Four thousand bolts of fabric. Wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling sample projects, kits, needles, rulers, templates, cutting tools, books, magazines. This is a fabric junkie’s fantasy, a quilter’s dream come true. The quartermaster in charge of Uniquely Yours Quilt Shop in Elizabethtown is Mary Sennott. Bob Sennott, Mary’s husband of more than 40 years serves as her faithful adjutant in running the business they moved to the ground level of their Elizabethtown home 13 years ago. Mary is a living catalog of the projects completed by local quilters, but the abundantly stocked store draws shoppers from as far away as Illinois and Texas. What’s the appeal? Dedicated customers say Mary has a superb eye for selecting prints and colors, and are grateful that she continues to stock a broad selection of flannels, which many shops no longer do.
Bob and Mary opened the shop after each had retired. Mary worked as a kindergarten teacher for a decade after their children were grown. Bob bossed 16 men as a Quality Assurance supervisor for Caterpillar in Illinois. “But here,” he chuckled, “she’s in charge.” It was Mary’s dream to open the shop, but she’s quick to insist that she couldn’t manage without Bob. He keeps the books, and handles much of the custom stitching performed on the shop’s long-arm quilting machine. Uniquely Yours has no other regular staff. How does it feel to live and work with your spouse? “It’s easy when you have a spouse like mine,” Mary said. “We learned a long time ago that we work well together.”
