One of my first jobs was helping my Dad route the wooden edges of the first Hancy Pounce Pads back in the 80’s down in the basement of our house in Everett, Washington. Back then, only sign painters used it, but it quickly became popular throughout the country with them. I left home and joined the Navy a few years later. Dad sold the Pounce Pad business to my sister, Marilyn Deas, and after a few years she discovered how well the pounce pad worked with stencils and how easy and faster it was to mark a quilt with them! Needless to say, the quilting industry loved the idea too. While Marilyn worked on building the business after moving the company down to Montague, CA, I spent my time helping build a pizza parlor business in Corvallis and later Beaverton, Oregon. After a family holiday to Oahu in the summer of 2001, my friend Keith and I realized there was more to life than pizza. We both quit after over 14 years with the restaurant. He and his family moved to Maui, I bought the business I have today, and taught alcohol server education throughout Oregon, Washington and Arizona. I lived on my thirty foot sailboat in Scappoose, Oregon on the Multnomah Channel for a dozen years while traveling about teaching classes. I flew to Maui two or three times a year to visit Keith and his family, until they finally convinced me to move there. I moved back to Oregon after only a year and bought a tugboat to live on that was moored next to my sailboat. After a while, I felt I needed another change and after visiting Texas a few times (where Keith and his family moved to), I decided to follow them to Texas (and would probably follow them wherever else they may move to). Because I love to explore, I bought a motor home which I now thoroughly enjoy. I do miss the water, but now I’m not limited to travel on only water, I answer the call of the open road.
I bought my business in 2001 after closing out my Navy and pizza parlor career and formed what is now Hancy Enterprises. Part of the business designs and monitors certified online courses for certain state liquor boards. It produces a stream of income without having to “be” at work. With this free time developed, I needed something to do besides pursue my hobbies and write my novels. On a recent visit to my sister’s chicken ranch in Northern California, I asked her if she needed any help selling at the quilt shows that are scattered around the country. She accepted my offer and I started training. This was a natural progression because of my new mobile lifestyle and my need of something new and fun to do. Needless to say, this is how Hancy Design was created and how I now find myself driving about this beautiful country going from quilt show to quilt show!
Below are some images over the last ten years. Joey as a puppy, running the Maui Marathon, the Maui 5k, golfing with Paula Creamer, Christine Kohley’s graduation, Joey and his friends, visiting Wall Drug in North Dakota with Lenay, with Rhonda and her band Blind Lemon Belly (that I managed very briefly) rocking out one weekend night at the club, Joey and I ready for our motorcycle trip around Washington on the new Harley, my Dad and I many years ago standing proudly in front of his new 100 year old printing press, the summit of Haleakala (I drove the car up there), Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic Mountains of Washington, hiking the Appalachian Trail, visiting Key West and hiking the Everglades, and various other places like Winslow, Arizona, the movie sites of Contact, Wild Hogs, and Field of Dreams, Devil’s Tower, Scappoose, Oregon; Tombstone, Arizona; meeting the actual rocket scientist who worked on the Apollo missions, the Dinosaur National Monument in Utah, the Ronald Reagan Library, the USS Independence where I served from 1985 to 1989 and the models I paint when I’m not too busy.
Mom was a quilter so I feel this new path I’m on is taking me back to the beginning. It’s a fulfilling feeling to make that circle with one’s life. I have many more paths in front of me, some will dip and some will rise and some will make crazy turns. I’m glad of that because life should be an adventure. All that one should be left with are many stories to tell. At the end of the day, the way you spent your time is much more important than how big your house is.
Peaks and Pieces 
I love it! Thank you.
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