About Quilters Haven

Quilters Haven founder, Charlene Bement or Charlie as she liked to be called, was basically a self-taught quilter. Born in Las Cruces, New Mexico, she quilted on and off beginning at 12 years old.

In the early 80’s she was getting frustrated with not being able to find the “calico” fabrics and notions she needed so she decided to open a shop. You older quilters will remember that back then, calico was all you would dare put in a quilt!

As she made plans for the shop, she began purchasing fabric and products and storing them in her house. She was determined that when the doors opened, all the products would be paid for just in case she needed a little time for the customers to find her. It was everywhere! Stacked in every corner in every spare inch of her house. To get the most fabric for her money, she purchased fabric in flat fold from the Los Angeles fabric district and rolled it on to bolts manually. To make sure there would be a variety, some bolts only contained 5 or 6 yards. Just to give you an idea of how things have changed, the most expensive fabric in the shop was $3.99 a yard and people thought that was outrageous!

She wanted to be a “one stop shop” so she made sure she had all the notions available which filled a space on the wall about 3’ x 4’. Now remember, this was 1983 so a couple of rulers, a few marking pencils and some dull pins were about all that was available.

Next, quilt books. She carried all that were available consisting of about 12 books. Most written by her dear friend Blanche Young and another great author, Maggie Malone. Blanche went on to write numerous books over the years and was instrumental in bringing quilting to the masses. Blanche’s books are still available, but Maggie’s have been out of print for a number of years. They are still terrific books so if you ever see one for sale, grab it!

Charlie spent several months looking for the perfect location. Originally, she had her eyes on a a new shopping center being built on Haven Avenue which is where the name Quilters Haven came from but after weighing all the pros and cons and the long possible wait for it to be completed, she settled on a small 800-square foot location on the corner of 19th street and Carnelian in Alta Loma, CA.

November 1983 the doors were open and opening day was a bit anti climactic with only 1 customer spending $4 all day. She wasn’t discouraged! Little by little the quilters and would be quilters found her and soon she was adding more fabric, staff and tons of classes.

She later moved to another location in the same center and customers from back then might remember the Bird Shop next door with a bird that sang “Jesus Loves Me” all day long. She soon grew out of that location and moved to Foothill Blvd in Rancho Cucamonga and soon after that a 5000 square foot location in downtown Upland, CA. In 1994, she opened a second store in San Jacinto, CA.

She now had 2 successful stores, a pattern company, a retail and wholesale mail order business, and traveled all over to shows and teaching. So what’s next you ask? In November 1994 she announced she was closing the shops!

For some time, she had been discouraged that the things she loved most, teaching and designing took a back burner to the long hours requires running the two shops. Her head was swimming with ideas to expand on her Less Than Traditional Designs but just no time to follow through. She felt the time had come for her to do what she really wanted so the Upland location was closed at the end of the year and the San Jacinto store when the lease was up in July 1995.

It was the best decision she ever made! Of course, for a while she really missed all her regular customers but not the long days and nights. She often joked that she just got tired working 24 hours a day 9 days a week, so she cut back to 8!

In 2005 she moved her business to her childhood home of Las Cruces, New Mexico where she was able to have a large studio with plenty of room for designing and manufacturing. It was then she began to cut back on the number of shows so she could focus on expanding the Less Than Traditional Brand.

In 2007 her daughter and son in law Ron and Raylene Salazar began picking up shows from her as she cut back and launched their branch of Quilters Haven. In the fall of 2017, they purchased Quilters Haven from Charlie when she began to think about retirement. At that time, they moved to Arizona and consolidated the California and New Mexico operations.

In 2018 Charlie was no longer about to live on her own and moved to Arizona with Ron and Raylene where in August 2021 she passed away from the effects of Dementia. She was 84 years young.

In January 2022 Ron and Raylene sold the Brand Less Than Traditional to Rick and Julie Luoma of Off the Wall Quilt in Florida as they decided it was time to cut back on the workload. They continued to do the Quilt Craft and Sewing Festival shows as well as a few quilt guild shows here and there under the booth name Just Notions. They also continue to operate the manufacturing side of Quilters Haven making acrylic tools for other shops and designers.

In 2023 as they celebrated 40 years in the Quilting Industry and the birth of their first Grandchild a bubble little boy named Luca, they decided it was time to cut back even more. In March of 2023 they did their last show in Sacramento, CA. Being on the road isn't for the weak and they felt it was time to stop while they can still enjoy life and maybe even get to river they moved to 5 years ago! They are also very involved in their church and are looking forward to spending more time with their small church family.

To date they continue to have an active web site and Amazon store as well as the manufacturing of acrylic rulers and tools for many designers, teachers and shops.

So that is our story so far. We are so grateful to God and all our customers and friends we have met throughout the years. Who knows what tomorrow will bring, but we know we would not be where we are today without Gods grace and our amazing supportive customers!