Charly Rowe is the creator and force of nature behind Irish Tulip Designs. Her energy and humor shine through in both her blog and the pieces she designs and crochets. She lives in Elgin with her two children and husband.

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1. Why did you move to Elgin? 

My family moved to Elgin because of my husband’s high school teaching/football coaching job at  ELGIN ISD. To be completely honest, I was not happy with the move because it was in the opposite direction of any of our family and I wouldn’t know anyone. With that being said, over the last 2 years Elgin has become home for us and the community has embraced my family with so much love and compassion that I can’t imagine us ever leaving! 

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2. What compels you to spend time creating?

I feel like I have always had an eye for what something CAN BE. The feeling of starting with something rejected or even nothing…that I can turn into something that could potentially bring a smile to someone’s face is absolutely euphoric to me. I honestly feel like my brain never stops and is always searching to make something better. Basically, I don’t sit still very well. Working in the medical field the last 10 years, though not all bad, can take you to dark places, especially this past year with working on a COVID ICU in downtown ATX. My job brought me face to face with more death and heartache than I had ever been faced with and I just got to a place where I just felt only failure and fear.  Creating/ crocheting is a safe place for me to run where I can express what I need to and never fail because it’s just me creating what I want. 

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3. Tell me three things you’ve learned in the past five years.

Only 3? I feel like I’m learning something new everyday but if I had to choose the most important 3 it would be…

1. It’s ok to be the real you even if it’s not all perfect. I’ve always felt a need to make a room feel happy even if I wasn’t. I would neglect my reality to make others’ reality better and honestly they weren’t getting the real me. Transparency is freeing because you have nothing to hide. 

2. Laughter truly is the best medicine, laughing while crying is apparently my new favorite emotion. HA

3. Make sure to tell people in the little moments what they mean to you. It truly could change their day and you have no idea the impact you make.

4. What are you currently making, reading, watching, or listening to?

Reading: A book on sign language (ASL)

Watching: I’ve been stuck on John Wayne movies (The Quiet Man) and I feel like I’m always stuck on The Office… ALWAYS.

Listening to: Right now I am in a Linda Ronstadt/ Lorretta Lynn phase but if you ask me next week then it will probably be Harry Belafonte or The Killers… My love for music truly encompasses all genres and changes with what kinds of mood i’m in. 

Making: Is it just me or do all makers have multiple projects going at once? One of my favs right now has to do with my passion for transparency and bringing laughter into reality. A new cozy with sarcastic patches to bring a smile to your day! I’m also working on a blanket right now that I have been itching to make for about a year.  

5. Cake or Pie?

“Pie, pie, me oh my,
Nothing tastes better, wet, salty and dry,
all at once – oh, well it’s pie.
Apple and pumpkin and mince and black bottom,
I’ll come to your place every day if you’ve got ’em.
Pie, me oh my, I love piiiiieeeeeee”

-Pie Song from the movie Michael-

Definitely Pie!!!

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