Support your LQS with Martingale

Are you part of Martingale’s Super Stitcher program? If not, stop into your favorite shop and get a card to get started. This month, local quilt shops across the U.S. are offering double the stamps on Super Stitcher cards when you buy Martingale books. Collect nine stamps and get a free book!

Check out their store locator for your closest shop; the Super Stitcher program is only available at your independent quilt shops.

Make an Impact–Shop Local

Michigan State makes a great point with this video: If want to make a positive and important impact on your community, your city, and your state, it starts by buying locally from independent shop owners. They are the lifeblood of our communities.

Take a minute to spread the word and share this video with others!

Shop Stories: Batiks Etcetera and Sew What Fabrics (Virginia)

Nestled into downtown Wytheville, Batiks Etcetera and Sew What Fabrics sits in a house built in the 1840s. Having housed families and travelers, it now holds 4,400 sq. feet of fabrics, notions and patterns.

When Carol Britt started her company 29 years ago with fashion fabrics and notions, but has since reached out and expanded in ways she never expected. With the addition of Batiks Etcetera and designing her own patterns, Britt stays busy. But she loves it. “I am tenacious…and am always looking to chage things up.”

And that she does. Her shop, based in a less populated area, she’s at the intersection of two major interstate highways, making it a perfect stop for traveling quilters and a must-see for batik lovers.

Should you be passing along I-81 or I-77 in Virginia, take the time to venture in Wytheville and pay a visit to a shop you’ll be glad you stopped for.

Batiks Etcetera and Sew What Fabrics
460 E. Main Street
Wytheville, VA 24382

Shop Story: The Quilt Corner (Morton, Illinois)

Karen Bailey never imagined that she’d own a quilt store, but when, in the mid-80s, she took quilting lessons through a local shop, the idea was quick to follow. Within four years she’d purchased the quilt section of the shop and then years later, she took over the entire place, replacing fashion fabrics with quilting fabrics and renaming it as The Quilt Corner.

Since then Bailey has run the store with the assistance of her store manager and ten employees, spending more time out of the shop than in it. She relies heavily on their abilities and knowledge; most her employees have been with her for years, several for more than a decade. Bailey lives fifty miles from the store, which makes daily visits difficult. Instead she spends her time working on business issues and sewing quilt samples for the store.

At any point, Bailey says you’ll find at least a hundred and sometimes two hundred samples hanging in her store. She makes sure that every sample has kits to go with it, too. This makes it easy for anyone to come into the store, find a quilt they really love and make the exact same one for themselves. Their number of quilt samples, along with the knowledgeable and helpful staff make The Quilt Corner a great place for sewists in the Morton , Illinois-area.

Shop Story: Quilters Cupboard (Ontario, Canada)

At FabShop’s Spring Market Kickoff Dinner in Salt Lake City, Quilters Cupboard in Uxbridge, Ontario, Canada was given the Star Shop award. Sue Carmichael owns the shop and believes that visiting Quilters Cupboard should be like coming home to an old friend’s house. Her shop’s motto is “Fun, Friends, Food and, oh yes, Fabric!” and it shows in everything she does.

Her monthly PMS (Potluck, Munching and Sewing) days and playful promotions (s’mores served alongside a display of camping fabrics, for example) keep customers feeling at ease in her shop, but the real draw for many are the gatherings. Carmichael offers several quilting clubs–the most popular is Square-in-a- Square. “It creates a very different atmosphere than just offering classes,” says Carmichael. “The quilters see each other every two weeks or once a month for nine months or more. They really get to know each other and build friendships.”

Quilters Cupboards boasts more than 2,500 bolts of fabric in the 2,000 sq. ft. store. You can visit them online, connect with them on Facebook or stop in on your next visit to Ontario.

(Original Member Spotlight was written by Daryl Brower and published in the August 2011 issue of FabShop News.)

Help for Tornado Victims in Joplin

Attention Quilters! You have a unique opportunity to help people whose lives have been affected by the tornadoes in Joplin, Missouri. Two quilt shops in that community, Bittersweet Quilts and Block by Block, are coordinating the effort to gather quilts (and other bedding) for families who have lost everything in this disaster. The following is a message from the shops with details about how you can help.

A near term need that quilters may respond to is the donatinon of quilts as the tornado victims start to rebuild their lives.  All quilt sizes are needed.  The preference for donations is the following:  nice, new, home made quilts of 100% cotton.  Please send only those quilts you would be happy to receive yourself.  If possible, send a new, matching, solid sheet set equal to size of quilt folded together with each quilt, placed in a large Ziplock bag and labeled as to size, ie queen quilt, queen sheet set.  If quilts are sent in labeled bags with sheets they will be easily sorted and disseminated to those in need.  These quilts may be sent to the following stores:

Bittersweet Quilts
attn: Tornado Relief Effort
8133 W Hwy 86 Joplin, MO 64804

Block By Block
attn: Tornado Relief Effort
530 W Fir Road Carthage, MO 64836

Thank you for your generosity.

(Cross-posted from FabTalk.)