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About Willow Leaf Studio

WLS is a small design and print business located in Trail, BC, Canada. It is owned and operated by myself, Jodi Beamish. I started out with designing panto patterns - all the Willow Leaf Studio, Gali Design and some of the Homelines ones are mine. Eventually my printers couldn't keep up with my demand, so I bought my own printers and started up the production side of the business.

When I first started WLS as a machine quilting business in 1999 I never imagined that it would evolve into the business that it is today. I now machine quilt only for myself and spend the rest of my time creating patterns for other machine quilters to use in their quilting.

I would like to share a little more information on how my business runs.

Willow Leaf Studio prints, packages and ships all the patterns that you will find on this site. It is done by myself and occasionally my husband and mother-in-law lend a hand rolling patterns. Because the business is primarily run by me it means that when I'm not in the office the business is closed.

I've had people ask why I don't have staff and the short answer is that I'm not particularly good at being a boss - I've tried it and always find myself back to just me. I want the business to be small enough for me to handle and for me to know my customers and my products. I know that this means that sometimes responses have to wait until I can be back in the office to deal with them - I hope that my customers will understand this and remember to check for the business hours to see when the office is open. Occasionally this might mean waiting over the weekend or an extra day if there is a statutory holiday and I'm off to spend that time with my family. A little bit of planning ahead will always help with this.

The other thing to keep in mind when dealing with WLS is that this business is located in Western Canada. It means that orders shipped in the USA go by CanadaPost and then USPS once they cross the border. They are subject to US Customs at the border and this can slow down shipping. It usually doesn't, but I like people to be aware that it is a possiblity. For this reason I do not guarantee shipping times - I don't have control over US Customs. If you are ordering anytime in December you do have to keep this delay in mind. There is no such thing as a rush order in December.

I have to tell you that I really like my job - running WLS is a very enjoyable place to be. I like making new designs and I like making them available to my customers. With all of that in mind I also like my family and my friends, so I don't work 24 hours a day and I don't read my email on the weekend. I spend my weekends enjoying my personal time and my office hours taking care of business. It's important to me to make that distinction.