HOLTS SUMMIT - The hum of sewing machines, snap of scissors cutting fabric and laughter of community members sharing stories can be heard on any given day in the sewing room at Rooster Creek in Holts Summit. The sewing room, Holts Summit resident Simone Rich said, has become a community of its own.
Rooster Creek sewing room regular Maria Zeman echoed that sentiment. She attended her first class at the Rooster Creek on Jan. 23 - an anniversary she said she plans on celebrating each year.
"It's a sewing circle," Zeman said. "We go for the skills and to take the classes and make projects but it's also the socialization and the comradery among the women."
While she has done some needle pointing, knitting and sewing, Zeman said she hadn't dared quilting until recently. Her son went off to college and she finally felt like she had time to pick up the craft.
"Quilting seemed so out of reach," Zeman said.
Rich has been going to Rooster Creek since it opened last June. She takes classes and goes in several times a week to sew in the sewing room, which she described as calming.
"You go there, you sew, you relax, you create, you have fun, you make new friends - it's just very therapeutic," Rich said.
Although she has also been sewing for years, Rich recently picked up quilting and considers herself a beginner. Rich said those who use the sewing room have a wide-range of skill. And, Rooster Creek's regulars are always willing to trade techniques and help beginners get started - something the store's co-owner Teresa Cuno said she enjoys.
"I love how they help each other," Teresa Cuno said of the store's customers.
Teresa Cuno said she and her husband, Michael, first considered opening a quilting business a couple years ago. Michael Cuno first suggested it, then suggested it again after he returned from Kuwait, where he was for a year for his job with the Missouri National Guard.
"We prayed about it a lot," Teresa Cuno said. "From the time we opened the doors, it's been wonderful."
Michael Cuno said they saw a need in the area for store with high-quality fabric sold at a decent price. From there, the couple decided to add classes, which they hold often. Class topics include beginners' basics, instruction on using the long-arm quilting machine and other sewing and quilting techniques that customers express an interest in learning about.
Teresa Cuno said she also wanted to provide a space for women in the community to learn quilting, grow and spend time with others in the community.
"We all need that," Teresa Cuno said. "I didn't want the art of quilting to die."
The store's sewing room is open to anyone, free of charge. Teresa Cuno said armatures and experts alike are welcome. And, if someone is a beginner, she said the ladies in the sewing room will help them.
The store, Rich added, has all of the supplies you need available for purchase and a free space to meet others in the community with a shared interest in sewing and quilting. She said that as a beginner to quilting, she appreciates both workers' and customers' willingness to help everyone at Rooster Creek. Rich described the Cunos as fair and honest people who care about their customers.
Teresa Cuno has been a seamstress all her life and has owned businesses in the past related to sewing, including a business that made canvas tarps. She and her husband opened Rooster Creek last June.
The Cunos moved to the Holts Summit area a few years ago. At first, she said, she didn't know there was an interest in sewing and quilting in the area, thinking she was the only one. She added she was happy to learn there was an interest and there was a need for a sewing shop.
"We're here, we just didn't have anywhere to go," Teresa Cuno said.
Teresa Cuno learned how to sew from her mother when she was three years old. She used to, with her mother's help, make clothes for her dolls. She kept practicing and improving her skills and, by the time she was in high school, Teresa Cuno was making her own clothes.
Previously, the Cunos owned a store in Jefferson City. Michael Cuno has owned several other flea market and antique business in his life.
Zeman said Rooster Creek is unlike other quilt shops.
"It's not all about the money. It's about wanting to make you feel comfortable and they really want you to learn the art," Zeman said. "The classes are reasonable in cost."
Since attending her first class at Rooster Creek in January, Zeman has completed a couple top layers of quilts and has six projects she is working on right now. She stops in to use the sewing room at Rooster Creek at least 2-3 times a week.
"It's just fun, I love it," Zeman said of her new quilting hobby.
She said quilting is more than just putting strips together. There are a lot of options involved in the assembly of a quilt and she has enjoyed learning techniques from employees and customers at Rooster Creek.
"I'm really enjoying myself learning from them," Zeman said.
For more information about Rooster Creek, including information about their upcoming classes, visit facebook.com/roostercreek or call (573) 896-5685.