Flying Needles Quilters’ Guild facing eviction from County Fair Mall

Aug 09, 2023

After 15 years at Woodland's County Fair Mall, Flying Needles Quilters’ Guild has begun a desperate search for a new home.

The guild is facing immanent eviction from the mall space it has occupied rent-free for monthly meetings, quilting classes, educational programs and "open sew days" for a membership of close to 100 who are mostly retired members from Woodland, Davis, and surrounding Yolo County.

Flying Needles President JoAnn Young said they are "desperate" to find a new space with enough room for fabric storage, presentations, and classes.

"Unless we can find a new home, we will simply cease to exist," Young said. "We deeply appreciate the generosity of the previous mall owners."

Young states that the mall's new owners have given the group until the end of May to vacate their space or begin paying a monthly rental fee of $4,422.

"We simply have no way to pay that," Young said, noting the goal of the non-profit is to celebrate quilting as an art form and donate quilts to seriously ill children who face medical emergencies, including trauma care and cancer treatment.

Through mostly donated fabric and supplies, Flying Needles creates hundreds of quilts each year to support Woodland Memorial Hospital Hospice Unit, Kiwanis Family House adjacent to Sacramento's UC Medical Center, Ronald McDonald House, and Project Linus.

"This equates to hundreds of quilts over the years created as a labor of love by our members," Young said, adding that even fabric scraps are used to create dog beds donated to Rotts of Friends Animal Rescue in Yolo County.

In addition to its charitable work, Flying Needles stages the annual quilt show at the Yolo County Fair and staffs the Fairgrounds Home Arts Building during every hour the Fair is open.

For more information about Flying Needles, visit www.flyingneedlesyolo.org.

Flying Needles President JoAnn Young may be reached at [email protected] or 530-405-6461.

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