Company History

Mother's Unique Designs Owner and family Mother's Unique Designs was founded in March 2004. I had been looking for a way to go back to work, but I didn't want to have to be out of the house. Both of my children are "special needs" kids. My oldest is Autistic and my youngest has a mild form of Cerebral Palsy. With the different therapies and specialists they see, working a regular job was out of the question. I looked at several work at home programs and they just weren't for me.

I had been doing various crafts for years and a few years ago decided I would try my hand at quilting. An addiction was born! Before long I was making quilts for myself, for my kids, and for gifts for people. Every time I was showing off a new quilt someone always said "you should do craft shows or something". With two special needs kids, who has the time for that? Certainly not me.

Then in 2003 I upgraded my computer to Windows XP. Suddenly the software I had used to create my family website no longer worked, so I had to buy a new one. To use everything that came with it I also upgraded my hosting package. Once I did that I delivered another quilt to a friend, heard the same line once again, and the wheels started turning. With the hosting package upgrade, I had full e-commerce capability. I said hey I have the tools, why not use them.

Singer 1901 treadle sewing machine A year into the business I took another plunge and purchased a second domain just for my little web store. I also started searching for courses to improve the website, even though most of the improvements I'm finding I need to do are things most people don't even see. But the biggest improvement in the business to date is the upgrade to a Brother computerized sewing machine. The quilts are still constructed and quilted on a 1901 Singer treadle machine, the computerized one is handy for some decorative stitching and it also does embroidery. So now I can include embroidered embellishments to quilts, do personalization, and make embroidered quilt blocks.

Now my husband chuckles and tells me I'm having too much fun when I'm sewing along on the treadle and have the embroidery machine going along by itself. I keep telling him everyone should enjoy their work.

All of the crafts are handmade. The majority of the beaded lanyards are designed by my oldest daughter Hope. Depending on what beads she chooses, I sometimes have to do the actual construction for her.

In 2007 I expanded the product line to include quilting fabric and supplies. I started stocking some of my favorite fabrics, Moda Marbles, and will be expanding the offerings later on. While I would love to do nothing but run my store full-time, that is just not feasible at this time. Beginning in January 2007 I went back to school to complete the degree that I was working on before my oldest was born. This cuts down on the amount of custom orders I can take on during the year. I will still be able to do some custom orders, but most of my sewing time will be taken up with quilt finishing, repairs, and doing pre-made quilts. It was a difficult decision knowing that classes and the required practices would take away from my business time, but the degree is the biggest unfinished project I have and I can't stand to have things unfinished. Once my degree is completed I'll have more time to be able to quilt but until then time is limited.

Toni Wells

Owner, Mother's Unique Designs