Today is the one year anniversary of my mother's death.
For those of you who had the privilege of meeting her, you know she had a smile and a cup of coffee at the ready. As I was growing up, her full time vocation was raising the family as a stay at home mom and homemaker. When Frank and I took over the store, my mom was so excited for us. She would come to the store to "play" nearly every day. She masterfully folded fabric bundles for clubs, crafted beautifully decorated pens for our cash register, and hosted every club and event. She never was idle, always finding ways to help out behind the scenes to make my life easier and to make the customers experience better.
The Holiday Open House at the store every December became her signature event. She orchestrated the classroom refreshments and visiting with her became a "must see" attraction during the event.
This past weekend was incredibly special to me. While it was sad to not have her physically with us for the second year in a row, I know she was with us in spirit. The store was filled with laughter, meeting of friends, sharing of creativity and overall merriment. It was exactly the kind of weekend we all love. I truly appreciate all of you who took the opportunity to come out and visit us.
My mom taught me how to sew but never claimed credit for teaching me to quilt. I received a toy sewing machine from my parents when I was 6 or 7. My mom didn't want me to ruin her real machine. As I grew older, I learned to love her trusty Singer and stitched prom dresses, party skirts and Halloween costumes. When I was 19, we took our first quilting class from Sew and Save over on Capital Drive. I finished the top but never had it quilted. My mom made a couple blocks but set aside quilting for other sewing until we took over the shop nearly 20 years later.
Over the years she used her sewing skills for gift giving, charity groups and many DIY projects. About 10 years ago, we discovered the tube pillowcase. As if she found her calling, it became her mission to make pillowcases for everyone she knew. At the store, she earned a self-proclaimed title of "Pillowcase Queen". She even created a lifesize pillowcase as a costume for herself and a miniature pillowcase for a permanent how-to demo at the store.
She made hundreds of pillowcases over the years. Always carefully hand selecting fabrics for special occasions or to match recipients tastes and decor.
I absolutely adore a Malibu Sock Monkey Pillowcase she made for me. :-)
She also conducted countless pillowcase making demonstrations for customers and friends.
As a tribute to "The Pillowcase Queen", we will be hosting PILLOWPALOOZA in June. You may have seen this event listed in the Passport of Savings 2015 booklet distributed this past weekend.
PILLOWPALOOZA will feature a pillowcase making marathon in our classroom and there will be incentives for dropping off completed pillowcases for donation during the event. We have been an official One Million Pillowcase challenge shop for years however we have not had an affiliation with any specific organization. In 2015, we are teaming up with
Conkerr Cancer and Pillowcases for Soldiers to see how many pillowcases we can collect.
It is our goal to collect 1,000 pillowcases during our event and to turn PILLOWPALOOZA into an annual event.
We will be talking more about this event later in winter and spring.
Thank you for your business, your support and your friendship!
Happy Quilting!
Julie
