A friend once called C'est Chouette the “Needlepoint Rescue Society,” and that is an apt description of the unique design business owned by Sharon Wollman.

Sharon, first of all, can you please tell us about the name of your business — C'est Chouette is French, isn’t it? What does it mean, and why did you choose that as the name of your design business?

Yes, C’est Chouette is French. The name of my business came during a conversation with my daughter, who at the time was in her first year of French as a freshman. I showed her a pillow I had just finished, and her response was “c’est chouette.” What a cute phrase! It became even cuter as I explored the meaning. C’est Chouette literally translates as “small cabbage” but in casual French it is used to say “that’s cool.” After e-mailing her French teacher, who — being a bachelor — could have cared less about needlepoint pillows,  it was confirmed that my pillows were, indeed, “c’est chouette” — being cool and looking like small cabbages. So, the name stuck. I love it and so does my daughter who is continuing her French studies in college.

You’ve said that every needlepoint has a story. How did you first know that you were the person to help honor those stories and share their beauty with others?

As I shop antique stores and flea markets, I am always looking under tables, a habit I got into while I was in the footstool business (another past career — I have had many.) One day, I found an entire box filled with needlepoints looking pretty forlorn and forgotten under that table. Wondering why anyone would part with these pieces of beautiful handiwork, I bought the entire box and took it home. I knew this would be my calling with that box of needlepoints. It is not difficult to say why these needlepoints called to me. They are beautiful pieces of art created at the hands of women who have gone before me. Needlepoint is an art that crosses all social, economic and ethnic barriers. It cannot be duplicated by machine, each needlepoint has taken hours upon hours to complete. I need to honor the stitch artists. I wish I knew each story, whether this piece was made to celebrate a wedding or to adorn a new home, one to commemorate the birth of a baby, or one that was worked while on a long ocean voyage coming to the “new world.” I don’t know the stories, but I have a great imagination.

Where do you find vintage needlepoints that are in need of a good home?

My husband says I will stand on my head if it means finding a needlepoint. He is probably correct. I love “the hunt” — just aim me in the direction of a flea market, antique store or a thrift shop, and I will dig until I find all the needlepoints. I hate to leave even one behind. Once I dug through a barrel of pillows, nearly falling in to find a needlepoint pillow at the bottom of the barrel. Another time, I bought a needlepoint from a trash basket in an antique store in New Orleans — how dare they think of throwing it out! On a trip home from Savannah, I had my carry-on searched only to be embarrassed because the whole bag was overstuffed with needlepoints — nothing else — just needlepoints.

Once a tuffet is created, you deliver it to its new home. How do you package and mail such a special treasure?

My tuffets are almost as important to me as my customers. I wrap each tuffet in plastic, like a piece of candy, tie the ends with pink and green ribbons, nestle it in a box lined with tissue, add a box of chocolate candies, a thank-you note and send it off to my customer. The customer knows before opening the box that it is from me as I always use my cabbage rose on the label. Then, I set into a mini-panic until I hear from my customer that the tuffets have arrived. As one wrote to me “Your babies have arrived.”

What types of marketing have worked best for your design business? What hasn't worked well?

First, my association with Make Mine Pink has catapulted me to success at a lightning speed. Just to be part of this wonderful group gave my customers faith in me immediately. Through Make Mine Pink, I gained Internet presence quickly, giving me a jumping off point to further that presence with diligence on my part. It has allowed my business to be featured in many national ads, something I could not do on my own either financially or creatively.

Second, blog, blog, blog! I know I sound like a broken record, but blogging has always worked for me. My customers do read my blog. Some connect with me on the artistic level, the nostalgic level or on the personal level. I always have a few readers in mind as I write the post. I don’t ever pretend to know who my ideal customers are. I know my ideal customers, and I write my blog with them in mind and they visit. It is a good relationship. Blogging can be dangerous, though, as you can easily lose hours visiting all the many blogs out there in the blogosphere.

