Quilt Shop: Quilter's Corner Store

It was quite a pleasure yesterday to have an opportunity to visit the Quilter's Corner Store quilt shop in Beaverton, Oregon.  The store is located on Broadway Street in what some might consider the "old town" area of downtown Beaverton.

As with any "old town," the area is quite charming once you get clear of the traffic in downtown Beaverton.  There is free on-street parking, and I found a spot right away despite it being the noon hour.  

The front of her store was just as cute and welcoming as it could be with her fabric displays, quilt block banners in the upper windows and flags at the door.  Inside revealed a shop that would win the cozy shop of the year award hands down.  What it lacks in size, it more than makes up for in friendliness.

It's a little like visiting a booth at a crafting fair, but larger than that.  When I took this image, I was able to take in most of the store while standing in the corner.  There is a modest amount of fabric, but everything she had was irresistible.  This is Owner Deb Messina's sewing studio in addition to being her fabric shop.  She carries a great assortment of batiks and novelty fabrics as well as some holiday fabrics.  As you can see in the image above, there is some fabric on a shelf at the front of her cutting table and in the image below, you can see more bolts on the shelves behind the counter.

She explained to me that she has a business making tea cozies and tea wallets as well as other items for the kitchen, and so she tries to keep on hand fabrics in pairs that work well together.  The top row of fabrics in the image above is reserved for kitchen and food fabrics.  Below, you can get an idea of how the fabrics are paired up for use in projects where one fabric would serve as the main fabric, the other for trim.  A great idea given her business.

Here is an example of her work on the various sizes of kitchen cozies.

There was something for everyone here and on the hutch to the right of this display.

Deb explained to me that when she travels, she likes to take tea along with her for a taste of home.  Once while traveling, her tea bags were punctured creating quite a mess for her to clean up inside her luggage.  She got the idea to create some "tea travel wallets" for carrying tea while on the go and she has been able to market these to tea manufacturers and create a going concern from it.  You can see the website for her sewing business One Mark Creations right here. 

While her supply of fabric was modest, I still found plenty that was irresistible.  You know I'm in love with polka dots and stripes, and so I picked out one yard cuts of each of these next two.

Deb and I were discussing the merits of using polka dots and stripes in bindings when she pulled this next fabric off her shelf.  It was too cute to resist as well, and so I got a one yard cut of that.

I learned of the Quilter's Corner Store when I attended the quilt show at the Oregon Garden back in January.  For mentioning the ad in the show brochure, I was allowed to choose a free fat quarter.  I selected this one:

And when I checked out, Deb treated me to a couple of tea bags...and this one is my favorite flavor!

If you're looking for the cutest quilt shop in the world and a friendly conversation to boot, be sure to stop in to the Quilter's Corner Store if you find yourself in Beaverton.  I think you will enjoy yourself while you're there.  

For her friendly vibe, her cozy store, and packing a lot of fun into a small space, I've given the Quilter's Corner Store the coveted five rotary cutters on my five point scale.