Originally Posted by Beckster (Post 5441690)

We have a LQS that is huge. Love going there. In a very very small town in kansas. if you're ever in Kansas look for Alden.....and the staff is good. Friendly, helpful, know where things are, take time to discuss options. But I also look online. Thing about shopping at LQS, I want to "see" the fabric, feel it, lay several out together to get a better idea of what I'm looking for. it's a mix of both - online and LQS, but I do prefer the Alden store. So much fabric, neatly arranged, easy to find what I'm looking for, and just fun!

Originally Posted by jcrow (Post 5440792)

I love my LQS and the owner. We are good friends. I have to drive 45 minutes to her shop and she gives me 15% off. Well, I've been buying online now and again and a few days ago I went into her shop and noticed that her inventory is down quite a bit. She has a building behind her store with lots of long tables for classes and she keeps it open for anyone to come sew anytime they want. The day I went I could hardly find a place to shop because all the gals were sewing in the shop out back. They were having a great time together. Dawn says they do that all the time. I use to only shop from her and her shop was loaded with fabric and kits. Not so anymore. I think many people are shopping online now, getting better prices and more selection, and Dawn's shop is affected. I feel just horrible. I went there to pick up my quilt that her LAer quilted. Well, I bought a layer cake, but I needed a charm pack really, so she cut the layer cake into 5" squares for me while I waited. What a nice human being she is. And I bought more fabric from her that I didn't need but felt that I owed her. I had a king quilt and she squared it up for me for free, as usual. We visited for an hour. One person came in during that time. Not like the old days. I know prices are high at quilt shops, but she isn't trying to rip anyone off. She is making a business.

She goes out of her way for me all the time. I call her whenever I have a problem sewing and need some math and she helps me. She knows I'm not good at picking out fabric, so she makes me kits out of fabric I like. I told her I was in a funk and needed to take a quilt class to get back into quilting and she asked me which teacher I wanted and then showed me a couple of patterns that I could choose from and then she wrote up a class. Just because I needed it. She is the greatest. And I've been cheating on her. If I would have spent my money in her shop, she would have more fabric, I guarantee it. I spend a lot of money on fabric. I think a lot of us are shopping on line now to get better deals and more selection and we are hurting our LQSs.

I am going to stop online shopping for now. I know she doesn't have a lot of fabric I want, but she has the best eye for blending fabrics together. So, I will for now pick out a piece of fabric from her shop and have her make me a kit again. I need to be loyal. You know, she sells me 2" of fabric, if I need only that. She is all about the customer. She is everyone's best friend. She let me pick the teacher and the pattern and made a class just to get me back into sewing again. You can't find that online. She's the one who bound my last quilt because I don't like binding quilts and the gal that does it for her was unavailable. She cut all the 2 1/2" strips and sewed them together. She did it all. And charged me very reasonable. I bought fabric for the backing of a quilt I brought over and she took the backing fabric home and sewed it together...she even threw in a strip of another fabric to jazz it up...all for free. What online shop would even care about that?

I think we all need to think about buying online and at stores that aren't quilt shops. What are we going to do if they all go out of business???? I rely on her so much. She helps me pick out what quilt pattern to use on my quilt. She teaches me the short cuts. She tells me which books to buy and which aren't worth my money. I take my quilt to be quilted to her and she sends it out and when she gets it back, she pays the LAer out of her till and holds on to my quilt until my payday until I can pay her. She ever said I could take my quilt and write a post dated check. What online store would do that?

I say we celebrate our local quilt stores again. They got us quilting. Let's keep them in business!!!! We don't even know who the online store owners are. Could be big companies who don't quilt and maybe not even a woman in sight.

She has my back. And she wants me to succeed. And I want her to succeed. I think we all need to support our local quilt stores and quit complaining about the extra money. She's not getting rich at her shop.