About Us

At Atkinson Designs, quilting is one of life's simple pleasures. We're a family business in Ramsey, Minnesota. Designer Terry is a former home economics teacher whose love of quilting morphed into teaching quilting classes at a local quilt shop. Her first two patterns came from her most popular classes in 1994. They were sold locally and later that year she went national with a pattern distributor.

In 1997, International Quilt Market came to Terry’s home state, and she happily exhibited her work for the first time. Soon Terry’s pattern line grew to include books, and the family-run business grew along with it.

In 1998, husband Kirk left a 20-year career in restaurant management to take care of the business side of Atkinson Designs. Son Derek and daughter Megan have helped with the business over the years. Derek is now pursuing his career. We lost Megan in October 2013 and miss her every day.

Greta has been involved with Atkinson Designs since she was a little girl. She started bagging patterns to earn money for Beanie Babies, and today she owns and is running the business. When she's not in the office, you can find her at the ballroom dance studio, practicing for her next competition. 

Jonas entered the scene in 2021, and helps Greta with all the behind the scenes work. Jonas and Greta got married in 2023, and share their home with two cats, Frank & Ruth, who happily test each quilt.

All these years later, Terry still enjoys creating new quilts and sewing projects.