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Who Could Be Mad at the Quilt Lady? Shop Owner Wants Her Sign Back

This hot pink sign in front of Cristina's Quilt Shoppe is missing.

 

Cristina Riha doesn't have any enemies.

She's the quilt lady, after all.

So she wonders why someone took the hand-carved, hot pink sign that became the trademark of her Cristina's Quilt Shoppe on Second Street in downtown Rochester.

Riha said someone removed the hot pink sign from its wooden hanger on Devil's Night. She said officers from the Rochester Police Department looked in dumpsters for the sign. Riha even searched eBay, thinking maybe someone wanted to sell it.

"Even if a guy took it because he had a girlfriend named Christina, chances are, the girlfriend wouldn't be too happy, because it's probably spelled wrong," she said.

Riha opened the shop in 2006. A Rochester man custom-made the sign for her just before Christmas three years ago. It's irreplaceable, Riha said.

Riha said she can't afford another sign before the holidays. For now, she posted a hand-printed sign in her window.

But it's not the same.

"It was a cool, hand-carved sign," she said. "It was our trademark. People always said, 'Oh, you're the shop with the hot pink sign?' It made us feel so good when people would recognize us by only that sign."

Riha said there won't be any hard feelings toward the culprit if he or she returns it.

"My message to the person who took it is, 'Can I please have my sign back?' They can just put it on my porch. I'll even buy them coffee. I just want the sign."

Related Topics: Downtown Rochester
Why would someone want to steal this sign? Tell us in the comments.

Linda Altz Griffin

5:29 pm on Thursday, November 17, 2011

Thanks, Patch, for helping this great lady get her sign back. I sure hope it comes home soon!! Cristina is the best and I'm sure it was just a prank, but I hope that it finds its' way back!!

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Brendan McGaughey

5:39 pm on Thursday, November 17, 2011

We need to figure this one out, Christina is the nicest lady!

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Brent W

5:41 pm on Thursday, November 17, 2011

I can't help with who took the sign. But I would suggest closing the S hooks on the current sign to make it more difficult for someone to take the sign again.

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Lisa Griffin Kwasek

8:22 pm on Thursday, November 17, 2011

Cristina is so deserving to have her sign back. This shoppe is the best. Please take Christina up on her coffee offer and return her sign. Thank U "Patch" for listening to your readers and writing up this article.

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