A new feature is being added to the newsletter this month; instead of members, we’ll be profiling quilt shops. The owners and patrons of our first shop were the founders of Where The Corners Meet Quilt Guild. That shop is, of course, The Quilting Bee owned by Linda Miller.
The shop itself opened in 1981. Linda became an employee and eventually bought the shop in 1992. Today it is a full service shop with over 1200 bolts of fabric and a wide variety of books, patterns and notions.
Linda began sewing in the eighth grade and although she majored in Home Economics in college her emphasis was in food and nutrition – not sewing.. Her sewing included clothing (remember the knits and tee shirts?) and cross stitch but she didn’t start quilting until she moved to New Wilmington and was introduced to the Quilting Bee and its quilting classes.
After seeing all the beautiful fabric Linda carries in her shop I asked her what’s in her personal stash – or is her shop her stash? She does have a stash of her own and it has lots of blues and yellows and Halloween fabric. She likes the 30s reproductions and Civil War fabrics, scrappy quilts and traditional patterns. She does hand piece some things but stays away from applique.
In discussing quilting trends it becomes apparent that Linda is quite knowledgeable with designers, lines of fabric and other pertinent information. She confirms that the rotary cutter completely changed the quilt industry. The rotary cutter coupled with machine quilting has made quilting more readily accessible to sewers, thus the popularity today.
Linda juggles waiting on customers and making them feel at ease with sewing sample projects all in a calm, easy-going manner. It all makes the atmosphere in the Quilting Bee an appealing one. We thank Linda for keeping “the Bee” running and making it accessible to us on our meeting nights.
