June 1979 Gay Dell opened her
quilt shop. Beginning in 1986 Gay started inventing quilting hoops. That business was called Helyn’s Hoops. In 1993 her daughter,
Pati Shambaugh, became owner of Picking Up The Pieces.
Still known as a treasure trove of creative quilting products. Today Helyn’s Hoops is part of Picking Up The Pieces.
Together, Gay & Pati have invented unique quilting tools and provided quilters’ needs for over 26 years.
Picking Up The Pieces’ charm starts with the Victorian storefront in Columbus, Ohio’s historic German Village. The 1882 red brick building has continuously been a shop since 1892.
The entrance has the original colorful glass bottoms of German wine bottles over the door & windows (seen best from the
inside).
January 2006 officially
brought a new change. The shop became a home studio. Pati is the artist in residence. This allows more teaching and developing
new products.
October 2014 brought a new move. I have downsized into a condo as my home studio. The shop building was sold to someone who
is better able to update it to 2000's code standards while restoring it to it's full 1880's glory in accordance with the German
Village Society's standards.