Hi, I'm Bri!
Before Kalina Home, I earned my degree in elementary education, studied abroad in South Africa, taught English in Poland and South Korea, and then became a third grade teacher. I LOVED TEACHING! I thought I’d eventually continue into linguistics and translation work, but then I met my husband long distance and life took a different turn.
We got married during COVID after our wedding was canceled, just the two of us in the forest on Vancouver Island. Soon after, we found out we were expecting our first baby and eventually made our way to Utah, where we now have three little boys.
Sewing came into my life after our first son was born. He had severe colic, and that new season of motherhood was one of the hardest times of my life. Putting my hands to new things helped breathe some life into me. Around then, our neighbor asked if I could learn to sew upholstery covers for his camper van. I never finished the project, deep in those motherhood trenches, but I did learn to sew, and I absolutely fell in love with it.
That quickly turned into quilting for friends and family any spare moment I could find, and eventually a simple memory quilt made from my son’s first-year clothes. I loved what those little pieces held, but I wanted memory quilts to feel like beautiful, traditional quilts too. I started designing one around a sawtooth star pattern, but two more babies and a very full season of life put the idea on hold.
In the early newborn days with my third boy, a house fire displaced our family for several months. When we eventually had to move, we found a rental home (we dream of buying one day) with one extra room. Until then, quilting mostly happened at the kitchen table. Every project had to be packed away when I was done so pins, rotary cutters, and other sharp tools stayed out of reach of little hands.
For the first time, I had a room where I could leave things out, come back to them, and really create.
That spare room gave me the space to return to the idea I had been carrying for years.
Now I get to take the clothes families have saved and turn them into something beautiful, useful, and lasting. If you’re here because you’ve been holding onto clothes you just can’t part with, I’m so glad you found me. It would be an honor to turn those pieces of your story into something you can keep close for years to come.