Once the plans for my family’s spring vacation to the East Coast was set, I promptly “Google-searched” and “map-quested” all the quilt shops in the towns we would be traveling through.
In my secret dreams, I planned to spent at least “a few minutes” at each and every one of these shops...However, reality hit and I did not anticipate problem of the shops not being open at for my shopping pleasure at 10 p.m. when I arrived in town nor were they open at 7 a.m. in the morning when I was leaving town. Nuts!
Luckily, somewhere between Niagara Falls and the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY (I am traveling with boys, you see), my timing was perfect and the location was excellent and I found a quilt shop near our hotel that was open.
And what find it was! Located in an old cotton mill, near the historic part of Utica, NY (near the finish line of the world famous Boilermaker Race) was the “Tiger Lily Quilt Company” . This central New York shop had wonderful quilts on display and a newsletter with a full line-up of classes. The 2,000 square foot brick-walled shop is filled with wonderful fabrics, notions, patterns, and lots of inspirational samples.
In addition to quilting, “Tiger Lily” also has a full range of folk art classes in punch needle, wool projects, knitting, embroidery, rug hooking and painted canvas floor cloths.
Living in this part of the country, we have access to many wonderful instructors, said shop co-owner Jessica Scialdo. Most of our teachers are award winning quilters and are very talented.” Among their teachers include Molly Waddell, who has received awards from the Quilters Consortium of New York State, National Quilting Association and many others including local and national awards for her appliqué work. Molly’s work, entitled Renaissance Roses, will also be gracing the cover "month of May" of the 2007 Quilt Art Engagement Calendar that is published by the American Quilters Association. Look for it in shops in the next few weeks.
Another fabulous instructor is Mari Lou Allen who specializes in miniatures. A
sample of one of her miniatures “Quilters Wash Day” (made from an M & H Designs pattern of the same name) is on display in the shop.
“We are very fortunate to have “inherited” many of these instructors from the previous owners—who had the shop for about 15 years before we bought it,” said Jessica. Jessica and her business partner, Donna Papaleo are getting ready to celebrate the one year anniversary of the shop.
The shop has quilt classes for kids, beginners, and the seasoned quilter. They are also participating the the “Quilt Pink” for breast cancer program. In addition, 10 quilt shops in the area are participating a quilt shop hop in September and all participating shops will be making charity donations for cancer research.
For more info visit Tiger Lily's website or contact Jessica and Donna at "dandJ@tigerlilyquiltco.com".
The shop was a true find and I appreciated the time Jessica spent with me at the shop. Also thanks to all my boys who waited patiently during my “allocated 15-minute” shopping spree—I only went over time by 13 minutes..they did not complain—but they did keep the clock running.
In my secret dreams, I planned to spent at least “a few minutes” at each and every one of these shops...However, reality hit and I did not anticipate problem of the shops not being open at for my shopping pleasure at 10 p.m. when I arrived in town nor were they open at 7 a.m. in the morning when I was leaving town. Nuts!
Luckily, somewhere between Niagara Falls and the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY (I am traveling with boys, you see), my timing was perfect and the location was excellent and I found a quilt shop near our hotel that was open.
And what find it was! Located in an old cotton mill, near the historic part of Utica, NY (near the finish line of the world famous Boilermaker Race) was the “Tiger Lily Quilt Company” . This central New York shop had wonderful quilts on display and a newsletter with a full line-up of classes. The 2,000 square foot brick-walled shop is filled with wonderful fabrics, notions, patterns, and lots of inspirational samples.
In addition to quilting, “Tiger Lily” also has a full range of folk art classes in punch needle, wool projects, knitting, embroidery, rug hooking and painted canvas floor cloths.
Living in this part of the country, we have access to many wonderful instructors, said shop co-owner Jessica Scialdo. Most of our teachers are award winning quilters and are very talented.” Among their teachers include Molly Waddell, who has received awards from the Quilters Consortium of New York State, National Quilting Association and many others including local and national awards for her appliqué work. Molly’s work, entitled Renaissance Roses, will also be gracing the cover "month of May" of the 2007 Quilt Art Engagement Calendar that is published by the American Quilters Association. Look for it in shops in the next few weeks.
Another fabulous instructor is Mari Lou Allen who specializes in miniatures. A
sample of one of her miniatures “Quilters Wash Day” (made from an M & H Designs pattern of the same name) is on display in the shop.“We are very fortunate to have “inherited” many of these instructors from the previous owners—who had the shop for about 15 years before we bought it,” said Jessica. Jessica and her business partner, Donna Papaleo are getting ready to celebrate the one year anniversary of the shop.
The shop has quilt classes for kids, beginners, and the seasoned quilter. They are also participating the the “Quilt Pink” for breast cancer program. In addition, 10 quilt shops in the area are participating a quilt shop hop in September and all participating shops will be making charity donations for cancer research.
For more info visit Tiger Lily's website or contact Jessica and Donna at "dandJ@tigerlilyquiltco.com".
The shop was a true find and I appreciated the time Jessica spent with me at the shop. Also thanks to all my boys who waited patiently during my “allocated 15-minute” shopping spree—I only went over time by 13 minutes..they did not complain—but they did keep the clock running.
