Last night we had a sad event. The Victoria Quilting community said good bye to Linda Refuse who was the owner of Satin Moon Quilted Garden Shop here in Victoria BC. Linda passed away unexpectedly on June 7, 2016. She was originally from Alberta her brothers held a small memorial for her there last week. Linda’s friend Jennifer decided we quilters should also celebrate Linda’s life as a friend, quilter and as a larger part of the Victoria quilters scene. In honour of Linda she decided to organize a tea party with everything decorated in Linda’s favourite colour PINK!
I had the pleasure of working with Linda at the Satin Moon shop three years ago. I had been laid off from my Telecom Analyst position of 15 years and decided to take the summer off (I had been working steady since I was barely 18 years old). Since I was given 18 months severance and I had savings it was a good opportunity for me to regroup. I had two friends who already worked for the shop and I was asked if I wanted to work one day a week there. I was delighted, it got me out of the house and able to play with fabric… my favourite thing. I discovered I really enjoyed working at the shop and helping the customers choose their fabrics for a project or just check out the projects in progress. I was still working there part time when I received the news I had cancer. Linda was incredibly sweet and since I was unable to continue to look for full time work during that time I remained working part-time at Satin Moon until I was too sick to do so. (I am all better now).
The tea party to honour Linda was a great idea. It was well attended and I’m sure Linda would have loved it. Jennifer even set up a table just for Linda so I’m sure she was there in spirit.
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- Susan McGregor setting out the cupcakes she brought (notice the pick icing)
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- A shot of the room before the plates were filled with sandwiches and goodies
I have included two pictures of the room getting set up in preparation for the event. It always amazes me how you can take a plain room and make it festive my adding tablecloths, flowers and food. One of the pictures has a very badly lit Susan McGregor setting out the cupcakes she brought. Susan also worked with Linda at Satin Moon.
It was a great idea thanks so much Jennifer for organizing this.
Friends are like fabric-you can never have enough!