STRENGTH IN NUMBERS

PASSPORT TO A PRIZE: Joanne Mahoney of Quilt Therapy displays the "passport" that is stamped at stops along the Sagebrush Shop Hop. Completed passports are entered in a drawing for a grand prize of 11, $100 gift certificates. (The Observer/BILL RAUTENSTRAUCH).

- Bill Rautenstrauch

- The Observer

Quilt shop owners around Northeast Oregon and across the state have made a marvelous discovery: there's strength in numbers.

Stores are joining in "Shop Hops," events designed to stimulate interest in the art and craft of quilt-making, and bring a rush of avid quilters through the doors.

"It's excellent for business," said Joanne Mahoney, a co-owner of Quilt Therapy Inc. in La Grande. "Some customers who come in might not buy anything right then. But they say they'll be back, and often they are."

Quilting is an enormously popular hobby, and like most hobbies it requires specialized materials and equipment.

Those include fabric, batting, thread, spray starch, sewing machines, sewing needles, rotary cutters, self-healing cutting mats, measuring tools, pins and plenty more.

People make quilts for fun, for profit, to win blue ribbons, to memorialize people and events. They network, they socialize, they learn from each other. Shop hops are a way to bring them together.

The rules of a hop are simple enough. Quilters pick up a "passport" bearing the names of the shops taking part. For each store they visit, they get a stamp.

Those who visit all the stores are eligible for a drawing for prizes. Many shops have their own drawings and offer door prizes, refreshments, quilting demonstrations and more.

The big daddy of shop hops is Sew Oregon. Billed as "The Road to Inspiration," Sew Oregon showcases 50 stores from Ashland to Portland to Baker City.

This year's event, scheduled for July 1-12, offers up more than $4,000 in prizes, including a cruise package for two.

In Eastern Oregon, there's "Hop the Blues,'' an October event that takes quilters from Lewiston to Baker City. There's also the Sagebrush Shop Hop, ongoing this week. The third annual running of the event began Monday and runs through Sunday at shops in Union, Wallowa, Baker and Malheur counties.

Mahoney said the Sagebrush Shop Hop Hop was born during a quilt show in Baker City four years ago.

"We thought it would be nice to start a small local one," she said.

Participants were enlisted and committees were formed. Stores paid an entry fee, and the money went for advertising not only in local papers but also in The Country Register, an Arizona antiques and collectibles publication widely read by quilters.

All the stores chip in for the hop's grand prize as well. The winner of the grand prize drawing gets $100 gift certificates from all 11 stores.

According to Mahoney, visiting the stores in the Sagebrush Shop Hop is only part of the fun. Folks love driving the highways and byways of scenic Eastern Oregon, too.

"We get people from Boise, Walla Walla, the TriCities and some from the west side," she said. "We hear a lot of comments about how much they love the drive."

It's not all that rare for a hop to attract international interest. Mahoney told of a woman from Japan who visited Quilt Therapy Monday. Hannah Beaudoin of Savoie's Specialties in Enterprise said she has encountered shop hoppers from as far away as Norway.

Quilt Therapy and Claudson's Sew and Soak are the La Grande stops on the Sagebrush tour. The Elgin Quilt and Mercantile store in Elgin rounds out Union County entries.

Wallowa County participants include Cattle Country Quilts in Joseph, and Savoie's and the Country Quilter in Enterprise. Other stores on the hop are located in Baker and Malheur Counties.

Store owners are generally enthusiastic about the event and the numbers of people it brings.

"I had 18 shop hoppers in here Monday," said Hannah Beaudoin. "It's pretty good for me. Most people who come through buy at least one item, and some a lot more."

Claudson's is a diversified local business that deals in sewing machines, fabric and supplies, plus spas and vacuum cleaners. Owner Sandi Gross said the Sagebrush hop helps boost the bottom line for the sewing division.

"It's good. It brings new people into the store, and they get to see what's new," she said.

With gasoline topping $3.20 a gallon these days, shop hopping up and down the freeway could be an expensive proposition for customers.

But Beaudoin said people have found a way around that.

"A lot of them are car pooling," she said.