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

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 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 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."