Judit, the Designer
For as long as I can remember, I’ve been drawn to the quiet satisfaction of making things by hand.
One of my very first memories is sitting beside my mother at four years old, proudly learning to knit. In our home, creating wasn’t a hobby—it was simply part of everyday life.
Sewing, knitting, crocheting, gardening, cooking… my mother approached everything with creativity, curiosity, and the quiet confidence that there was always a way to make something both beautiful and useful.
She was entirely self-taught and possessed an incredible entrepreneurial spirit. In our home, creativity wasn’t separate from everyday life—it helped support our family. Alongside my father’s salary, my mother’s knitting business provided an important part of our household income. Watching her transform yarn into beautiful garments—and beautiful garments into a successful business—left a lasting impression on me.
By the time I was twelve, I had become her eager partner. Together we learned to operate knitting machines, designed sweaters for women and men, and experimented with ways to make every piece one of a kind. The business helped finance my education and, as an added bonus, filled my wardrobe with unique sweaters for every season and occasion.
My career led me from teaching into the world of information technology, where I worked in software development, consulting, sales and marketing and business systems analysis. Although those careers seemed far removed from quilting, they taught me how to solve problems, learn and work with applications on my own, think analytically, and communicate ideas clearly.
After many rewarding years in the corporate world, I transformed my former ceramics studio—yet another chapter in my lifelong love of creating—into a sewing room and discovered quilting.
What began as a hobby quickly became a passion. Looking back, every step prepared me for QuiltFOX Design. When fellow quilters began asking for the patterns behind my quilts, I combined the creativity I had inherited from my mother with the analytical skills I had developed throughout my career, taught myself graphic design and pattern writing, and QuiltFOX Design was born.
Since then, I’ve been fortunate to see my quilts enjoyed by quilters around the world. My work has appeared in American Quilter and Simply Modern magazines and in project catalogs for Hoffman California Fabrics, Northcott, Timeless Treasures, Clothworks, Benartex, and Riley Blake Designs.
Today, my husband Bill and I live in the beautiful Swiss countryside, where many quilt ideas are born during walks through the hills. Those walks were once shared with our little Wire Fox Terrier, Bingo, whose curiosity and joyful spirit became part of QuiltFOX Design.
Although he left us last year, he remains very much a part of our lives—and of every chapter that followed. If you’d like to meet the little dog who inspired the name QuiltFOX, I’d love to introduce him on the next page.
