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Local Entrepreneur Celebrates 10th Anniversary With 2,400 Sq. Ft. New Store Opening

photo provided Whether your needs are small or large, Creative Fiber Designs and owner Maria Ammatuna have the materials and skills you need! Come and see her for her 10th Anniversary celebration at her new store at 6 Park Street in Brandon, Vt.

photo provided Offering custom upholstery, home decor and window dressings, long time friends Maria Ammatuna and Connie Carroll have the businesses you need to create a home worth framing with your loved ones!

Tuesday July 15, 2014

By Cookie Steponaitis

The historic downtown in Brandon, Vermont has a new resident at 6 Park Street and Creative Fiber Designs is celebrating its 10th anniversary in a big way: by opening a new 2,400 square foot studio/store. “We are thrilled to be a part of the Historic Brandon community,” said shop owner Maria Ammatuna. “I want to be THE destination for creative projects and inspiration in Vermont and online.”
    Maria Ammatuna came to Brandon about fifteen years ago and has a background in retail management and corporate finance that included positions on both coasts of America and at Saks Fifth Avenue. She keeps her creative side alive by designing felted hats and decorative scarves to sell at local craft fairs bringing to her customers a unique brand of service which Vermont stores are known for. Her clientele spans ages 25-89 and Ammatuna sees people who are either making a project for gifting, creating heirlooms to be passed down, wanting a hobby or to expand skills learned at a young age. When speaking of her customers and her classes, Ammatuna simply beams and smiles from ear to ear. “It really is a tactile and sensory experience when people come into the store,” Maria expressed. “For some people it is therapy and they simply enjoy seeing all of the colors, textures and limitless possibilities.”
    Ammatuna works with individual customers who have their own story and shared some of the experiences that make her coming to work a joy every day.  One young woman came into the store through a connection to her daughter at the Local Farmer’s Market. She wanted to learn how to crochet and sitting with her thirty minutes every Friday for a month she learned how to make a scarf. Now she is back looking at patterns, colors and ready to acquire new skills and create. A man who was from Florida and running in a Spartan Race came in and asked for leather, rawhide and patterns and approached the counter with the sheepish comment, “I can’t sew, so would you please teach me?”  and helping him not only learn to cut a pattern but sew the required stitches to make his pieces, the  customer then had to sew his own clothing as part of the event.  “I get goose bumps just talking about different stories,” shared Ammatuna. “Each person is looking for something new.”
    Creative Fiber Designs has not only a huge assortment of wild backed quilting fabrics and Shannon Cuddle Fabrics but also carries rug hooking, embroidery supplies, lace making supplies and much more. Upon arriving at the store this reporter witnessed yet another wonderful feature of the Creative Fiber Design offerings. At the back of the store was Ammatuna’s longtime friend Connie Carroll, Owner of Distinctive Paint & Interiors in Middlebury. They have been steadfast friends for over a decade and have always worked together on custom jobs for clients. Whether it is custom upholstery, home décor, curtains or window dressings the pair has a passion for color and a flair for design that both credit to their grandmothers’ generation and watching them work is to appreciate the caring, skills and camaraderie of a pair long practiced at giving the customer just what they need to complete the project or design a room in their home.
    So, no matter the size of the project or the level of your skill customers will find what they need at Creative Fiber Designs in their new and larger location in Brandon. There are summer and fall classes in quilt blocks, Double Diamond Quilt Classes, Christmas Tree Skirt Design, Pocket Book Class, Machine Quilting Class, Machine Embroidery, Baby Quilts, Diaper Bags, Christmas Stockings, Thanksgiving Runners, Loon Wall Hangings and more with always something new to try and a group of patient, caring and warm people to show you how it is done.  Creativity abounds and the environment makes you want to browse, ask questions and pick up a new skill or give an old skill a try.

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