the short, bio-like version...
Jen Giddens is a full time interior designer in Albuquerque, New Mexico and full time devotee to all things creative. Jen began sewing and selling her handbags in 2007 and branched into the pattern world in August of 2009. Her patterns can now be found in independent quilt and sewing shops around the country! While she's not sewing, Jen can be found hiking in the mountains with her husband, taking runs in the park, and planning her next big road trip.
the longer, winded version...
I'm originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (go Steelers!), but since I left the nest I've lived in Arizona, New Mexico, California, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico (again). I blame most of this on a boy I met in the summer of 2005 while cutting down trees with chainsaws in Flagstaff, Arizona. Don't worry, these trees died for a good cause -- antelope habitat restoration and fire prevention! While liberating antelope, I met Chris, and we were married the next year. We moved to Albuquerque (Chris's hometown) and continued our education. I planned to major in English and had grand ambitions to be a freelance magazine contributor, but when we moved to San Diego to pursue job opportunities there I started looking into other options. I settled on interior design, and soon after we packed up and left sunny California for the northern mountains of Utah. Utah was a great place to finish up my design degree, and I spent many weekends in the mountains skiing and hiking. Since the university was in a tiny town, we left for the big city lights of Denver to begin our careers. (PS, when I was still looking for a design job, I made a little digital portfolio.) Well. That didn't quite work out, and 6 months later after working every evening and weekend doing commissioned furniture sales (SO not for me!!), we threw all of our worldly possessions in storage and hightailed it to the southeast for several months. We walked (WALKED) from the southwest corner of Mississippi to Nashville (444 miles, to be exact) over the course of about 5-6 weeks, bussed around on the Dog (ahem, the Greyhound...) and ended up in Washington, DC where we bought bikes and rode to Pittsburgh. It was there that we decided to grow up and get real jobs, so we moved back to New Mexico. However, we did chronicle our adventures here.
I'm now a full time interior designer in a commercial architecture firm in Albuquerque, and I manage to find time to design my line of sewing patterns, teach sewing classes in local shops, and work on honing my surface design skills in order to fulfill my future goal of being a licensed textile designer.
Please don't hesitate to get in touch with me, I promise I don't bite!
