Family style

Three generations of one family recently opened two adjoining stores in Portland. 

And creativity seems to be an inherited trait. 

Altered Style and Grandma-N-Me Quiltin opened in August at 803 W. Water Street. Grandma-N-Me Quiltin is owned by Viola Cline and her “N-Me”: 13-year-old granddaughter Gentry Clark. 

The adjoining store, Altered Style, is owned by Cline’s son and daughter-in-law and Gentry’s parents, Gary and Angie Clark. 

The stores have different merchandise and specialities, but both focus on more creative endeavors. Grandma-N-Me makes custom quilts and sells fabric, specializing in wide back fabric for quilting. Altered Style sells home decor, much of it made by the Clarks or refurbished antiques. 

In Grandma-N-Me’s side of the building sits a long-arm quilting machine, which stitches the top of the quilt, the middle section — called batting — and the back of the quilt together. The machine can make very detailed stitching; one “Frozen”-themed quilt Cline and Gentry recently made had stitches in the shape of snowflakes. 

Cline prefers making the quilt tops, which involves sewing patches of fabric together into a pattern, while Gentry prefers running the machine. 

“She loves to see what it can do,” Cline said. “Putting two different threads on, and making lots of different designs.” 

Gentry, an eighth-grader at Fort Recovery Middle School, has been quilting since she was about nine years old. She estimates she’s made about 25 quilts since then. She and a friend own another business, Critter Cuisine, which sells homemade pet treats and dog bandannas. 

“I just like crafts in general, like anything,” Gentry said. “For me, it’s fun because I get bored very easily.” 

Angie and Gary’s store is filled with refurbished antique and vintage furniture and home decor that Gary has picked up at auctions and estate sales. A jewelry maker sells some items on consignment, and the store will have more consigners starting next year. Angie also offers home decorating services. 

“I go to a client’s home and help them choose maybe paint colors, decide where furniture needs to go,” Angie said. “Anything decorative.” 

In the four months since the stores opened, their respective owners have been working on raising awareness for the businesses and expanding their services. They participate in Jay County Chamber of Commerce’s First Thursday events and use social media to draw in customers. 

Angie’s older daughters also help out with marketing and accounting work. 

“It’s a family-run business, for sure,” Angie said. 

Cline and the Clarks plan to offer classes in the upcoming year — Grandma-N-Me has already hosted a jellyroll rug-making class, which Cline said was quite popular. Altered Style will focus on arts and crafts classes, such as how to use furniture paint to redecorate. 

Owning a business is nothing new for the Clarks, who have run You Neekly Ur’s, an interior painting company, for 28 years. 

Cline, who came out of retirement to open her store, previously worked at Sunrise Cooperative in Fort Recovery and at the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles. 

“I got bored,” Cline said of her four years out of the workforce.  

Being self-employed comes with its drawbacks, but the Clarks prefer to own their businesses rather than work for someone else. 

“You are your own boss in a way, but you’re really working for the public and every person, so they’re your boss,” Angie said. “But you enjoy pleasing people.” 

Altered Style is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Thursdays and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays. Grandma-N-Me Quiltin is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.