Blair believes that the best quilts begin with the fabrics you really love. That often means fabrics with stories. Worn shirts, saved baby clothes, and vintage prints can hold memories and stories. Using them in a quilt can add to their story, and they can become a part of your everyday life. Her work explores memory, color value work, and storytelling through cloth. Drawing on a background in design, she balances improvisation with structure. Her quilts invites the viewer to recognize patterns and symmetry created through many different patterns and colors.
In 2021, Blair expanded Wise Craft Handmade to include teaching Chicken Scratch embroidery, a vintage grid-based stitching technique with a rich history. Through online workshops and stitch-alongs, she guides students in transforming gingham fabric into textured, lace-like patterns. This technique is beautiful, accessible with few supplies, and meditative. It’s another way for makers to honor cherished fabrics and explore hand embroidery.
What began as a an online blog back in 2005, a place to write about her stolen creative moments in the midst of raising small children has grown into a full business. Blair has authored 2 books, (with a third coming in 2026), taught students online all over the world, designed tools, patterns, and classes for the modern quilter. Born in North Carolina, her corporate career took her and her husband to Seattle, Washington for 20 years. They now live outside of Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she can watch the most amazing sunsets from her favorite place on earth, her studio.
Random facts about Blair that nobody asked to know, in no particular order…
- Hair is always up, its just too crazy curly otherwise.
- She is almost always listening to or watching some sort of true crime show, podcast, or audiobook.
- When she worked in the apparel industry, it was normal to wear a lot of black clothing. She’s been out of that industry for years, but still wears a lot of black. Although she has recently branched out into kelly green.
- When Blair worked for Marithé & François Girbaud back in the 1990’s, she made a special run of a particular pant that was loved by David Letterman. One of his assistants was giving details for the order and gave explicit instructions that the size label MUST SAY 32 (even though they were a larger size).
- Blair once DIY’ed a silhouette of her face in black and white, and it was used (with permission) on the album cover of an Australian band. They came across is on the explore page on Flickr.
As Seen In
