What was hot at Market? Punch needle!*   There were lots of punch needle patterns, tools and supplies showcased at the show.  (See Punchneedle snowmen pattern by Buttermilk Basin)

The owners of "The Cotton Shop" quilt shop say  they can not keep their punch needles in the store.  The other hot seller for them is wool, overdyed wools and assorted wool projects.

"Wool is going to continue to be hot right through spring," according to The Cotton Shop.

My sister, Leslie Blanchard, a quilter, from the St. Louis, Mo area agreed to be a “roving reporter/guest writer” on the QuiltersBuzz and she happened to stop by The Cotton Shop.

In her travels as a soccer mom, she, on occasion, gets a chance to hit a few quilt shops on all of those many “away” soccer games.

Here is her report from a quick trip to Muscatine, Iowa.

The soccer scores, “not so” good, but the quilt shop discovery was “oh-so” good.

Here is my sis:

“At the soccer fields, a Chamber of Commerce representative had set up a welcome booth for the soccer folks coming in from all over the Midwest and had a great answer to my simple question, “Do you have a quilt shop around here?”

Map in hand, I quickly planned a between-games visit to the shop, The Cotton Shop. Lucky for me it was very close to the Soccer fields too!

Muscatine, Iowa, is a city on the Mississippi River along the Great River Road and was known at one time for its production of pearl buttons At one time, 37 percent of buttons produced in the world were made here. (Wow, who knew?)

The Cotton Shop looked great and smelled great…there was an orange cinnamon scent filling the shop all the way up to the tall original tin ceilings. The quaint original creaking wood floor gave this quilt shop a special flavor. Old wooden shelves, bins, benches, cupboards, and wash tubs were used in displays.

Built in the 1800s and once housing a grocery story, doctor’s office, antique store, and mattress store, the space has belonged to the quilt shop for 11 years.

The shop owners, Sabrina (long arm quilter) and Kathi (wool overdyer) spend a LOT of time sewing their samples…they make 95 percent of the quilts hanging on the shop walls.

My teenaged soccer daughter loved the quilts on display! (We bought two patterns for our to-do someday collection.)

Sabrina greeted us while Kathi was busy in needle punch class. Sabrina says their biggest asset is their friendly customer service, and I agree.

Sabrina says they specialize in cross stitch, needle punch, stitcheries, and dolls.
They love homespun, folk art, and primitives. I was tickled to also see a nice selection of 30s prints (my thing). And boy do they love wool! A Got Wool? Sign gave me a chuckle in their wool department.

Another sign wished a quilter Happy Binding!

Kathi and Sabrina have an awesome website  where you can see everything else they offer.

So next time you travel along the Great River Road, be sure to stop in Muscatine, Iowa, for a visit to The Cotton Shop (and lots and lots of other historical tourist attractions, including the Pearl Button Museum).

Here is a quick note from Sabrina Smith and Kathi Morgan co-owners of The Cotton Shop:

We opened 10+ years ago. We started in a very small wonderful old building and last May we moved into another wonderful old building Five times the size we originally began with.

We are a very hand's on store, we enjoy very much working with our customers. We offer long arm quilting and we also make quilts for customers who so require.

We are a folk-art looking quilt shop specializing in homespuns and flannels. We also have a great variety of punch needle patterns and supplies along with cross-stitching needs and wants.

In addition to all of your quilting needs we also carry patterns for dolls, stitching, plus much more. We hand dye our own wools in which we use for our patterns for rug hooking and penny rugs. We try very hard to have as many samples as possible for our patterns and we have a tremendous amount of samples to see. We also offer many kits and bundles of fabric in which to make the quilts that you see.
In addition to our brick and mortar store we also offer our website.

Thanks for the shop review, Leslie.

(*Punchneedle Embroidery is a technique that uses a punch needle to make raised, looped designs on fabric. It was popular in the Victorian era...And its back...big time!)

The Cotton Shop
331 East 2nd Street
Muscatine, Iowa 52761
563-262-5709
cottonshop@machlink.com
www.cottonshoponline.com

(Photos thanks to The Cotton Shop and Buttermilk Basin)