Glenna Hailey on "Bee's Knees"

Glenna Hailey of Hollyhock Quilts has created a darling new line called Bees Knees that is sure to brighten up any quilt! (It seems like we're having a lot of bee talk on our blog this week...) Go check it out and see what she has to say about it and how she got her start!

My new Bees Knees fabric collection for Maywood Studio is my favorite yet! Of course I think that about each new collection. But this group of reproduction feedsack and feedsack inspired prints are so much fun to work with!

Designing feedsack reproduction lines is just a ball! All I have to do is get an idea for one focus fabric and then start pulling feedsacks from my extensive collection to fill the group out. I never get tired of playing with them. It's difficult to know when to stop!

I started collecting feedsacks many years ago while I was in the antiques business. I've been quilting for 25+ years, but during that time I didn't have time to sew, so I bought every vintage feedsack, fabric or other textile I could get my hands on to satisfy my need to feel fabric. My sewing studio is upstairs and my husband feared it would end up downstairs from the sheer weight of it all, so he encouraged me to start a quilting-related business.

I gave up general antiques and started just working with fabric. My husband Bill and I adopted the name Hollyhock Quilts and set up at a few shows selling vintage sewing-related items, but I couldn't find any patterns that I really liked for feedsacks. I decided that surely with 20 years of quilting experience I could design something, so that was the beginning of it all. Now several years later, I'm designing fabric, publishing patterns and have just turned over a manuscript for my first (and possibly last ~ it's a LOT of work!) book about feedsacks due out next fall. Who knew??? It's always amazing to see what God has in store for us!

I love getting to know my customers (both wholesale like Fat Quarter Shop and retail from my website) most of all. Quilters are absolutely the best people in the world!

Glenna Hailey
Hollyhock Quilts
Glenna's Gabfest

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