Finding my identity: the origins of Magick Patchworks

Every piece of handmade art has a story. While the first Magick Patchwork pattern was not released until August of 2026 - the story begins in April of 2015.

Let me explain how this came to be, and why that extra "K" matters so much to the philosophy of my art.

Before Magick Patchworks

I was always drawn to the handmade. While in college I opened my Etsy shop for the first time. I named it "the Space Needle" since I was going to school for physics and was selling handmade crocheted goods. I thought I was SO clever. One problem: my business social media kept getting tagged by people who were visiting the Space Needle in Washington state. My businesses name was not my own, so I changed it to "The String Theorist" pretty quickly (and I still thought I was SO clever!).

As "The String Theorist" I switched away from crochet due to hand injuries and went to my first love: Sewing. This shops activity was in prime Covid. I made and shipped out >600 masks within a 2 month period of peak isolation before I wound down from handmade goods for a few years.

Plot twist: This entire time I had a full time job and I needed to put my focus elsewhere. I knew realistically handmade goods were never going to fulfill financial goals for me because of my full time job, but it filled a creative gap that my full time job left behind.

But - my full time job was and continues to be essential to what I bring to Magick Patchworks. It taught me essential skills in technical writing, communication, and instructional documentation that is critical for the writing of a clear pattern. It also blessed me with the financial stability required to pursue something creative.

Changing to Magick Patchworks

In 2024 I updated my business name again to "Magick Patchworks". In the early years of my adulthood and working full time my entire identity was my academics. I continuously soul searched to figure out "what I want to be when I grow up." The further I got into my career, the less that career defined me and the more I figured out that my true end goal, if I was seeking happiness, likely involved abandoning my degree.

By this time I had also discovered quilting - and that is a whole different story. My new works under Magick Patchworks were patchwork goods... But during this time I became a mother, and the reality of handmade goods and craft fairs hit me like a brick. It was unsustainable, so I began working my quilt designs into patterns instead.

Over the gap years between "The String Theorist" and "Magick Patchworks" I spent time focusing on myself, my spirituality, and figuring out my artistic style. In that soul searching I discovered how joyful it is to find intention and whimsy to my day to day. I discovered how peaceful I felt when I looked internally to myself and bonded with the elements. I discovered how empowering it felt to be authentically myself and believe in what I could manifest.

Manifesting is not reaching out into the world and hoping for a different circumstance. It is not reaching out to some god, gods, or universal entities and praying for them to take care of your problems for you. It is establishing a goal, and taking active action to control your fate.

Isn't crafting the same way? A series of deliberate and often well thought out steps, all done with focus and intention to produce something wonderful?

So I renamed my business for the final time to "Magick Patchworks" both to reflect the change in my personal style that I had discovered, and also to bring in a nod to intention and whimsy.

Why the extra "K" is so important

"Magic" (with a c) is superficial. It is stage illusions. Slight of hand. Fantastical spells from books about imaginary places. It is about tricking the eye.

"Magick" (with a ck) is intentional. It is the practice of bringing focus, change, energy, and purpose into your real world and often mundane tasks. It is slow and deliberate transformation. It is the close attention paid to measuring, cutting, aligning points, and every stitch that goes into quilting and binding. It is the time and energy that you pour into the things you create. That deliberate care is TANGIBLE - you feel it every time you snuggle underneath a quilt.

That repetitive and intentional process is the magick. The act of creation is inherently magickal.

The "K" is not about anything spooky, hidden, mysterious, gothic, or demonic (and if you think witchcraft is sinister, I really encourage you to do some open minded research on that one!)

The "K" is simply about craftmanship, intention, and whimsy. The "K" is a reminder that when we take the time to create something thoughtfully with our own two hands, we bring a little bit of our own dreams and visions into reality.