Debbie Busby grew up in three states in the Pacific Northwest: Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. Being married to her best friend, Jeff Busby, for 45 years keeps her in stitches! When we married in 1976, their very first purchase was a Kenmore sewing machine from Sears, Roebuck & Co. Those first ten years, she cranked out a lot of clothes for herself to save money on apparel and then moved on to sewing clothes for her children, matching outfits for the cousins, and Christmas gifts for family and friends. After the kids were past the age that they would wear homemade clothes, she moved on to sewing crafts to sell at craft fairs with her mom. She was a great encouragement and cheerleader to her during that time. They would sew like crazy, attend a craft fair, sell out, and sew like crazy again for the next one. Debbie mostly made dolls and worked with cotton back then, which included a lot of cotton-fused appliqué and blanket-stitched appliqué work. She began sewing shop samples for several local quilt shops, which led to my introduction to wool appliqué back in the mid-1990s. As time passes, so do those we love, and toward the end of her mother’s struggle with cancer, she encouraged Debbie to try designing a pattern of her own. Keeping a promise to her mother, who passed in 2001, Debbie has been designing with wool since 2002. She traveled throughout the U.S. and into Australia to teach and vend, meeting others who shared a passion for hand-stitching. She quickly found she loves to teach about wool and see others enjoy its simplicity and rewards. When Debbie is not stitching, designing patterns and fabric, teaching, or vending for her business, Wooden Spool Designs, she loves to garden, go to the beach, and spend time with her eight grandchildren. Her dream is to pass on to them the art of being creative in whatever they do.