Hi! I’m Kaelin. I’m a twentysomething married to my best friend, with no kiddos yet. We live in the ecclectic city of New Orleans, and I absolutely love it here. We moved down in 2008, and I was a bit of a nomad before we settled here and bought our first home. I grew up in the beautiful mountains of eastern Kentucky, went to undergrad in Indiana, studied for a semester in downtown Philadelphia, and then married my college sweetheart and moved to downtown Chicago.
I have a B.A. in Psychology and minor in Latin (I was shooting for practicality…who doesn’t want to hire a 22 year old that can translate Caesar’s Commentaries on the Gallic War?), but somehow ended up in the insurance industry. I'm a health insurance marketer by day, renegade quilter by night. I love my coworkers, but wish I could quit my job and pursue my love of sewing full-time.
Below is Sir Whiskers MacTavish, the namesake of my blog. I thought it was only appropriate to name it after him, since all quilts in our home eventually become his property.
I got my sewing genes from my mom because she's very artistic and used to make our Halloween costumes and Easter dresses growing up, but unfortunately I never wanted to learn from her until I'd gotten married and moved away. My love of sewing and quilting started a few months after I moved to Chicago to start grad school. We were too poor to afford classes or a machine, so I learned through internet tutorials and started out hand-sewing all my quilts. I still remember my first two fabric orders – the Alexander Henry Mocca print from Etsy, and 2 yards of Echino from Purl Soho. It was all over from there. The downward spiral into quilting only continued when I got my first sewing machine after moving to New Orleans, and even more so when I started this blog in April 2010. You can get a peek into my sewing space here.
Since I'm 100% self-taught via the internet, one of my passions in life is to teach other young aspiring sewers. My hope is that this blog will both inspire you to sew, and teach you important techniques. If you ever have any questions or would like to request a tutorial on something, don't hesitate to email me! I read every single email I receive, and will do my best to help you in any way I can :)
