As you know, the Calico Horse Quilt Shop, located in Redlands, CA has been a long time favourite quilt shop of mine…yes I have taken you to the Calico Horse several times! A few months ago I received an email from the shop saying that Donna, the shop’s owner, was RETIRING! Of course I was happy for Donna…BUT the Calico Horse was in MY top three all time QSs!! How could it CLOSE?! But close it did…(sigh…)on May 31! I know all good things must come to an end…but geeze louise…we Snowbirders had FUN going there!
I thought you might like a glimpse back at the old girl, the Calico Horse that is…
Here she is in all her glory…all decked out for the Fall Celebrations!
Bolts and bolts and bolts of wonderful Civil War fabrics!! (drool…the… towel is ready…)
And tons of wool and wool patterns…
Whenever we went, there were new displays and new quilts hanging… 
Here and there were always sweet little displays…do you remember this one…the USA flag made out of dime size yoyos!
Donna always had displays out depicting the seasons and celebrations…
Loved this shop…sigh….
I should’a bought the kit to this one…should’a, could’a, would’a…didn’t…:o(
And this one…
But not to worry we ALWAYS went home with the loot…yup, I remember the Calico Horse well…
So the doors to the Calico Horse Quilt Shop closed for the last time on May 31…:o( We really wish Donna well…we really do!! Honest! She has these sweet grand babies to play with…and smooch to her hearts content!! And we Snowbirders have our memories of a shop well loved!!
BUT…hey it’s NOT all bad news…there’s some good news mixed in with the sad! Donna is keeping the Calico Horse NAME and will be selling at the various Quilt Shows…including The Road to California!! {insert happy dance here!} She also opened an ON LINE SHOP and she has a BLOG…so it’s all good!!
AND here’s the REALLY exciting news…there will be a new Quilt Shop opening where the Calico Horse use to be. It’s going to be called the Painted Lady Quilt Shop and (hold onto your hat!!) Kerri, the new owner, will be selling the same kind of fabric! YEAH!! SEW it’s going to be good…apparently she is ordering new fabric at this very moment!! Whew!
So Good-bye Calico Horse…Hello Painted Lady! I’m sure we are going to be wonderful friends…and WE look forward to meeting you in January!!
Have a Thoughtful Thursday and Happy Quilting!~P
PS…You might want to check out Donna’s new on-line shop (that’s where I’m heading now) and then whip over to her Blog and wish her a Happy Retirement!! The links to both of these are locate in this Post! :o) (three paragraphs up…)
Have a good one!
Well I've never been to the Calico Horse Qullt Shop and was planning to go in January. Good lesson about not putting off things you want to do. It's good news that the Painted Lady will replace it, so I still have something wonderful to look forward to in January. Okay, I'm on my way to Donna's new on-line shop. This is very dangerous..........
ReplyDeleteI don't live all that far from Calico Horse but you know, I have only been there once, just recently. Did you know Quilter's Coop is closing too? Now THAT one makes me really sad, that is my favorite shop next to Fat Quarters.
ReplyDeleteHey, you could talk to Rick about this idea! Lease a place down there for Snowbird Quilters to show off all there stuff!! You could have somebody run it for you, and you could be in total control of what goes in and it would be a wonderful place to have a lot of cool stuff. Besides, it might even be good for buying fabric at a discount!! As a business owner, you would have all kind of great benefits!
ReplyDeleteThank you do much for all the wonderful things you had to say about The Calico Horse, it was always Si fun to see you. It was nice to be able to continue in the quilt world I hope you have a chance to check out myreddoordesigns.com I have teamed up with my friend it had been so much fun :)
ReplyDeleteThis is wonderful news, Paulette, thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI remember "our" trips well but happy she she could retire and better yet you didn't lose a favourite quilt shop. I will pop over and look at her online shop and drool!
ReplyDeleteWonderful shop and nice displays. I love when they display the quilts with the patterns.
ReplyDeleteDebbie
It's always sad to see a shop close. Lucky you, you'll have one in it's place. Thanks for the link of Donna's new online store. I like to visit now shops online if not in person. I'm headed there now.
ReplyDeleteWow, I was born and raised in RedLands, CA until 12 yrs old. If I win the lotto some day I will move back!
ReplyDeleteThe shop looked like a fun, inspiring place to shop. The LQS here feels empty and boring. No kits, no samples, they don't even have pre-cut FQ's.
Sorry one of your favs closed.
when my daughter looked at colleges, we visited Redlands and I visited the Calico. Sad to see a shop close, but good to hear another is opening in the same location. Best wishes to the new owners. That was a great shop.
ReplyDeleteSo sad to hear a nice shop closing but it's nice she has an online shop. And Paulette, did you see she also has an Etsy shop? Always loved your updates and pictures when you visited her store! I'm sure she'll be greatly missed! At least another store will be opening- just hope it's as nice as the Calico Horse!
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