Hi. I’m Kristy, owner and operator of Starlite Quilt Studio.  I have been quilting as a hobby for nearly two decades, and longarming for the most recent 7 years.  I currently live and work in the northern suburbs of Minneapolis, and love it here. A little background story on me: I never intended to become a quilter.  That was the thing my Aunts and Grandmothers did, and even then only in my periphery.  I knew they quilted, I have a couple of their quilts, but it never was something I gave a second thought to.  I did, however, grow up with a passion for the arts – especially story-based arts like animation and illustration.  I took every arts class I could fit in throughout high school, from sculpture and ceramics to painting and graphic design.  In 2006, I graduated from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.  while I was primarily interested in pursuing a career in children’s book illustration, I had also discovered a love of surface and packaging design during school, and was determined to get into the paper goods fields if the children’s books didn’t pan out. Books didn’t pan out.  I did a couple, but petered out quickly. Freelancing my general illustration/graphic and surface design skills went better, had a small portfolio of spot work, and I even had a very, very short-lived Etsy shop with some greeting cards and other paper goods. While figuring things out after college, life happened and I fell pregnant.  For whatever reason she had, my mother gifted me a sewing machine despite my lack of sewing knowledge.  A brand new, small, $99 white plastic Singer and an entirely terrible “beginner” quilt kit from a big-box store. (Who in thier right mind puts MINKY in a kit for beginners!) I wasn’t working consistently at the time, so I figured, might as well learn to use this thing. I started sewing that kit, and promptly threw the instructions out the window and just started cutting and sewing to my hearts content.  I looked up tutorials online for anything I didn’t understand how to do instinctively.  But I was hooked.  Ventured out to the local big-box store and purchase materials for my first child’s quilt. and was ENTHRALLED. Color! Pattern!  Texture!  The possibilities in quilting seemed endless, and fulfilled my creative soul in a way that drawing and painting never did. I somehow UNDERSTOOD quilting at a primal level.  I dived in head first, discovered the very beginnings of the modern quilt movement and there was a whole world of possibilities beyond the simple quilts of my ancestors. I made dozens of quilts. Big ones, small ones, ones for me and my family, ones for giving away.  But I didn’t stop MAKING them. It seemed like a natural progression to move onto longarm quilting.  In 2017, along with my mother, we jointly purchased a Handi Quilter Amara and began our longarm quilting venture, The Circle Quilt Company.  We ran our business through 2024, when it became apparent that our arrangement no longer made sense.  I’ve now rebranded, venturing out on my own, and am grateful to all who have supported me throughout my journey. Lets go Quilt!