Biography

Terrell grew up in southwestern Kansas and was taught to sew in early childhood by her grandmother. Terrell received a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Illinois in 1979 and enjoyed gaining experience in manufacturing and technical marketing in several electronics companies in the Boston area. However, her love (and escape) was always making beautiful things with her hands. After making a log-cabin wall hanging, Terrell began experimenting with combining a wall hanging and a Roman shade. Her background in physics proved invaluable as she perfected the functional portion of operating a Roman shade.

Terrell left the corporate world and founded Terrell Designs in 1993. She spent her days designing and fabricating custom fabric art for windows and walls. Terrell Designs' clients include interior designers and homeowners. Her beautiful shades have been featured in Show Homes in Colorado and Massachusetts and are installed in homes throughout the United States.  Her shades have been featured in Sunset Magazine, Better Homes & Garden's Window & Wall Ideas, Colorado Homes & Lifestyles, The Rocky Mountain News Spotlight Magazine and The Boston Globe. 

Terrell has thoroughly enjoyed creating functional fabric art for her clients and loves sharing her years of experience with sewing enthusiasts. Her book Pieced Roman Shades – Turn Your Favorite Quilt Patterns into Window Hangings, was published by C&T Publishing in 2000. She lectured and taught workshops to quilters throughout the US for six years following the publishing of her book Her unusual way of displaying quilts has been written up in Quilters’ Newsletter Magazine, The Professional Quilter, The American Quilter magazine and The Quilting Quarterly magazine. Her most recent article appeared in the April/May 2007 issue of Sew News magazine.

Terrell’s business has continued to evolve. When online orders became overwhelming, she moved that part of the business out of her home to a Fulfillment House in northern Colorado. That change was so liberating that she moved to Castle Pines Village just south of Denver, Colorado in the summer of 2009. She now lives in a home with lots of windows that need covering. Perfect for developing instructions for double shades, top-down shades, motorized shades, …. Keep tuned!