The Rewards of All That Work

March is women's history month and our show is part of that energy.

Months of work went into the open house we had last Sunday. My daughter, Cynthia Hamilton created our living room into a showroom for her pillow designs, "Once Upon My Pillow" and I showed my series" Women Who Change the World" to the public for the first time.

All the pillows are made from recycled natural fabrics, hand embroidered

Patti uses her treadle machine to construct the pillows. She has no electricity and can only work during daylight hours. Her husband has been without work, so she supports her family with her sewing

Candaleria does the hand embroidery so she can be home with her daughters

Just a few of the 90 pillows that were on display

Cynthia said “I created Once Upon My Pillow from a long-felt desire to do my part, my part for my community, for my fellow-woman, and for the environment.  With the help of women in San Miguel, and under my guidance, we created these pillows from cashmeres, silks, cottons, and the most unique trims and buttons, to design and make one-of-a-kind, boutique, pillow cases, all hand-made from 100% recycled materials. I had a desire to help local women work from home; stay close to their children, and explore and expand their natural creativity; hand embroidering and sewing with a treadle sewing machine, using 100% recycled materials.  I do most of the cutting and all of the designs and encourage my Mexican assistants to use their creativity.”

The attention that goes into each pillow is similar to a Chanel jacket but without the price tag.


Her Mexican assistants lives have become interwoven with hers. Of course it is challenging and time consuming for her to find the perfect garments to cut up to make beautiful designer pillows; however these are pillows with a purpose.

Ezshwan researched for months, deciding whom she would include in this series. ”I learned much about women that I knew of only superficially. I choose women whom I thought made significant changes in our world. There are many more, but I focused on 15. I could have continued indefinitely, but I felt it was time to move on to a new series.”