Here a Quilt…There a Quilt…EVERYWHERE a Quilt, Quilt

It is real testimony to a community and business owner when fabric businesses surpass 20 years. Connie Moyer of Connie’s Quilt Shop  is celebrating her 20th year in business in Marion, Iowa.

Located in a house that has been fashioned into a quilt shop in the charming community, Connie expresses her sentiments for her customers,

Thanks for your support all these years!  And, welcome to all of our newest customers.

With over 4000 bolts from a wide range of  manufacturers, one enjoys a variety of flavors and styles browsing from room to room.  Reproduction fabrics,  batiks, flannels and Minkee™, children’s prints and florals round out the selection.  Connie’s Quilt Shop has something for every customer’s interests and inspiration.

Books, patterns, threads and notions….and if you don’t see what you are looking for, they are more than happy to special order.

Samples cover nearly every  “empty space” in the building.  Attention to detail and display, making the most of every corner of the business is a focus for the quilt shop.  Open Monday through Saturday, 10am to 5pm, Connie’s Quilt Shop is enthusiastic to again join the All Iowa Shop Hop.

Join us on an All Iowa Sewing Adventure!

From Bus to Building: Always a Surprise

The  Patchwork Peddler, Kris Kelderman and Gay Murphy owners started off as a mobile quilts shop in an old school bus.  Sometimes a problem births a creative solution.   They needed to get more fabric in the bus and needed to make another row of fabric.   Unrolling the fabric from the bolt, folding it in half again and re-rolling created short bolts of fabric.  When they moved to their building, they continued to re-roll the bolts and shelve them.  It is a great conversation starter in their store.

The Kirkville, Iowa team share their enthusiasm for their business,

Owning and operating a quilt shop is exciting because of all the many people that you meet and the common interest is quilting.  We learn from our customers and other quilters, sharing ideas and common problems of quilting.  It seems that you never meet a stranger.
It is also so much fun to see the a pattern done so many ways and in so many color themes.  It’s great to see the creativity that quilters bring to the art of quilting.

The Patchwork Peddler of Kirkville, Iowa

The designs and work of their customers and their own handwork are and expression of design and fabric coming together in a unique expression .  Kris and Gay believe that the sewing process becomes art right before every sewer and it tells a bit about each sewer.  Always a great surprise.

Join the All Iowa Sewing Adventure…June 1-20.  Keep up with us LIKE our FACEBOOK  fan page….CLICK HERE.

New Level of Quilting Ideas

It is our mission to unite the quilter with his/her means to accomplish their quilted goal as set forth by their mind’s vision.

Inspired By Time Quilts of Storm Lake, Iowa

Whether you need a tool, pattern or particular fabric, the team at Inspired By Time Quilts of Storm Lake, Iowa is looking to help you gain the materials and/or guidance and confidence to get started.  They even strive to help you get projects COMPLETED!

Offering a full range of 100% quality cotton fabrics, the store features a variety of brands and prints.  Current quilting books and patterns as well well as notions can assist you with your current project or move you to a new level of ideas.

Inspired By Time Quilts was developed with the intent of more than just making the initial sale.  The name of the store speaks volumes for the Storm Lake business.  Inspiration abounds and aims at the heart of every sewist and especially quilters.

Owner Tracy Irwin and her team have hit the nail on the head for all sewers and quilters.  It really isn’t about the achievement but all about the memory and the joy of giving.  Samples everywhere brings out the best in great ideas and projects that motivate the quilters in everyone.

We love to hear your stories, and we aim to help lessen the frustrations and to help your quilt become a special treasure and memory for someone very special! We always love show and tell…the story is what makes this work so special for us!

Great work Tracy and team!  Inspired By Time will be an inspiring visit for the All Iowa Shop Hop participants.

Download your map for visiting the All Iowa Shop Hop….CLICK HERE.

Great Places to Love the Whole Process

B & B Creations, Tracy, IA

Summer is right around the corner, and it might still be a good time to introduce a little frost to your summer sewing fun with Fairy Frost Fabrics.  Along with a wonderful selection for fabrics, visitors find B&B Creations of Tracy, IA.  In addition to being a great place to shop for fabric, B&B Team members make the store a perfect place to get help even after  classes are finished.

