About Me

I started creating at a young age—drawing animals and making sculptures from whatever materials I had on hand. After earning my education degree I was hired to teach art in Neepawa, Manitoba. What began as a one‑year contract grew into a teaching career of more than thirty years. It was a dream job: I loved exploring different media and sharing ideas with my students.

When I retired, my husband Dave and I made Clear Lake our home. Converting our cabin into a permanent residence was simple once we added a garage with an attached studio. I spend many hours there creating and teaching workshops. Travelling to other communities to teach gives me wonderful opportunities to share my interest in needle felting.

Shortly after dedicating most of my spare time to needle felting, I realized the medium was drawing a lot of interest. I decided to use the profits to support animal rescue and rehabilitation. Our rescue Wheaten, Keeva, opened my eyes to the need for funding. Now I’m able to contribute to medical expenses in Manitoba rescues and beyond, as well as spay/neuter programs in northern Manitoba communities that lack easy access to veterinary services.

Our rescue girl Keeva surprised us with the puppy mill bonus pack, delivering six surprise puppies! Kelsey wasn’t sure about this new development, and had to check things out.

Kelsey was our first Wheaten. We were immediately enamoured with the breed, so when we saw that a Winnipeg puppy mill raid had some Wheatens, I immediately wanted to bring one home. About two weeks later Keeva joined our family. Like many puppy mill survivors she was malnourished, with infected ears and feet. As time went on more and more medical issues arose. She had protein losing neuropathy, protein losing enteropathy, chronic pancreatitis and hypothyroidism. Our vet was willing to put in the work to learn about and treat every obstacle that she faced. Although she struggled with some fear all of her life, she was became a loving member of the family, and lived a long life. Her battles opened my eyes to the need to help animals in rescue.