Welcome to Bean & Toad!

I hope you’re enjoying perusing and seeing what I’ve been working on over the past few years.

At an art festival in Philadelphia, I had a moment of gratitude that all of these vendors had put their work out there and created amazing pieces for others to enjoy. Then I remembered that I’m an artist—why didn’t I ever consider doing something similar?

So, my challenge was to form my business in a way that allowed me to focus on actually quilting. I knew I didn’t want my work to be reliant on selling original pieces (I can only make so many 300-hour projects each year!) and I wanted to keep my environmental impact to a minimum. My aim is also to create something that both quilters and nonquilters will appreciate.

The result is Bean & Toad, a play on my childhood nickname (Bean) and my surname (pronounced Toad-er). I tried out a whole notebook’s worth of suppliers and fabric printers before settling on the final designs and products you see today. Most of the pieces in this first launch combine quality vintage and thrifted items with my original quilted designs and I couldn’t be happier with the results.

My favorite part is that each new quilt I make will become an opportunity to create new pieces and collections, so we all have something to celebrate when I’m crossing the quilted finish-line.

Over my quilting career, my friends, family, coworkers, teachers, and even strangers have been an incredible source of encouragement and support. My mom replaced my first sewing machine when I inevitably ran it into the ground and the repairman declared it irreparable. I had many touching conversations with fellow travelers on the 41 bus as I spent every moment sewing on my commute to work.

Opening this shop has been no exception— my parents happily modeled for me on a 90-degree day in a small photography studio, my husband helped me work through all the paperwork and bank accounts and kept me going when I hit a wall. And perhaps most importantly, so many of you have signed up to receive the alert that I opened my shop.

Thank you for your support, in all the ways it has appeared over the past several years. I hope you continue to enjoy following along.