Some areas in which I have not seen a lot of results are a few paid home décor list sites (not the same as top lists). I have not received the traffic that I hoped for, but it seems that they are geared more to the large national companies. So, I have focused more on the handcrafted list sites. In the past, I have used eBay and Etsy as a form of advertising. It is difficult to keep up with them all, but I pick one day a month and search for a new place to show my pillows. I just never know who will see my pillows on a site somewhere and come to my boutique and buy. My goal is always to bring my customers to my site so they understand my love for the needlepoints and for my business.

At one time, you invited a friend to come over and help you open your e-mail. Now you use the Internet to sell your tuffets to people around the world. What prompted you to learn to use the Internet for your business, and how did you go about learning?

Oh, man! I am so busted on this one! Yes, it’s true. I came into the computer world kicking and screaming. I cried on Mother’s Day a few years back as my family gave me a computer — I wanted diamonds.  But, very early one morning, awakened by a thunderstorm, I was up reading Romantic Homes and came across an ad for Make Mine Pink. I got up in the wee hours and surfed the Web — rather clumsily I might add — investigating each boutique, jumping from link banner to link banner, reading each and every About Me page. I was smitten. I knew I had to have a website to sell my tuffets and my site had to be at Make Mine Pink. I e-mailed my friend at 3 AM to tell her (lucky thing e-mails are not like telephones). The next morning she literally fell over laughing, but she phoned me anyway! She had been the one who would drive to my house to open my e-mail for me. I had coerced her into publishing the PTA e-letter that was my responsibility; she literally taught me “copy and paste” step by step! But she kicked into gear and helped me in any way she could and made sure I never lost sight of my goal. With the help of another friend, whom I lovingly call “the tuffet king,” we built a website from scratch. I bought books, researched the strange language of computer-eze, and learned SEO. I now speak HTML fluently, and my friend comes to me for computer help. I love that! Luckily, I was able to upgrade to a Cottage Collections website and no longer need to speak HTML. It has been a very gratifying experience to learn the computer and finally catch up to what my children knew at a young age.

I honestly feel I would not be in business if not for the Internet. Really, how many pillows can I sell in my little city? I am not able, and pretty much unwilling, to travel to craft fairs to sell. My pillows are one of a kind, so printed materials would be outdated as quickly as they were printed. But via the Web, I can make a tuffet in the morning, put it on my site, make a sale to a customer in San Diego, Charlottesville, or even Paris and mail it that same day, all from my little corner of South Dakota. How cool is that?

Does your creativity ever run dry? Who or what inspires you to continue to design tuffets?

No! My creative monster cannot be tamed. The needlepoints themselves keep me creating. Each one has a new color, a new style or new flower, and I just get an idea by looking at it. I also get so much inspiration from day-to-day life. If I ever get an afternoon to myself, I head out to the book store and read every decorating magazine on the rack. All styles inspire me. I love the fresh new styles, the Victorian styles, the Moderne and the Art Deco; it all gets my creativity going.

If you had to name one thing as the key to your success, what would it be?

My success did not come easily to me. I, like every creative woman, see so much and think, “I can do that.” I want to do it all. I just do! But, the very hardest part of my success was trying not to do it all. Luckily, my logo states that C’est Chouette is the vintage needlepoint pillow boutique, so that has kept me focused.

Having said all that, there is as second thing that has added to my success. My affiliation with Make Mine Pink and the inspiring women who give me so much support when things go right and when things go wrong. When I was computer illiterate they took me in and treated me like I was one of them — no questions asked. When my site opened, they all cheered. When I went through personal difficulties, they called and emailed just to let me know they were thinking of me. I have always gauged friendship by whether I would invite someone to my birthday party or not. ALL of these women would be invited.

For other women who would like to use their sewing skills for a business, what advice would you give?

