Woman gives gifts from the heart
For Bridgid Molyneaux, gifts from her heart begin with work from her hands.
Bridgid Molyneaux makes everything from salsa to quilts to give her family and friends for Christmas.
Photo by Jim Blaylock
While her peers are scouring shopping centers, tracking down elusive Christmas presents, Molyneaux is making her own.
"I make all kinds of stuff," Molyneaux said. "Stuff like homemade salsa, I'm making a handmade quilt, and I'm smocking a nightgown for my girlfriend. I'm also making angels out of handkerchiefs that belonged to my grandmother, who is now deceased, for my family."
Molyneaux, the daughter of an English mother and Irish father living in Connecticut, credits her mum with sparking her interest in all things crafts oriented.
"My mother did a lot of knitting and sewing and I just kept it up," said Molyneaux, a homemaker. "With three kids pulling me in three different directions, I need to do this to keep my sanity. It also keeps me from eating M&Ms in front of the TV all day.
"Plus, I'm really cheap," she said with a laugh. "I hate to spend a lot of money on a lot of different people."
Another factor as to why she makes her gifts is that she knows each one will be unique and different. Molyneaux said that whoever she gives a present to knows that they are the only one in the world with that particular gift.
"A lot of people in my family are hard to buy for," she said. "People like my parents have every little techno-gadget you can think of. I don't know what I can buy them that they don't already have. But I can make them something with my own hands and they really appreciate that I took the time to do that for them."
From her workshop, a converted spare bedroom on the top floor of her Jones Creek home, Molyneaux applies her multi-talented crafts abilities to make presents for her parents; her siblings; three daughters, Savannah, 6, Maizie, 2, and Jenny, 7 months; her husband, Mark, a plant manager of Thermo King in Louisville; and friends. She even makes gift baskets for her husband's office staff and spiders made of beads for her daughters to give to their teachers.
"I've been making gifts for Christmas for probably 10 years," Molyneaux said. "Whether it's embroidery, food, little beaded spiders, it's something that comes from the heart. That's what matters the most."