If three people are interested in learning how to do something, we'll do a class for them. Mary Lou Kalb
Feeling crafty? Do you have an urge to crochet a snazzy scarf, stitch up a wonderful wall hanging or learn the quaint art of quilting?
There are dozens of opportunities for Geauga County residents to scratch the itch to stitch and knit and paint without making a drive to Mentor or Cuyahoga County.
Mary Lou and Roger Kalb stock several rooms full of fabric, yarn, kits, flowers and various colorful supplies for artistic hobbies in their shop, The Craft Cupboard, at 14275 Old State Road in Middlefield.
The Kalbs opened the shop in Settler’s Village at the corner of state Route 528 and Nauvoo Road 35 years ago, unaware that crafting would become so hugely popular and diverse in the future.
They leased a two-room schoolhouse and set up classes to teach macram and toll painting.
“Everybody had to have a macram owl back then,” Mary Lou said, along with belts and plant hangers made out of a variety of twine and rope.
Today, the address of The Craft Cupboard is the same, but it has expanded to four rooms loaded with nearly every kind of craft supply and instruction book currently fashionable and some information not so common, like origami paper folding — a pastime that is centuries old.
Roger, 75, a retired guidance counselor, has seen a lot of trends come and go in the craft world.
Besides being dedicated to their business, Mary Lou, a former teacher, has a favorite hobby: sewing. It led to their most popular item.
“Ten years ago, we started selling fabric,” she said. “It’s what we sell the most of.”
Bolt after bolt of bright and cheery cotton material line shelves in the main front room. Where any more could possibly be displayed is a mystery.
“We need more room for fabric. We just got another bunch in today,” Mary Lou said.
To save time and help their customers match colors and patterns, the Kalbs create and stock kits ready for assembly for wall hangings, placemats, table runners, sweatshirts and towels. They also carry patterns for fabric purses and journey bags.
“We make our own kits. We buy the fabric and put them together so (customers) get to enjoy sewing it,” she said.
Crafters, like any other hobbyists, like a road trip and that is exactly what The Craft Cupboard offers in August, with the annual quilt shop tour.
Nine craft shops scattered around Northeast Ohio participate in a 10-day “shop hop,” as Mary Lou calls it.
Each of the shops has an individual tea-cup quilt kit that can be included in a hand-made quilt or wall hanging, she said.
Tour participants sign up and make day trips Aug. 21 through Aug. 30 to craft and quilt shops in Chardon, Middlefield, Warren, Cortland, Canfield and Albion, Pa.
Shaker Tree in Garrettsville burned in the Main Street fire so won’t be participating this year, but the owners hope to be back next year, according to The Craft Cupboard flier.
Each traveler buys a passport from one of the shops for $3 and it must be stamped at each location in order to qualify for prizes, from an $800 sewing machine to $25 gift certificates, according the the business.
At each location, the quilter buys a unique tea cup kit and, after the tour, stitches up a quilt or wall hanging featuring the cups, Mary Lou said.
The back room at The Craft Cupboard is set up as a workspace and, during the cooler months, classes on all kinds of crafting are held.
“If three people are interested in learning how to do something, we’ll do a class for them,” she said.
The classes are run by reliable people who the Kalbs know are able to give good instruction. Sometimes a craft cupboard part-time worker will teach as well.
“We’ve had great employees over the years,” Roger said.
In their spare time, the Kalbs set up tables at shows and street fairs, catering to crafters and drawing new ones to the fold.
For more information, call 440-632-5787.
