Good MOrning: We have had about four or five quilt shops close up in the last year here in St. Paul. Good ones, too! I am almost getting used to Hancock and JoAnn. The fabric is not as expensive as in the quilt shops and they have a huge selection of the fat and flat quarters. Plus that, the 40 and 50% off at JoAnn and Hancock is great for us oldsters who are on a fixed income and enjoy quilting. I have found that the biggest expense is in the backing and the batting. If I am making a small coverlet I will hand quilt, but if I am making a huge quilt, it costs around $132 for everything at "Quilt Yourself" in Savage. They are really good there and I like the meander pattern and that is 1 cent a square inch and usually my quilts run around 8900 square inches. $89.00 and then you pay for the thread, use of the machine and the work done. They do a fantastic job. But it is a good 45 minutes from St. Paul. I have one there now (a quilt for our son and daughter in law for Christmas. Will get it back on the 15th of Nov. and will have until December 24 to get the binding taken care of. I do all that! So if you need a quilter, Quilt Yourself is a great place. Also they teach you how to do it yourself on the big machines. You pay for the lessons and then the time you use it. If it wasn't so far away, I would take those lessons in a heartbeat. If you ever get to the Amana Colonies, there is a fantastic quilt shop in Amana. You can also order online, which I have done (to get facsimiles of the Amana Calico). If you want to see the website for Quilt Yourself, check out www.quiltyourself.com.
Edie
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