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| 714 Main Street, Nov 1997 |
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| Dave the UPS man |
The best memory I
have of opening a quilt store was that every night after I came home from work
and after supper, Christy and I would head down to quilt store. There we would open the boxes that Dave the
UPS man had brought that day. Those
were the days when we hand wrote an inventory number and price on top of the
bolts which would fade off. That was
before we got fancy and got the pricing gun that was originally fun to
use. We would turn on KUDL and listen to
“Deliah” and I know you will find it hard to believe – but there was singing
and silliness going on. Christy’s
husband, Bill, built the cabinets for us and we debated the exact construction
of them. We looked through every Quilt
Sampler magazines saved over four or five years to see what other people were
doing and tried to remember what we liked about all of those quilt stores
Christy mentioned in her memories that I took her to. We decided we had to have the little cubby
holes for fat quarters and I think that was one of our better decisions to this
date. Although I don’t think cutting fat
quarters is anyone’s favorite job.
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| 1st day open November 1, 1997 |
The quilt store
has literally changed my life and has brought many godly women into my life for
me to learn from. We decided our
business cards would have Bible verses on the back and we debated those special
verses also. We wanted to be a witness
for Christ while we did something we loved.
I started going to the Baldwin quilt guild and this lady there asked if
I ever went on blind dates because she knew this nice young farmer. I said yes because that is usually the
easiest way to never hear about it again.
Turns out the lady was his Aunt Mary.
She had come into the quilt store with her sister from Texas and the
young farmer’s mother to check me out – was I friendly, have a nice quilt
store, etc. I must have passed the
mother and two aunts test as the nice young farmer called me and we started
dating in September 1998. I was
teaching a Conway Album class at the time to about 10 to 15 woman and they
wanted to know all about how the dating was going every class and gave me
advice. Many of those same women
attended the wedding also – and some the baby shower 21 months later.
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| Amy's baby shower October 2001 |
I love the quilt
store and that it brought my husband and consequently my children into my
life. It was great getting to do
something I loved with my sister.
Unfortunately, I also needed to return to the real work world with paid
benefits – such as health insurance, so I went back to the world of banking and
left the everyday running of the store to my sister and some wonderful partners
that God brought into our lives (that Baldwin quilt guild is responsible for
meeting Eula and me telling Christy that there was this amazing lady that we
needed to come teach at the quilt store and the rest is history). They occasionally let me crash trips to quilt
market, do a block of the month quilt, and always find room for me at late
night or quilt camp when I make it at the last minute (along with my daughter
Katie). I remember wanting to drop out
of college at the end of my freshman year and going back to talk to a teacher
from high school. She convinced me to
stay in school and just transfer into accounting at KU. It wasn’t my burning desire to be an
accountant, but God knows his plans for you.
I took the job in Minnesota being a bank examiner because it was where
Christy lived and sounded fun. All I
really wanted was to get married, have kids, and stay at home with my kids. I couldn’t figure out why it was taking God
so long to bring that special man into my life.
However, he was still building the life skills in me that I would need
to open a quilt store and then be able to work at home in a challenging,
fulfilling career while taking care of my kids.
I don’t get to be in the quilt store every day, but I get to visit
frequently and enjoy the life God made for me with my husband and children,
Jacob and Katie.
Amy Deay
