Hickory Stick named among top 10 quilt shops
Hannibal, MO — 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.”
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