Finding Minnesota

Finding Minnesota: Quilting, Woodworking Combined

(WCCO) Inside Gruber's Quilt Shop in St. Cloud, the walls are laced with geometric patterns in a sea of vibrant colors. Stacked underneath are bolts of fabrics in about every shade and style imaginable.

Quilting in America has become nothing short of an obsession as people rediscover a handicraft that combines beauty, warmth and comfort to our beds. Last year alone, quilters spent more than $3 billion on quilting supplies.

"These are all traditional quilt patterns," a customer is told as she pages through a book filled with over 5,000 geometric patterns. Each one has a distinct name and history. Many date back to Colonial times when quilts were not just heirlooms but mere necessities.

Hoping to cash in on the quilting phenomenon is a St. Cloud woodworker. You might call his one-car garage "Dan Quimby's Quilt Shop."

"This pattern here is called 'grandmother's favorite.' There's 33 pieces of wood in this 3/4 inch size to-be earring or necklace," Quimby mused.

Dan Quimby is a furniture maker and lifelong woodworker who discovered the joy of piecing together tiny wooden fibers into various shapes of quilted fabrics. With thousands of patterns out there, Quimby has replicated 160 of the most familiar and popular into quilt jewelry, everything from broaches and earrings to necklaces and keepsakes.

"I'm out here. I have no time for anything else. I haven't ice fished in five years," Quimby laughed.

As for the intricate quilts that hang on the walls of the nearby quilt shop, Quimby adds, "I can't imagine sewing it and of course they tell me they couldn't imagine making out of wood, so it works both ways."

Instead of a sewing machine, his tool is a band saw. With hands that appear steady as a surgeon's, Quimby slices the wood into thin strips. Each tiny piece is then trimmed, glued and carefully sanded.

"That's done with 150-grit (sandpaper), so you get it nice and smooth," said Quimby.

Like most woodworkers, Quimby really appreciates the qualities of wood. He holds up a piece of Russian olive and marvels at the wood's golden grain. When he makes a piece of jewelry, he'll incorporate up to 16 different varieties of wood in each individual piece.

With the dust flying, Quimby sorts through a bevy of steel drawers, each one crammed with various chunks of wood. He grabs one and says, "This is Rosewood. This is expensive wood."

In the drawers are every species of wood imaginable, everything from Bloodwood to Birch, Siberian pea and Russian olive.

But he doesn't find them at the local lumber yard. Instead, a neighbor's yard trimmings become his raw materials. One of the more beautiful hues of wood he uses in his jewelry came from a neighbor's lilac bush.

"Oh yeah, I can't throw anything away," Quimby proudly claims.

He even uses branches to saw into thin wood buttons for knitters. He has bags and bags of all different types. Yet it's still his display cases filled with quilt jewelry that's a hit at all the trade shows.

"I've had marriage proposals at quilting shows," Quimby chuckles.

Though it may be disappointing for some of the ladies, Quimby's first love is the wood itself.

"There's so much beauty out there in nature. This stuff is one of a kind, here. You're not gonna ever get two pieces of wood that are ever gonna be exactly the same. I'm always looking for something out of the ordinary," Quimby adds.

The one-time furniture maker and former civil engineer said he's found satisfaction in the tiny wooden treasures.

With a smile he said, "I would rather be doing this stuff. It's just because of the finished product when I give it that coat of lacquer and all the colors pop out. If I'm satisfied then I know my customers will be satisfied."

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