Lavender Lime Quilting

With a prime location between Chattanooga, Tennessee's downtown and a popular shopping mall, Lavender Lime Quilting is easy to access. True to its name, color is what shopper's notice from the moment they step inside the store. Kathy Skomp's concept of the store is "both bold and refined."

Front row, from left:

Mark Skomp (co-owner), Kathy Skomp (co-owner), Sherry Meyer, Brenda Cregger, Alicia Guinn, Cindy Adcox, and Joan Thornbury; back row: Melissa Wexler, EJ Henderson, April Doris, Judy Casteen, Linda Tenthorey, Shirley Prince, Karen Sperry, Delia Price, and June Atkins.

Kathy Skomp takes pride in her merchandising. "My absolute favorite thing to do in this business is to take one little trinket and plan a whole display around that," Kathy says.

Kathy Skomp's self-published quilt designs play a big role in many of the shop's displays. Several samples in different colorways allow quilters to see how various prints and solids impact the finished design. "We carry a lot of the trendy fabrics," Kathy says, "because our Quilting 101 class is now attracting younger people who especially like them." While fabric styles lean more towards bright and contemporary, a wide range of batiks, homespuns, flannels, and 1930s reproductions are also available.

Lavender Lime Quilting carries a selection of books and patterns that are distributed nationwide. "My books feature simple fabric selection put together quickly in a nice design," Kathy says. "Then, by changing the fabric, you can change the quilt." See one of Kathy's designs in three distinct colorways, left.

Four-pointed stars take a winding path around the quilt center on Ribbon Stars, a batik throw.

In Ribbon Stars, the center of each large star block features a machine-quilted floral design. A leaf pattern highlights the purple and brown "ribbons" formed by the triangle-squares in all the blocks.

Nine large star blocks take center stage in this romantic square wall hanging version of Ribbon Stars. The florals, dots, checks, and tone-on-tone prints are from the Sweet Love collection by Katie Frym for Maywood Studio.

The shop offers dozens of quilting classes, along with basic sewing and garment sewing classes. Quilters can join the shop's Precision Piecing, Saturday Sampler, or Art Quilter's Club. Individuals can reserve the sewing lounge, rent a sewing machine, or line up one-on-one instruction. "It allows time to get away and to come together with really good people," Kathy says.For more information about Lavender Lime Quilting, visit www.lavenderlimeinspires.com.