Calico Hutch Quilt Shop, a quilt shop in Hayward, has been chosen as one of the 11 featured shops across the United States for the spring/summer 2016 issue of Quilt Sampler magazine, published by Better Homes and Gardens.

Quilt Sampler, published twice a year, has been profiling North America’s top quilt shops for the past 21 years.

Quilt shops submit a detailed application of their history, business promotions, charitable work, teaching schedules and design philosophies. A panel of quilt experts led by Linda Augsburg, editorial content chief of American Patchwork & Quilting magazine, narrows down the applications to 10 featured shops for each issue. The team also selects an encore shop that was featured in a past issue to revisit.  The names of the selected shops were kept secret until Jan. 4 and the shops are officially unveiled at spring International Quilt Market.

Competition to be included in Quilt Sampler is keen. Nearly 3,000 quilt shops are eligible to apply for this year’s honor. Calico Hutch Quilt Shop and the other 10 shops chosen were photographed and interviewed by a team from Quilt Sampler, and a multi‐page profile of the shop will appear in the issue, which will be available on newsstands on Tuesday. Employees of each quilt shop also design an original quilt for the magazine, and the full‐sized pattern for the quilt appears in the issue of Quilt Sampler.

Quilt Sampler has proven to be a huge success, and early, out‐of‐print issues are collector’s items. Chosen shops are inundated with visitors and requests for the shop’s quilt patterns and fabrics. Quilters are known to try and visit all the shops in each issue, getting the signature of each shop owner in their copy of the issue.