Newly opened ‘Peaches’ brings the art of quilting to Chepachet village

GLOCESTER – At the sign of the peach, a hobby has blossomed into a business in Chepachet Village at 12A Money Hill Road.

Peaches Creations & Patchwork is a bright and spacious shop where the cheerful and hospitable entrepreneur couple Keith Noblin and his wife Gail Noblin craft and sell intricate colorful quilts, from lap-sized to wall tapestries. Peaches also supplies materials such as bolts of fabric– “layer cakes” and “fat quarters.” Services offered at the store include transforming customers’ designs into quilts and embroidering names on baby quilts, bookbags, and jackets.

Gail noted that in a craft often dominated by women, the store’s main quilter is her husband. Keith, she says, is among an increasing number of males in quilting. 

“My mother was a seamstress,” Keith said.

When the government of Rhode Island prohibited people from entering hospitals and nursing homes during the pandemic, he says he was not allowed in to visit his mother “until she was about to pass.” 

“Some of this is for her,” Keith said of Peaches Creations & Patchwork. “My grandmother made by hand. I have always loved quilts. I guess it’s in my blood.” 

The store is named for that grandmother, nicknamed Peaches, and the Noblins’ daughter designed the peach logo. 

Keith is originally from Georgia, the Peach State.

“My dad was in the Army. My mother worked on the base sewing uniforms. She made things and gave them away,” he said.

“Her crafts she gave away are now around the world,” he noted, because military people she gave them to came from or went to places near and far from the southern state. 

Keith said carrying on the family crafting tradition is “extremely relaxing,” noting he likes the sense of accomplishment in completing a project. 

One of the design projects on his mind is to create a Quilt of Valor.

Founded by Catherine Roberts, the mission of The Quilts of Valor Foundation of Winterset, Iowa is “To cover service members and veterans touched by war with comforting and healing Quilts of Valor,” according to the organization’s website. Quilts of Valor: Countdown to America250 is an exhibit of patriotic quilts on display until the end of this year at the National Quilt Museum, Paducah, Ky.

Closer to Rhode Island, the New England Quilt Museum in Lowell, Mass., tells stories of quiltmaking from history to today. 

“It’s kind of a lost art,” Keith said.

A quilt is “not made in five minutes; a lot of work goes into it,” he said. Eight to ten hours goes into making a lap quilt, Keith explained. To make “a quilt sandwich” requires steps such as making patchwork, batting filler backing, and binding.

 “Technically it’s not a quilt until you have the design on it, quilting all those layers together,” explained Gail.

“My wife said ‘you need a storefront,’ so here we are,” Keith joked of the location, which was set up in a month and opened in time for last week’s Scarecrow Festival.

“I love this little town,” said Gail, who is the granddaughter of a former Glocester fire chief. The knickknack corner of Peaches is named for her mother, Nancy. 

Gail notes her husband took a little time to adjust to Glocester winters. Moving here a couple of decades ago from sunny and hot Georgia, he thought he would freeze that first winter. 

Next up for the couple might be offering classes at the store. Meanwhile, they are looking forward to the town’s upcoming Halloween and Christmas festivities in Chepachet. 

“You only live once, so buy the fabric,” Keith quipped, sounding very much like what he is: a creative and skilled artist and crafter, excited about, and dedicated to, the art of quilting.