THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 18, 1995 TAG: 9501170115
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LORI A. DENNEY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 89 lines
IN QUILT COUNTRY, a business owned by Pungo resident Norma Lancaster, you'd expect to be able to buy quilts.
Not so, says Lancaster.
There's only one quilt, out of the dozen or so displayed in the Dam Neck Road store, that Lancaster would consider selling. And that's only because it's a quilt she bought from a woman years ago and it's not one she painstakingly stitched by hand.
``It's hard to part with any of your quilts,'' said Lancaster, 55. ``Most have a story you can tell about them.''
Lancaster makes no bones about it. She didn't open her business to sell quilts. She opened it to teach the art of quilting and to sell the supplies needed to quilt.
Her store, a renovated house she bought in 1980 and rented out to tenants until she opened the business a month ago, is stocked with more than 300 bolts of fabric, rulers, tapes, scissors, cutters, thread, needles, glue and even books that feature quilting patterns.
On display in the rustic-looking building are several quilts Lancaster has quilted and used as bedspreads or wall hangings. There are one or two quilt racks for sale and a whole table of fat quarters (an 18-by-22-inch spare piece of cloth) for $1.50 each.
In what was the kitchen, a wood stove puts off heat enough to warm the whole structure, including two back bedrooms where Lancaster hopes to hold quilting classes.
A dining table filled with quilting books sits in what used to be the living room. It's surrounded by shelf after shelf of bolted material. The tiled floors, open-beamed ceilings and location just outside the gate of Dam Neck Fleet Combat Training Center all lend an air of ambiance to the little white building. That's exactly what she wanted.
``We've had a real good response from people,'' said Lancaster, the mother of three and grandmother of eight.
``It being an old country house and all, I guess this is the way they (people) perceive a quilt shop ought to be.''
Lancaster hopes to start the first in a series of classes this month. The first class, she said, will be on rotary cutting and will meet twice a week. Most classes start at $25 for three- and four-session classes. She hopes to offer some for free.
She also hopes to entice quilting groups to meet in the rooms of the cozy house although she hasn't decided what, if anything, would be charged for meetings.
Lancaster herself has quilted for 15 years.
Her first quilt, a brown and beige floral-square one, was started when she took her first quilting class all those years ago. In between three kids and a job, it took her two years to complete.
Lancaster doesn't use a sewing machine; she still prefers to hand-stitch each quilt block.
``Hand piecing is more relaxing to me,'' said Lancaster, a California native who came to the area with her first husband, who was in the military. ``When I get on a machine I want to make it go as fast as it'll go.''
Lancaster first thought of opening the quilt shop years ago. However, it wasn't until her husband was transferred to Dam Neck as a civil service worker that she decided to go ahead and seek the rezoning necessary to establish her quilting business in the house she was renting out.
She met with the city for about six months to change her zoning from residential to commercial. She was given new zoning, but strictly for a quilt shop. When that happened, she and husband Don started working to tidy up the little house before they opened for business.
Now, the Lancasters carpool to work every day.
They have tried to keep business expenses down by doing a lot of the renovation work themselves and right now, she is the shop's sole employee.
``We went out to dinner the other evening and I told Don that we could have bought a few more bolts of material for the price of that meal!'' Lancaster said, chuckling. MEMO: Quilt Country is at 615 Dam Neck Road. The phone number is 721-0008.
ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by MORT FRYMAN
Norma Lancaster teaches quilting but doesn't sell them. ``It's hard
to part with any of your quilts,'' she says. ``Most have a story you
can tell about them.''
Quilt Country on Dam Neck Road is a renovated country house stocked
with fabric and accessories. On display in rustic-looking bedrooms
are several quilts Norma Lancaster has stitched and used as
bedspreads or wall hangings.
by CNB