Elissa grew up on the dry rolling prairies of western Canada living in Coaldale, Alberta for most of that time. She now enjoys living in the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island.
When Elissa was 15 years old she opened a quilt store named Hopscotch Quilt Shop with her mom, Heather Willms. The two soon started designing and publishing quilt books and patterns. Elissa has always enjoyed using colour and prints, when Elissa and Heather stopped designing quilts they both continued taking art classes together.
Elissa is currently enrolled in the Communication Design Diploma program at NIC where she plans on starting a new career in that industry. Elissa is looking forward to using her previous design experience and learning what areas she will fit into in our ever-changing world of design and technology.