So, who is this Diane Kuck who designs patterns under the
Details By Diane logo?
I’m Diane, the creative mind behind the designing of stained
glass patterns that are so easy to make that you can zone
while watching Dr. Phil and make my patterns.
Why are they so easy to make? Throw out (or at least sell)
that expensive, hard to use bias leading tape that is used
to usually make stained glass quilts. My stained glass
quilts are made by fusing colorful fabric pieces onto a
black fabric background. How easy is that? Plus they have
a 'soft stained glass' look.
I began Details By Diane in a spare room at our home in
Brainerd MN in late 2000 and I am totally addicted to
designing more and more of these quilts! (Therefore I claim
no responsibility for your addiction to making quilts from
my patterns…ha ha
We have since moved from Brainerd and now live in that
foreign land called Iowa. I know, it is just south of
Minnesota but when I was a kid I lived near the Iowa border
in a little town called Clarks Grove, just north of Albert
Lea. We had lots of Iowa jokes and Iowa has lots of
Minnesota jokes. So the move to Iowa was traumatic for
us....ha ha. My dad says he is going to cover our license
plates when we come to visit them in Clarks Grove because he
doesn't want the neighbors to know an Iowan is at his
house. Ha ha It is a long story but we felt called to move
here to Northeast Iowa by God and believe me...we have never
been happier. The area we live in is full of artisans, and
we have lots of farmers around us. I have been trying hard
to learn farming language so I can converse with them but so
far I can just say, "How are your cows? What colors are
they?" Let's just say I have a lot to learn. :)
I know that there are rumors out there that Iowa is very
flat but it is mostly gentle rolling hills except where we
live. The glaciers didn't flatten our area so it has lots
of rock formations. As a matter of fact we live on top of
an 11 acre rock. In some places the soil (don't say 'dirt',
that is what we sweep out of our houses) is about 2 feet
deep to about 9 feet deep. Luckily we didn't want a
basement under our house anyway.
We lived in my husband, Lowell's, woodworking shop for 1-1/2
years. I did pretty well, being a Martha Stewart type of
gal, but began to get very tired of my kitchen and bathroom
being the same. Have you ever had to yell, 'are you about
done in the bathroom so I can drain the pasta?' See, I knew
eventually I would have your sympathy.
But now we are in our new home without kitchen cabinets and
bathroom vanities but we found utility tubs work quite
well. Lowell is building all the cabinets and vanities and
he is doing a fabulous job. I will have to include some
pics when they get finished. He is a custom woodworker so I
have designed the cabinets like no one has ever seen. That
might not be a good thing. Ha ha
Our two sons are grown. David works for IBM in Rochester MN
and last April he married a wonderful gal, Jessica. She is
soooo sweet and we love each other very much so I am truly
blessed. Our youngest son, Michael, continues to live in
Brainerd and is a realtor. We miss him but he knows a ton
of people there since he has lived almost his entire life
there...we were there almost 20 years.
I am in my new studio now and am really productive. It sure
beats being in a corner of the woodworking shop. I love to
work with bright colored fabrics, mostly batiks. I am a
first born with a type 'A' personality so I like everything
tidy. I also love to decorate in my home, organize closets
and such, read, and work on the business….except I detest
the paperwork. When I am on deadline to get a pattern out I
may even give up combing my hair and going to the bathroom
to gain more time (Lowell says when that happens, it is
not pretty around here…ha ha).
Well, I'd better get busy on designing some new patterns for
you. Later, bye! Diane
