Hickory Stick named among top 10 quilt shops

Pat Waelder, owner of Hickory Stick Quilt & Gift Shop in Hannibal, said she was “shocked and surprised” when she learned her shop had been named one of the top 10 quilt shops in North America. She learned of this honor from Better Homes and Gardens, which told Waelder her shop was chosen from among 3,000 quilt shops.
“This is one of the highest honors you can receive in the quilting industry, as far as a shop goes,” Waelder said. The store will be featured in the 21st annual Quilt Sampler Fall/Winter 2009 edition, a publication of American Patchwork and Quilting magazine. It will be on sale Sept. 8 and is produced by Better Homes and Gardens.
Waelder opened Hickory Stick at 326 N. Main St. 32 years ago and noted that it also has the distinction of being among “less than 100 quilt shops in North America that have been in business over 30 years - owned by the same owner and at the same location.”
Waelder has customers from across the country buying quilt kits and fabrics from her and she is quick to give credit to the ladies who make quilts to be displayed and sold there.
One of them is Ruth Duff of Eolia, who at age 91 makes about 50 percent of the store’s quilts and “is a real inspiration to anybody who wants to do quilting,” Waelder said. “Her workmanship is just perfect, and she is a dear friend,” she said of Duff, who has been making quilts for the store for 25 years.
“She does most of my embroidery red work and does my most difficult quilts,” Waelder added. “She is brilliant. I can take her something, and in a week she has it done. She can figure patterns, and she can draw and change them to any size. And she designs quilting blocks if I want to change them.”
Also making quilts for the store are Amber Coffey and Cathy Chalk, both of Kansas City, Mo.; Carla Gower Quilters of Edina, Jackie Williams of Rockport, Ill.; Zane Keylor of Dorothy’s Alterations in Timewell, Ill.; Joy Creations of Wellsville; Machine Quilting Suey of Quincy, Ill.; and Joyce Riggs of Quincy.
Waelder added that some area people are also designing quilt patterns, such as Christy McCourt. “We sell her patterns here. She designs quilts for magazines, and we do the kitting for the magazines, and we sell the kits for the patterns in the magazines.”
McCourt and Ruth Goodin of Pittsfield, Ill., designed a Civil War quilt, and the shop is selling it, Waelder said. “We try to use as much local talent as we can.”

Full collections
are stocked
Hickory Stick carries many different collections, Waelder said. “We carry full collections in most of our fabrics” so customers can buy all they need.
“I listen to my customers and see what they like,” such as “a certain collection or a certain look, like the Civil War or batiks or more contemporary fabrics. ... My customer base is from all over the world, and there are 27 million quilters in the United States.”
Quilting is gaining in popularity, she said, “because when the economy goes down, quilting comes up. People want something of value to pass on to their family. And they like the camaraderie of being together and the friendships with each other.”
Embroidery is very popular now, she said, “and you can take it with you.” Quilted purses are “big right now,” she added.
Also, “there’s a lot of young people interested in quilting. I have a lot of 12-year-olds and 13-year-olds. They love bright colors.
“Aprons also are very big, and hand towels, and pillow cases are coming back, handmade and embroidery.” Another style gaining in popularity is covering canvas with fabric, she said. “Girls and teachers both are coming in and buying fabric to cover canvas for a bulletin board.
“We also are a creative sewing center,” Waelder said. “We try to show you how to use our fabrics in home decor.
“I have a very, very knowledgeable group of employees, and they are all very creative,” she said. “They have the same passion for the fabrics and quilting as I do. They love it as much. We are all in it together.” Her employees are Annie Bailey, Pat Hess, Pauline McIntosh, Marla Frame, Diana Jones, Sally Keithley, Karma Hurst, Belinda Ebers and Nancy Morris.
She and her employees often help people with fund-raising quilts and quilts for a cause, Waelder said.
Hickory Stick is open from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday.
The shop works with others, such as Joyce Riggs, who teaches quilting classes at John Wood Community College in Quincy, and with the Hannibal Quilt Guild, which meets at Park United Methodist Church in Hannibal. “I am a big promoter of the Hannibal Quilt Guild,” Waelder said. “It’s a wonderful group.”
She added that “we are fortunate to have two sewing machine dealers in the area.” They are Simply Sewing Inc. and Times Square Sewing Complex, both in Quincy.
A special event is planned on July 9 and 10, when Hallye Bone, a quilt appraiser certified by the American Quilters Society of Paducah, Ky., is returning to Hannibal for her semi-annual visit to appraise quilts at the Hickory Stick.
“We are completely booked for July, but she will be back again this fall,” Waelder said. “As soon as it is announced in the paper, we are full in 24 hours.” To schedule an appointment to have a quilt appraised during her next visit, call (573) 221-7282.
Another special event planned later this year is the Hometown Stitches at the Hickory Stick on Sept. 11 and 12, to celebrate the beginning of the store’s fourth decade. It will be co-sponsored by the Hickory Stick and Hannibal Convention & Visitors Bureau. Registration is under way. It will feature lectures and workshops about quilting techniques and the textile industry. Details about the speakers will be reported later. Registration forms are available at Hickory Stick, the HCVB or the Web site www.hickorystickquiltshop.com.

Customers share
enthusiasm
for quilting
Barbara Suckow of St. Michael, Minn., was buying several fabrics Sunday, June 14, at the Hickory Stick, where she last shopped 15 years ago. “It’s been a very long time,” she said, recalling how she and her family discovered the shop on her first visit to Hannibal. “I love Hannibal,” she said.
On Sunday she and her husband, Randy, were returning home from a family reunion in St. Louis. She began quilting after raising her children, and now she makes quilt tops and gives them to family members. Displaying several patterns using blue, she explained they are for a wedding quilt. She also bought Civil War fabrics and red, white and blue for a patriotic pattern.
Two ladies from Perry, Ill., Barb Liehr and Beth Fencik, were choosing fabrics with the help of Pauline McIntosh, who has worked at Hickory Stick for 22 years.
Liehr said they shop there, “very often, too often! I have quite a stash” of fabrics.
One quilter explained she also hosts quilt retreats. Pat Sprague of Sprague’s Kinderhook Lodge in Kinderhook, Ill., said her son, Andrew, owns the lodge where ladies gather nearly every weekend for a quilt retreat.
“We have big crowds,” Pat Sprague said, “and Pat Waelder is one of our best advertisers.” Some women come from Thursday to Sunday, while others arrive later in the weekend. They also have weekday retreats. The Web site is www.kinderhooklodge.com. The phone number is (217) 257-9887.
One of the quilters who attends the retreats also makes quilts for the Hickory Stick. Amber Coffey of Kansas City, Mo., explained, “I have my own machine quilting business, but I come up here for retreats about once a month (at Kinderhook).”
Coffey especially enjoys using batiks, which are hand-dyed fabric, so they are all different. Her favorite patterns are stars.
On Sunday, she was selecting fabrics for two Civil War quilts she was preparing to make as samples for the Hickory Stick.
Coffey began quilting with her mom in 2000 and said “it’s a lot of fun and it’s relaxing.”