Marija Vujic of Mara Quilt Designs

"I started sewing when I was 10 years old, mostly making clothes for my doll’s, teddy-bears’, and my family. Besides sewing, doing creative things with my hands was always a part of my childhood and close to my heart. Interestingly, even then I always collected way more fabric than I needed… (see below!).  In 1992, my husband, children and I immigrated to Buffalo, NY from a war-torn Yugoslavia, for brighter opportunities for our children, in our work (cancer research) and a peaceful life.  It wasn’t until I moved to America that I saw my first quilt (they simply don’t exist in my old home country!).

A colleague from work and today my best friend and quilting buddy, (and another QuiltWoman.com designer – Martha Eddy!), introduced me to quilting in 1994. Wow – a creative part of me finally found a home and now I finally knew why I always collected fabric! I fell in love with amazing language of color and endless possibilities a simple pattern can make.  Starting with graph paper and colored pencils and now continuing with quilting software, designs keep coming and coming to my head!  I discovered teaching others (especially absolute beginners!) to be my true passion and designing new patterns for my students, a real creative drive.

Living in Buffalo, NY area with my husband, three grown children, two dogs and a cat, I enjoy inspiration of changing seasons, joy of teaching and designing quilts and blessings of friends and family. Quilting is not just a new craft I learned once I came to America – is has been a door, open and inviting, to the soul of American people, American traditions and history – a door through which I entered America and felt instantly at home. My love for this art grows with every piece and every stitch.
 
The name of my designs (Mara Quilt Designs) is a tribute to my beloved grandmother (and my namesake) who lives only in my earliest memories but whose sense of beauty and grace I hope to continue and honor."