About Us If You Build It, Quilters Will Come Country Quilting Shop offers Quality Fabrics, Machine Quilting, and Much More By Lynne Hewes
What started out as a plan for a family venture, something the family could work together on, is rapidly becoming a reality for Gerald and Lois Nichols, who live north of Copeland. Along the way, just as planned, that family venture is also turning into a much-needed and much-appreciated business for people who live in Gray County and surrounding areas. Sunflower Creations is a quilt supply shop, a machine quilting business, and a sewing machine repair service. Surprisingly, this multi-tasked shop sits in a fairly remote, rural area. Their physical address is 23403 2 Road, and that translates to about eight miles north of Copeland. The shop isn’t really hard to find, but it is off the beaten track. “It’s a peaceful area,” said Lois Nichols,” but there are other advantages to having a shop out in the country as well. For one thing, sales tax in Garden City, for example, is up to eight and one-quarter percent now. We don’t have that tax in this rural area, so there’s a real savings.” The Nichols’ shop began to take shape just a year ago when they purchased a Gammill Long-arm Quilting Machine, and Gerald set out to practice in the family garage. “He’s really good at it,” said Lois. “It’s much harder for me to use, maybe because I’m so used to sewing on a machine, which is an entirely different technique. He’s also a perfectionist.” Gerald Nichols has a successful medical background, which seems a surprising prerequisite for his new profession, but that background is just one example of his strong motivation and work ethic. “I actually did my second quilt during the time in 1991 when Gerald was going to school full time for paramedic and nursing training,” Lois said. “He was taking so many hours then.” Gerald’s nursing degree led him to work for the St Catherine Hospital, St. Catherine Hospital Wound Care Center, Garden City Medical Clinic (now Sienna Medical) and, eventually, a job as nursing director of The Bethel Home in Montezuma. Through it all, however, a home-based business was on his mind. Initially the couple had intended to open a sewing machine dealership and sewing machine repair service. At about the same time Lois was put in charge of making a quilt for their church’s sewing leader, and she took the quilt top to a Montezuma quilter who was beginning to phase out her business. “We already knew the area had a need for a sewing machine dealership and repair service,” said Gerald, “but we soon found out that there was also a demand for a machine-quilting service. There are other machine quilters around the area, but they are all very busy and they have projects backed up. There was room for more.” The result is a delightfully open and modern, light and airy shop with display shelving for bolts and bolts of quality quilting fabrics and notions, a quilting area for the Gammill machine, a room full of rolls of batting, space for locally made consignment crafts (intricate wooden toys, toll paintings, and quilt racks, to name a few) and Gerald’s sewing machine repair room. The walls are decorated with beautiful quilts in a variety of patterns and designs. There’s even an old-fashioned hand-quilting frame, set up to one side with folding chairs placed around it. “Some quilt designs just seem to need hand quilting,” Lois said. “They are more difficult to ‘stitch in the ditch,’ and hand quilting works better for those. We keep that frame set up, and I do some hand quilting on it, but other people are welcome to come sit here and hand quilt as well.” Part of the country feel of the shop is based upon just that: the Nichols welcome others to come and quilt and visit. “We’ve set up the shop so that there is a kitchen area, although it’s not quite a full kitchen yet,” Lois said. “But we have a refrigerator and counters, and people can bring their Crockpots, sit around our tables or on the couch, and spend the day quilting here if they would like to.” One example of that is their “Oh, Sew Enjoyable Thursday,” which takes place on the fourth Thursday of each month from 1:00 – 5:00 p.m. People can bring their machines and projects and sew while they visit. “We welcome people to come anytime our door is open,” said Lois. “We found out that we couldn’t be a dealer unless we had a shop,” Gerald said. “Now we have the shop, so we’re going to pursue the dealership plan too as the door opens”. The couple’s two children Jonathan, age 13, and Anda, age 10, are already showing an interest in the family business. “Anda is learning to piece her own quilts,” said Lois, “and Jonathan will begin helping with machine repair soon.” With quilting becoming an increasingly popular hobby throughout the nation, Sunflower Creations is getting its start at the right time. According to “Quilting in America,” an article put out by Quilter’s Newsletter Magazine, “Total quilters in the U.S. now exceed 27 million, which represents almost a 100 percent increase from the 14 million quilters reported in 1997.” Further statistics from the article announce that the majority of quilters “have a room dedicated to sewing/quilting activities…[and] on average they own $3,195 worth of fabric…[as well as] an average of 2.6 sewing machines…” per household. Gerald Nichols is trained to service and repair all makes and models of sewing machines, and he hopes to add restoration of vintage machines at a future date. He even has plans to do “house calls” to repair machines in homes, as well as institutions such as schools. Embroidery and industrial sewing machines will be considered on a case by case basis. Sunflower Creations also offers specialized services for people who may not sew but do have ideas for designs. “If people want us to,” Gerald said, “we’ll take an idea they have from the ground up. We can help them design their quilt, we have people who can piece their quilt top, and we can help them choose backing and thread.” At the other end of the spectrum, some people like to do their own quilting with laptop frames. “If they need us to, we can baste their quilt for them before they start doing laptop quilting, and we can also bind it for them afterward” Lois adds. The Nichols family has given a lot of thought to the variety of services they offer. “We wanted a family business,” Gerald Nichols said, “but even more than that, we wanted to do something for our community, to give something back. At a time when farmers in this area worry about drought and falling water tables, we decided to think outside the box. There is potential for all kinds of business opportunities in addition to agriculture in this part of the country.” To some people, opening a new retail and service business in a rural area may take a leap of faith, but Lois and Gerald are relaxed, calm, and positive about their future. “Yes, it may be a leap of faith,” Gerald said, “but we really have that faith in our community and their interest and the need out there for what we’re offering.” Copyright Summer 2008 The Legend Magazine.
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