Do it. Find your passion. Stay focused. Find one product and do it well. Become an expert on your product and do it better than anyone. Name it, claim it and get it on the Web. Of course, check all the laws that govern your products. That goes without saying.

What project is sitting on your work table right now? What can we look forward to seeing from you this year?

Roses, roses, roses. I love rose needlepoints. I just can’t seem to get enough of them. Also, I have a couple of bird needlepoints, a pile of new silks and a jumble of trims. It is kind of messy on my work table right now. In a basket, I have a few needlepoints sent to me by customers. While “custom” is not a staple for my business, I just couldn’t resist helping these customers by creating pillows and tuffets from their cherished family heirlooms.

I have recently been drooling over some silk velvets, so look for velvet and antique needlepoint pillows soon. I have my eye on some very expensive, ancient needlepoints. It is time to take the leap and see if the net appears. I am pretty sure it will.

My newest business development is that my oldest daughter has joined me at C’est Chouette, working off her college tuition. I love having her fresh eye for design. She can be a bit stubborn at times — she comes by it naturally, and I am sure we will work it all out.

Name one person who has inspired you and how?

My mother was my inspiration. She always told me there was not a thing I couldn’t do. Even at times when I took on more than I should or something I didn’t really know how to do, she would say, “Learn to do it now.” She was always impressed with my abilities and told me so. She taught me that all work is worthy and work for the sake of work can be a good thing. She also had such a sense of family and the past, spending hours researching genealogy. She taught my two sisters and me to appreciate antiques. When the three of us get together, we go antiquing and laugh and tell stories. It doesn’t happen enough as we are separated by distance and are each at different stages of child rearing.

My mother’s spirit has been passed to the next generation in my daughters. I love that both my daughters have learned that they can always fall back on their own resources to make their way in this world. They have never known a day when I was not gratified by working and using my God-given talents.

You are pretty well known for you volunteer work. Tell us about that.

There is a saying in PTA: “God first, family second, PTA third.” I guess I pretty much took that to heart. In fact, I love every minute I spend volunteering. I have been lucky enough to work with the school district on so many projects that have benefited students. Some of my favorite volunteer opportunities involve working directly with the students.

I was stunned into reality one day a few years ago. As I was preparing for a talk with the all the principals in the city, my mother called and mentioned that I spend a lot time with the school district. Feeling a little puffed up, I answered that yes, I did. She quickly pointed out that the difference between her and I was that she had never been asked. Humbled, I went to my talk and thanked the principals for including parent volunteers as part of our children’s education process.

I became a member of the board for the Sioux Falls Public Schools Education Foundation in 2005 when it was a small fund of about $2000, and this past year, we grew it to a large fund, granting over $17,000 in educational grants. That alone is enough to give pause, but we plan to grow it even more and give even more grants to benefit children and education. I am so happy to be on that board.

This past October, I was honored by four people that I dearly love and consider to be the busiest people on earth as they took time to write about me and to nominate me for the “Spirit of the Prairie” award, an honor I did not take lightly as I met the other 22 women nominees from this great state who held the same values I did: God, family, and others.

My favorite quote is from the Bible: “...to whom much is given, much is expected.” I have been given so much in my life.

Please visit the C'est Chouette website at http://cestchouettehome.com/ to see some of her vintage needlepoint pillows. You can learn about the special care that goes into creating a C'est Chouette tuffet at Sharon's blog, http://cest-chouette.blogspot.com/. Her tuffets and pillows are also available at http://www.makeminepink.com/boutiques/details/?store=33. Sharon lives in South Dakota with her supportive husband of nearly 28 years, two college-aged daughters and Toby, the tuffet cat. She is Director of Community Relations at MakeMinePink.com, another volunteer position she just couldn’t resist.

Sharon, thank you for taking the time to talk to us today and for sharing some of your wisdom with us. We appreciate the beauty and the history your work adds to our lives.

It is my pleasure. Thank you for considering me a Woman Who Inspires.