About Dee

DeElda Wittmack has been in the needlework business for over 38 years.  She began in 1970 by designing a small pillow canvas of a sailboat and the next day began doing custom design for a shop in California.  Since that time and while raising two children, she has designed needlework and craft projects for almost every magazine on the market.  Her projects appeared in such magazines as:  Ladies’ Home Journal, McCall’s, Better Homes & Gardens, BH& G Grandparents, BH&G Christmas Crafts, Country Home, and Victoria.

In 1994, DeElda launched her exclusive needlepoint design line at The National Needle Arts Association trade show.  Currently that expanded line of needlepoint is being shown in over 250 shops nationwide and in Canada.  Designs are added to this line every year and in 2007 she unveiled a 40 product line of beginner hand-painted needlepoint kits under her name.  The success of this line of beginner kits continues to bring more young and old into the wonderful world of enjoying the needle arts.

In 2002, DeElda added a quilt pattern line to her list of products, and in 2006 Martingale & Company published her first quilt book titled Appliqué at Play, 19 Sports Blocks to Mix and Match.  Her line of quilt patterns and the book is made up of fun and funky appliqué wall hangings and quilts. 

A large portion of DeElda’s work is now comprised of custom work for both shops and individuals around the country.  She travels extensively designing in needlepoint shops in a program called “DeElda for a Day.”  When in her home studio and not designing needlepoint, she enjoys organizing the photo styling for the Fons & Porter’s Love of Quilting magazine and is the new Editor of the Fons & Porter’s Love of Knitting quarterly magazine, available September 2008 in airports, bookstores, grocery stores, craft stores and knitting shops around the country.

In her free time, DeElda enjoys spending time with her two children, Ellen and Charlie, and their families – especially her grandchildren, Caroline and James.  She also enjoys writing children’s books, reading, and being outdoors.  In 2003, she began running, and ran several marathons raising money for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  Four years later, her knees wore out - and now, she walks.  DeElda lives and works in a home studio on a small pond in Iowa with her cat, Daisy, as company.