B&B Creations Owner, Fay Boyd reflects on her work as a store owner,

I love meeting all the people and being able to help them with choices when they ask for help and seeing the finished projects is so much fun for us at the shop.  I love choosing fabrics that I think my customers will find different and useful in their projects.

Personal sewing is always a challenge, but owner Fay Boyd tells about her favorite part of the sewing process.   Choosing the fabrics and trying to see  what the finished project will look like before it is done, being very high on her list of interests, Boyd enjoys the challenge.  She also loves using the long arm and creating a unique quilting for customers’ quilts and her own creations.   Enjoying the whole process, even the binding, makes Fay’s celebration of quilting alongside her customers a great tribute to her own work and that of friends for whom she quilts.

Keep up with happenings of the All Iowa Shop Hop.  CLICK HERE to peruse our slide show, check out the map, create your agenda for June 1-20.  Join us for an All Iowa Sewing Adventure.

Every Quilt Has a Story

Christi Savage of Towne Square Quilt Shop in Lake City, IA, tells

Every quilt has a story, and I love hearing all the stories.

Demonstrations at Towne Square Quilt Shop

Helping customers to create new stories and skills is a common passion among the shop owners of the All Iowa Shop Hop.  Their enthusiasm for growing this event and making it the best for visitors is about hearing all of your stories and helping you grow as you travel the roadways of Iowa and celebrate these diverse businesses.

Enjoying the whole process of quilting, Towne Square Quilt Shop staff like to explore a variety of techniques in the process of quilting.

…lately I have been on a bias binding kick.  I learned a new method for folding & cutting the yardage on the bias – new to me anyway.  If the bias binding happens to be a plaid or a stripe, I love the challenge of matching the strips perfectly.  Sick, I know (laughs Christi).

Those of us who are learning all the time are bent on improving our skills.  It isn’t about perfection but rather about improvement and refining our skills.  In the Towne Square Quilt Shop, the team often provides demonstrations on techniques and products to help customers to grow in their skills.  This passion among fabric shop owners and their customers is what makes the shopping experience in the sewing industry so powerful.   These independent retailers believe in building opportunities for education and growth with the hope that customers will support the endeavor so that every community can enjoy good products and excellent service and education.

Keep up with us on FACEBOOK…CLICK HERE to LIKE us.  Join us on an All Iowa Sewing Adventure.

Enjoy Your Craft More

My grandmother taught me how to quilt when I was a young mother and I still like and enjoy it as much today after having my shop for 25 years.

Karen Boyken, owner of Seams to Me of Algona, IA has taken her love of quilting outside her store to several shows.

Inside the business, Seams to Me, on Main Street Algona, Karen tells,

I enjoy working with the customers.  They are so grateful when you can help them with their questions and decisions.  I often hear them comment on the nice samples and the displays that I try to change often in my large front window.

Looking forward to enjoying shopping businesses that have enjoyed great history in Iowa and area always coming up with fresh new ways to inspire you.

Join us on an All Iowa Sewing Adventure….June 1-20.

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Smiling Faces of Quilters…Priceless!

Brightness and a real attention to details in the store displays are key elements that stand out first when you enter Heartland Cottons of DeWitt, Iowa.  Many displays are enhanced with charming antiques that both inspire decorating for the homes of sewers but spark an interesting conversation about how our sewing crosses over into all parts of our lives.

Sherri and her staff still enjoy piecing and hand-stitching.  But, the greatest satisfaction comes in binding, that knowledge that the project is almost finished!

Running a quilt shop is a great vocation for Sherri.  She tells,

I love having a job that if I can help another sewer out with a problem or seeing a new customer get hooked on sewing through beginning classes; the smiles on their faces are priceless!

Only a little bit more time and the All Iowa Shop Hop will be ready for visitors.  June 1-20.  Check out the web site for details times and regions.   CLICK HERE