Our little pumpkin went house to house with us and tried to run into most of the houses so we had to hold the back of her costume to prevent her taking off. I think the dog costume would have been a more appropriate choice. We only went to about 10-12 houses total since they are pretty spread apart. We live on a country road at the foot of a big development. We are not part of the development but have a sidewalk that connects us to it. I was so sad for my neighbors that so few trick-or-treaters came around. For many of the houses we stopped at, we were the only ones who came by. I was thrilled that we could bring our little pumpkin around to brighten the Halloween nights of some people. It makes it more special.

The first year we were in our house I was sure we’d get lots of people. After all, we were in a house! I think I bought 6-8 bags of candy. Well, nobody came. I was so disappointed. Brett went out the back door without me noticing, ran around the front and rang the doorbell in 40 degree weather with short sleeves and a plastic bag. The doorbell rang and I was SO excited. Finally I had a trick-or-treater! I was not so amused to find my husband out there shivering. It really was very sweet – in hindsight!

I played with letter sizes, fonts, different colors and fabrics until I came up with a workable pattern for how to put together a nice quilted sign. Their daughter loved the sign I made. I enjoyed making it and began the search for nice “child-friendly” fabrics that would be appealing. I started making samples and taking orders. Fabric stores everywhere have contributed to my large name sign fabric stash. Themes such as ladybugs, flowers, trucks, fish and flames have been added bit by bit. The samples can be viewed at Beth Sullivan Designs.

The children who approach my booth are always so excited to see their name or the names of their friends. I take orders at craft fairs or through my website. When a child wants a new color combination, their sign gets immortalized on the website for all to see – at least for a time. They really are lots of fun.

Lucy learned to spell her name by looking at her sign on the door to her room. “L,U,C,Y” were the first letters she started to recognize. We’d stop there at least once a day and point it out – “L-u-c-y spells Lucy!”

I have used a long-arm quilting machine in my business to quilt the custom T-shirt quilts. I know how much work and money goes into it. The machines are VERY expensive with many of them costing more than a small car. When quilting on a long-arm, it’s not like you can throw the top on and start stitching. There’s so much more to it than that. There is at least an hour of preparation involved in getting the machine ready, pinning up the quilt and backing, testing thread tension, winding bobbins, measuring, basting, etc. all must be done before the stitching can begin. Thread breaks, bobbin changes, etc. add to the time it takes to quilt when actually stitching. It made me sad that a professional quilter would so grossly undervalue what she’s worth.

Rosemary’s quilts are absolutely amazing. The attention to detail, creativity and workmanship simply awed us all. Her scrapbook quilts depicting the times in her life and in her children’s lives are beautiful. The Red Sox quilts are the most famous but by no means are representative of her entire body of work. She was an animated, funny and down-to-earth speaker. I know my quilt guild thoroughly enjoyed her presentation.

Her quilts left me equally inspired and intimidated. I spend so much time working on my quilting business, “Beth Sullivan Designs” that I rarely have time to quilt for ME anymore. I really need to make more time to do that. *Sigh* Right on cue, here comes Lucy!