Eddie's Quilting Bee Presents... 
Diana Leone
Diana Leone, mother of the EQB's owner Eddie Leone, was the creative genius behind the original Quilting Bee, which she bought in 1975. Diane was previously trained in Art and Education and holds a Masters from San Jose State University. She first taught quilt-making in 1974 at San Jose State. At this time, the quilting movement in the area was just beginning to experience a resurgence of interest. Diana trained as many as 240 teachers per year while she taught at San Jose State, and these teachers then went back to their own classes and taught quilting to their students.Of course, Diana's experiences in quilting at this time were not strictly limited to teaching. She had won a best of show in an exhibition, that resulted in a one-woman show at San Jose's Triton Museum of Art in 1975. The opening of Diana's show generated the largest opening attendance ever for the Museum. Diana also participated with the City of San Jose's celebration of the American Bicentennial, and helped sponsor a quilt show in honor of the Bicentennial.
In 1975, when Diana bought the Quilting Bee, it was just a 500-square foot shop in downtown Los Altos. Over the years, the shop moved four times, and through Diana's constant efforts, grew to encompass 6,000 square feet. It became the largest teaching school in the area, offering almost 900 classes per year.
Along the way, Diana started "Quilts for Kids", a community service program that enables volunteers to create quilts for children in need. Almost 4000 quilts have been created for the program, which is continuing still at Eddie's Quilting Bee.
Diana is also credited for writing the first textbook on quilt-making. Her book, The Sampler Quilt, has been in print for more than 20 years and has won awards as the best beginning book for quilters. Diana has also written and coauthored six other books.
Several years ago, however, Diana knew that she had other plans for her life, and took advantage of the opportunity to launch Eddie into business. Selling the Quilting Bee to him enabled Diana to re-focus her life into other pursuits, and, of course, enabled another family member to participate in ensuring that the tradition of quilting continues through the generations. Today, Diana spends her time designing fabrics, authoring books and creating fine art watercolor paintings while enjoying her new home, her family and her friends.
