Quilting Sew Easy owner Ann Barnhill is shown with quilt supplies in her new store at 1231 N. Limestone St. in Gaffney. Quilting Sew Easy will hold its grand opening Thursday in a store designed to provide a fun way for local residents to pursue the hobby without having to travel out of town. The quilt store at 1231 N. Limestone St. in Gaffney offers more than 1,000 bolts of colorful fabric, spools of thread and other supplies needed for any quilting project. The store will hold a ribboncutting ceremony Thursday at 2 p.m. and give away more than $500 in door prizes this week to help introduce local residents to Quilting Sew Easy.

Sewing and quilting classes for all experience levels will begin Monday, May 7. There are beginner’s classes which deal in the basics of choosing a fabric and a “Sit and Sew’cialize” in which local residents are invited to work on their own project with other quilt-makers. A quilt class begins May 14 for the “Twist With Me” pattern, followed by the “Yellow Brick Road Quilt” class scheduled to start May 26.

The classes and quilting supplies are all part of Quilting Sew Easy owner and quilting consultant Ann Barnhill’s efforts to make her store a place where people in Cherokee County can pursue their quilt-making hobby.

Barnhill has become well-known for her quilts while learning about and teaching quilting on and off for the past 45 years.

“I can still remember working with my grandmother on quilts when I was a teenager,” Barnhill said. “There was a frame which hung down from the ceiling. When the needle got close to the floor, I would grab it and stick it right back in the top of the frame so she could continue sewing.

“Quilts are a hobby which appeals to people of all ages,” she continued.

“I have an 18-year-old employee at my store who is quite good at it. I have taught my three grandchildren how to make quilts.”

The idea to start the Quilting Sew Easy business grew from Barnhill’s efforts to find another way to get quilt supplies without driving out of town with gas prices hovering above $3.50 a gallon this year. Her new store will provide supplies in Gaffney for the “Women of Courage Block of the Month” program she will start nextmonth.

The program begins in June and runs for 12 months. Each month’s shipment will include the pattern and fabrics for one portion of the quilt. Each quilt part features information about important women in history, including Susan B. Anthony, Amelia Earhart, Rosa Parks and Mother Teresa.

Quilting Sew Easy will be open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m.

“I have heard so many comments frompeople who are glad I am opening up a quilt store here in Cherokee County so they no longer have to travel out of town,” Barnhill said.