Today, we bring you a giveaway from SouleMama Sponsor, Alewives Fabrics. In Rhea's words:
"Alewives Fabrics, located in beautiful Midcoast Maine, is owned and operated by the mother/daughter team of Barbara Neeson and Rhea Butler. Alewives Fabrics has been in business since 1978, and even though we are one of the oldest fabric stores in Maine, we are known for our fabulous selection of contemporary fabrics. We carry everything from vinyl laminate to cotton voile, with a strong focus on quilting weight cottons, all of which you can view online in our webstore.
Rhea keeps a blog named Alewives Girl, but we are also present on most social media sites, including Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram.
SouleMama: Tell us about your background. What path led you to the work you do today?
Rhea: Mom and I both have backgrounds in the arts: Mom was an art teacher at our local high school for 30 years and I studied graphic design in college. I started working at Alewives when I was 19 and kept my job at the shop all throughout my college years. When Mom retired from teaching and the shop came up for sale, she knew this was the direction both of our lives were meant to go in. The building that houses our shop is a huge old red barn that once belonged to our ancestor, Ernest McGray. Throughout the 30's, 40's and 50's, Ernest McGray used the building as a general store, and my grandmother worked there as a teenager. She still comes in the shop today and tells me how Ernest McGray (she calls him Uncle Ern) used to have things arranged. But where Ernest once had soap flakes and cereal for sale on the shelves, we now have crisp and colorful fabrics. But some things never change: the old wooden floors are still delightfully creaky and we have lovely stained glass sidelights flanking our front door.
SouleMama: What advice do you have for people wanting to be more creative?
Rhea: I once attended a lecture by the famous quilter Kaffe Fassett, who is very much a rock star in my world, and he said something that has always stuck with me. He told the audience that creativity is just like a muscle: you need to flex it to make it strong. I always took that to mean that the more you explore and indulge in your creative side, the more confident you become. I guess it's just like speaking a foreign language or learning to play the piano: practice makes perfect. And of course you can't be afraid to fail every now and then, because that's important, too.
For today's giveaway, Alewives Fabrics is generously offering the following gifts to ONE winner:
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To enter today's giveaway, please leave a comment (one entry per person, please) in today's post. I'll close comments by 8:00 am EST on Sunday, and announce the winner, chosen via Random Number Generator, shortly after. Comments closed! The winner is...
What a great giveaway. Thanks for the chance to win.
Posted by: Loretta
Thank you, Alewives Fabrics!
