Local quilt shop featured in ‘Home and Garden’ magazine

Miranda L. Pennock 04/13/09

Miranda L. Pennock/Patchwork Plus in Marcellus is about to gain national recognition in “Home and Garden Quilt Sampler.” In front from left are Judy Sheridan, co-owner Judi West and Patty Elkovitch. In back is co-owner Tom West. Sheridan and Elkovitch have created a quilt pattern, which is available in the magazine.

“She who dies with the most fabric wins.”
At least that’s the way the age-old quilter’s saying goes, but how much truth is there in it? Ask Judi West, because she has quite the collection of colorful cottons.
“In the 1970s I took quilting classes because of the bicentennial,” West said. “Then I joined a guild, but it was very difficult to find fabric that was 100 percent cotton. So, a friend and I decided we could do this.”
West was talking about Patchwork Plus on Cherry Valley Road, also Route 20, in Marcellus. It is a quilter’s, knitter’s and general crafter’s heaven and it will be gaining national recognition when the “Home and Garden Quilt Sampler” hits newsstands May 12.
Patchwork Plus will be one of 10 shops around the country featured in the spring edition of the sampler, which will include the pattern for “Lady of the Lake Baskets” designed by Judy Sheridan of Skaneateles Falls and Patty Elkovitch of Skaneateles, who both work at store.
“I have been blessed with wonderful people working here. They make it fun to come to work,” West said.
Patchwork Plus got its start in the front of the current Byrne Dairy building on Jordan Street in downtown Skaneateles and West made that the shop’s home for 19 years.
She said they started out in one room, then took over a second room, then a third and then another one. But, the location was one of those “you had to know it was there to find it” locations.
When the decision was made by West and her husband Tom to find a different location where people would see the shop and also allow for more space for merchandise, they looked all over Skaneateles.
They couldn’t find anything to suit their needs, and instead found the property on Route 20 and built a spacious wooden structure that is not only quaint, but has every crevice filled to the brim with colorful displays of fabrics, yarns, patterns and finished products.
“Moving here opened up a much bigger market,” West said.
That bigger market just got a whole lot larger with the recognition the shop will receive in “Quilt Sampler.”
“It’s just an honor to have been selected for it,” West said.
The shop has never been featured in the magazine before and was chosen for this edition from a pool of thousands of quilt shops around the country. West expects several people to start visiting the store because of its location and the magazine feature, which will be good for her business and everyone else in business in the area.
West said she’s ordered 1,000 copies of the magazine and 250 are on preorder with the hope they will be shipped in time for a magazine signing the business is planning for May 2. If the magazines aren’t at the shop by then, there will still be a celebration, West said smiling, and no matter what happens many people have already told her they will be at the event.
Preparing for an influx of happy quilters, Sheridan and Elkovitch are busily cutting fabric for quilt kits, which include all the fabric quilters will need to make the blanket they have designed as part of the feature.
“We based it on Judi and her shop,” Sheridan said about the pattern, adding she and Elkovitch chose baskets because West regularly uses baskets in the store for a variety of uses, and the fabric colors match those used in the sign on the front of the building.
The pair come from strong art backgrounds, so working together was a natural fit. Sheridan retired from the Weedsport Central School District after 35 years of teaching art and the gifted and talented program.
The pattern is a reflection of both shop and seamstress and just in case there’s an “oops” when stitching, the designers have provided a little extra fabric.
“The pattern is in the magazine already,” Elkovitch said. “We’re providing the fabrics. Since we made the quilt already, we know how much fabric it needs.”
Regardless of the fabric bolts lining the walls, Patchwork Plus isn’t just a place for creating and crafting. West’s business is deeply based on customer service and providing a helping hand to all who walk through the wooden doors.
“For us this really is a tremendous place to live and work,” Sheridan said.
For more information about the May 2 magazine signing and celebration, call Patchwork Plus at 673-2208.

CATEGORY: General Family & Home
EDITION: Skaneateles Press