Daily Inspiration: Meet Deborah Wright

Today we’d like to introduce you to Deborah Wright.

Hi Deborah, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I am a quilter. I have my Bachelor degree in Fine Art and started as a picture framer and graphic designer. When I changed careers and went work for a large corporation, I need a creative outlet. I got my Masters in Marketing and started a soap making business on the side. I sold at craft fairs and online for about 10 years.

When my husband, Deane Arnold, first started carving pumpkins professionally, the most frequent question he was asked was how to preserve his pumpkins. So I came up with a way to print his pumpkin faces on fabric pumpkins. As a quilter, this was the perfect dovetailing of my sewing skills and a way to create a permanent pumpkin.

I went on to make beaded pumpkin earrings and bracelets. I have also made a pumpkin soap, and together we offer tee shirts and carving tools. We try to have a fully rounded offering of all things pumpkin!

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
There have been a lot of twists and turns along the way. I have been sewing since I was 10, so I thought I could sell my quilts on commission. But that’s almost impossible to do when a blanket or coverlet can be purchased in a department store for 1/10th of the cost that it takes to make something to order. I made a few wall hanging or lap size quilts as graduation and memorial items. They were successful, but few and far between.

I moved on to soap making. My first soap was made with a kit that I picked up from a book club. I was hooked on it. It became something that I parlayed into a Masters in Marketing and on to a side hustle for 10 years while I worked a corporate desk job. But after a while there were more and more soap makers, and I was using every scrap of my vacation time to do shows. So I stopped doing soap to support my husband who just getting started in pumpkin carving.

I’ve kept the corporate job, and now I am focusing my creative life solely on the Pumpkin Stuff catalog. A pumpkin is such a versatile and cute shape that it lends itself to a lot of different mediums. I can extend most of my various interests into it: soapmaking, jewelry, sewing, print making, tote bags. You name it. There’s almost nothing I can’t do with a pumpkin!

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Through my creative journey, I have done watercolor painting, SLR photography, retail craft sales and picture framing. I have been a regional brand representative for a national matboard company. I’ve been sewing for 55 years and quilting for 35. I made my first pair of earrings when I went to Hawaii 30 years ago and couldn’t find a pair I liked, So I decided to make them instead.

My motto has always been, I Can Make That!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://pumpkinstuff.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pumpkinstuffed