'My hobby got too big for the house': Somerset resident opens new quilt shop in Dighton

DIGHTON — When your creative outlet outgrows your creative space, maybe it’s time to go into business.

“My husband says my hobby got too big for the house, and I needed a shop,” says Somerset quilter and owner of Puddle Jumper Quilts in Dighton, Tammy Ruggeri.

Mike Ruggeri confirms the new shop was, in small part, his idea, an idea which grew out of the worry the family home would soon be overrun by quilts, half-done quilts and fabric.

“She was quilting all these years, and we have a raised ranch, and the whole bottom floor was full. It was pretty packed down there," Mike Ruggeri said.

"And then she was talking about opening a business, and I was like, ‘Ah, I don’t know.’ But she did it.”

Puddle Jumper Quilts hosted a grand opening event on May 7, inviting in local quilters and shoppers to see the space and learn what it’s all about. Ruggeri says the shop will offer sewing and quilting classes and lessons for all abilities and sell quilting supplies and fabrics. Ruggeri also offers custom services for hand-stitched memorial items, like memory bears and pillows, in addition to quilts.

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Color and creative possibility

With Ruggeri’s own quilting work lining the walls and fabric swatches filed away on the shelves, the shop is a colorful and inspiring refuge for quilters, experienced or looking to learn. A single swatch of fabric is often the spark for a new piece, and a single swatch can be just the discovery needed to finally complete a long-in-the-works design.

The creative possibilities are only limited by imagination. Well, that, and available fabric. Of course, for quilters, searching and discovering new prints is part of the fun.

“You take a piece of fabric that's perfect and you cut it into these gazillion little pieces and you make something else, you know. The creative side, it’s endless, it’s absolutely endless.

“There's so many designers out there and people stumbling along and finding their own little ways of doing things. ‘Ooh, let's try this design, let's try that.’ Mixing designs, you know, traditional and modern. And it just comes out beautiful.”

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Handmade creations come with added meaning and value

Ruggeri has been quilting for 10 years, and when the pandemic hit in 2019, like many other stitching and sewing professionals and enthusiasts, she began making protective facemasks. Then, she had a request to create something she had never tried or considered: a memory bear, a teddy bear crafted from clothing or belongings as a remembrance of a lost loved one.

“I did the masks and then a lady had asked if I was interested in doing a bear for her, because her friend had passed away. And I said all I do is quilt; I haven't done any sewing like that," Ruggeri recalled. "So she said, ‘oh, I'll give you a chance.’ So I made one and her one turned into 18."

She's stitched and delivered hundreds of bears since.

“So this whole thing started with memory bears and pillows and quilts, and during COVID with so many people passing, yeah, it was a way to give back to the person a little memory, something they can hold and hug, like children that had lost a grandparent. It's just a comforting thing.”

Whether creating a quilt or bear or pillow, or helping a fellow quilter with stitching and design, Ruggeri, who is retired after a 33-year career in telecommunications with the Navy, says the work is nearly always personal and/or emotional. Quilters often work with a recipient in mind, be it intended as a gift or a custom piece, and the memorial items take the aspect of the work to another level.

“You can ask any quilter to pull a scrap out of their pile and say ‘do you remember what quilt this went to?’ And they can tell you what quilt it was and who it went to, because it means that much. It’s really like stitches of love, you know.

“So all this adds up. So when you get that quilt, it is a special thing. It really, truly is. It's not just a work of love; it's the energy and the time that people put into them. They don't start a quilt and do it in a day. Sometimes it's weeks, and sometimes people are working on them for years.”

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Difficult stories, meaningful memorials

In 2015, Ruggeri was contacted to create a quilt for use in the funeral of 2-year-old Bella Bond, the victim in the widely-publicized “Baby Doe” case in Boston, where in June 2015, the then-unidentified toddler was found on the shore of Deer Island.

The quilt, which featured 6-inch fabric squares provided by Boston residents and given as a gift from the people of Somerset, according to Ruggeri, was used to cover the coffin at the funeral.

Ruggeri said it was a difficult, emotional experience.

“With every stitch I cried… every stitch.”

She’s heard many a difficult story since. But it’s necessary to the task and she considers it a privilege to be trusted with the work.

She’s closed on Mondays for one-on-one meetings with clients.

“I set time aside on Mondays,” she said, “for people to come in and I can sit and take the time, because it is a very, I don't want to say stressful, but emotional.

“Yeah, there's an attachment to this jersey that they remember their dad wearing. They have to find that they can trust me. I'm not going to let anything… you know, damage come to it, harm come to it. Whatever is remaining is returned to the people, their families. So I sit there with them and take the time to listen. Listen to their stories about their dad or their grandmother and find out what they were like.”

Taunton Daily Gazette staff writer Jon Haglof can be reached at jhaglof@tauntongazette.com. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Taunton Daily Gazette today.

This article originally appeared on The Taunton Daily Gazette: Somerset's Tammy Ruggeri opens Puddle Jumper Quilts in Dighton