Welcome to
Songbird Designs!

Hey, I’m Brenda!

(aka Songbird’s Designs)

I have been fascinated with quilting and sewing as long as I can remember! My grandmother was an avid quilter. The ladies living nearby would bring a covered dish and come to my grandmother’s and spend the day quilting and fellowshipping! When I was around 6, with a living room full of quilt frame and ladies, my grandmother gave me a needle and thread and I was allowed to quilt on the “bottom” of the quilt! I’m sure she picked it out when I went home for the day, but I was in awe watching them create a quilt. Later, my grandmother began quilting on her domestic machine, mostly straight line, in-the-ditch type quilting. I remember her seeing a pattern she liked and drafting it on empty cardboard candy boxes from their little country store. She carefully cut each piece by hand and stitched them together with love.

Growing up on a farm in the rural south, we had lots of “real” feed sacks and I had many dresses made of them. My first attempt at garment making was during the summer when I was twelve. Granny and I took a dress that I loved and cut out a pattern from the feed sack material. She taught me to stitch it up and we then enclosed the neck and arm holes with bias tape! In my mind that dress was just as good as any store-bought dress!! Of course, all the scraps went into the box for quilts! Granny let me sew to my heart’s content on her machine, and I loved every minute of it. For Christmas that year, my parents bought me my first portable sewing machine. I stitched on that machine until I married and eventually bought my first machine with “fancy stitches!”

In 2001, I was introduced to the wonderful world of machine embroidery by one of my nursing co-workers. I was amazed! So, I dragged the hubs off to the sewing store and purchased my first embroidery machine and digitizing software! I was on “Cloud 9!” Many machines and software upgrades later, this love has continued to evolve. I set up my first website in 2009 – Songbird’s Designs. There has been no looking back!

My favorite things to digitize are free standing lace, mylar designs, quilt blocks, and designs of faith. I love to stitch my designs into quilts. Last summer I purchased a long arm and am loving it. My best tip for developing quilting skills – both creating quilts and quilting them is to practice, practice, practice!! Take as many classes as you can afford and have time for, and join a quilt guild! Guild members have a wealth of knowledge and are so willing to share!