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.

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.

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, 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.

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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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

The creativity- and I get to sew or quilt every day – What a Life!

Working with customers, designing quilts and seeing the fabric turn to a project is very rewarding for Kaufman.  Taking a concept from paper all the way through fabric to binding is work that has afforded the community of Fort Dodge the opportunity to enjoy a shop that is bright, friendly and always having someone nearby to help.

Always eager to learn, Kaufman is continually increasing her quilting knowledge base.  Her passion for learning has evolved into a passion for teaching and sharing.  She tells

I learned from Sharon Schamberg that whatever you know about something you should eventually tell it to others, that way our Industry stays alive!

Family Quilt Shop, Fort Doge, IA

As we are blog-touring the shops, we are always amazed.  It is fascinating to see the creativity these business owners put into building up shopping locations inside of all kinds of buildings.  As you tour the state, seeing the fabric and the ideas is so inspiring and inviting.   No shop can carry every product available.  However, as we tour the state, it is fascinating to see that the

81 shops are so unique from one another in what they carry, how they display it and how (very often) they have taken some very common places and buildings and have made them into creative centers of inspiration for their local customers and now as they welcome the touring guests of the All Iowa Shop Hop.  Sign on to the RIGHT of this blog posting and get our blogs sent to your personal email address.  Easy to keep up on the All Iowa Sewing Adventure.

Fiberworks of Waverly, Iowa

Sewers are most attracted to texture and color.  It is inevitable that our businesses should reflect passion about color as well.  Owners of Fiberworks of Waverly, Iowa, moved into their current location that was a brick building painted emerald green.  Karol choose to replace the green with a distinctive color as she tells,

When I moved in I painted it purple so it would be easy for me to mention the front color when giving directions. It has faded over the last 17 years to a nice periwinkle. When they put in the brick sidewalks, we painted the back part of the building that sticks out past the other stores on either side purple to match so people could find us from the alley as well. I think it sort of glowed for a few months until the elements softened the color a bit.

Quilters and sewers often dabble in other fiber arts….Fiberworks of Waverly has been growing its quilting fabrics and supplies.  A true family operation, Karol works alongside her mother, Jeanne, daughters, Rachel and Jennifer with grandson Griffin to bring a great variety of interesting fiber arts.

We have a little bit of everything in the store, although the quilting fabric seems to be taking up more space every year.

The store also carries counted and stamped cross stitch supplies, painted and counted canvas items, some knitting and crochet yarns, beading supplies, hardanger, swedish weaving, locker hook, blackwork, pulled thread, paper piecing, ribbon embroidery instructions.

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

Quilts and other Notions of Creston, Iowa opened for business in April 1982 in a 10×20’ room.  Since then, the business has grown and now occupies a 3200 square foot store.

The business is now housed  in a 109 year old building.

Three years ago the business grew again,  adding a 4000 square foot building next door, as the Creative Center for  classes and retreats.  Retreats are extremely popular with customers always asking for more.

Owner Joyce Franklin tells,

Sharing our passion for all things “fabric” just makes us happy!  We love helping our customers be successful with their projects and their sewing machines and sergers.  The enthusiasm of our staff is contagious.

With over 8,000 bolts of batiks, flannels, reproductions, novelty, modern and children’s fabrics and over 120 bolts of wide backs, tons of pre-cuts, books, patterns and, of cou

rse, notions Quilts and Other Notions is well-stocked!

Enthusiasm for their hometown, Joyce tells,

Creston is a fun place to visit.  The restored train depot is huge.  The historic Phillip’s 66 station is tiny.  Our Lakes are full of fish and our gentle hills and farms are just starting to “green” up.

Quilting and Iowa scenery, does it get any better than that?!

Be sure to have your calendar marked and your map routed for June 1-20.  Check out the web site for details  CLICK HERE www.alliowashophop.com

Historic Granary Home to Heritage Designs

Featuring hundreds of sample pieces  that are sure to inspire your creativity, Heritage Designs was established in 1976 and carries on the proud traditions of the origin of the shop.  Presently housed in a renovated granary built in 1895 in the heart of historic Amana, the quilt shop features nearly 4000 fabrics and still honors its original traditions of counted cross-stitch, punchneedle, embroidery and tatting.

A 2009 featured shop of Top 10 Quilt Shops by Quilt Sampler magazine, Heritage Designs is well known throughout the midwest for an extensive collection of batiks and Asian prints as well as classic favorites and basics.

Owner Chris Davies tells

When you visit be sure to inquire about upcoming events and take advantage of assistance from the knowledgeable and friendly staff.  No matter what your style or skill level, you’re sure to leave with a treasure and a smile when you visit Heritage Designs in the heart of beautiful Amana.

Experience Heritage Designs, a destination for quilters, stitchers and those who love the needle arts.

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