About Us

Stitchopolis was founded in 2004 by Maureen Kyle, currently the owner, designer, marketer, accountant, sample stitcher… you get the idea! WE are located in Calgary, Alberta, one of the nicest places in Canada! Maureen is a busy mother of one daughter, Dana, and two step-sons, Mike and Tyrell. Oh, right, and 3 trouble-making cats named Sox, Jasper and Shadow. Maureen began stitching in the early 1980’s (she’s not admitting to exactly when), and it quickly became an addiction. The first design she ever stitched was a cat with quilt design out of a Cross Stitch and Country Crafts magazine. Her partner Bill wonders daily about the amount of stitching ‘stash’ she has accumulated. She can’t explain why but it seems to grow on its own accord. You know what they say… She who has the largest stash… wins! Any challengers?

Maureen’s design inspirations come from a variety of sources. She grew up in Calgary, in a very sports-minded family, so the Fan-Addicts series grew initially out of her love of sports, and will soon be reflecting other spare time addictions (like stitching, quilting, gardening, etc.). Nature and family are also very big influences on her designs. The nature-inspired Winds of Change series has grown recently to include some holiday designs as well as the original seasonal ones. The Swirly series offer a contemporary take on familiar Christmas motifs. We have a new series starting called Say What?... the first one was just introduced with a dog and cat theme. Watch for more designs coming soon!

In addition to stitching, so far Maureen maintains a full time job as a product marketing manager. She hopes that someday she’ll be much too busy designing and stitching to be able to work on anything but what she loves to do! She also enjoys reading, cooking and baking, as well as curling (it’s a Canadian thing), painting and drawing, playing with Dana and going to the occasional football game, play or movie. Bookmark our site, as we are considering the addition of a Recipe of the Month feature with some of Maureen’s favorites!