.  I’m embracing my need to make more than one thing, to experience more than one place, and to express my creativity in more than one way.  Meander Made is a journal of my experiences and expression, and I would be honored if you join me on this journey.