Prairie Stitches Quilt Shoppe

June 14, 2013
By mixing contemporary and traditional quilting styles, this Illinois quilt shop offers something for everyone.
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Small-Town Style

Nestled into a community 45 minutes from bustling Chicago, Prairie Stitches Quilt Shoppe fills a wooden building that looks like an old trading post. The owners hang quilts from the big front porch, as well as have an ever-changing display inside the shop. Welcome to My Cabin by Kansas Troubles Quilters shows off country-style fabrics.

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Meet the Staff

Front row, from left:

Gladys Komerska, Jill Stuck, Mary Radke, Susan Deegan (co-owner), Kim Nimtz (co-owner), and Kathy Wall; back row: Judy Olson, Beth Grossman, Sandy Fuehrmeyer, Cathy Lucas, Sandy Piatak, Kathy Winkler, Kimberly Clarke, and Kathy Elstad; not pictured: Allison Nimtz and Carly Butler.

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Blending Tastes

Shop co-owner Kim Nimtz prefers traditional fabrics, while co-owner Susan Deegan favors bright and contemporary fabrics. Their combined tastes means their customers enjoy a wide variety of options. Snowball by Darlene Zimmerman hangs to the left of other quilts made from a mix of contemporary and 1930s prints.

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Fanning Out

Rustic wooden spools salvaged from a cable company hold fabric bolts and fanned fat quarters. Quilters love to come in to browse the distinctive selection, find inspiration from fabrics, and talk about their ideas with the staff and other customers.

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Scattered Stars

Store owners Susan Deegan and Kim Nimtz designed Scattered Stars for Quilt Sampler® Fall/Winter 2011 magazine.

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Machine-Quilting Details

Pinwheels spin throughout the quilt. Some are inside the stars, as shown, while others are featured in their own blocks. Dan Kolbe machine-quilted an allover scroll design.

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Scattered Stars Color Option

Quilt tester Laura Boehnke adjusted the design to maintain a diagonal block placement in her graphic 16-block quilt. To make the Pinwheels in the middle border appear to float, Laura used the same print for the middle border rectangles and the outer border. Fabrics are from the Black, White, and Currant II collection by Color Principle Studio for Henry Glass & Co.

For more information about Prairie Stitches Quilt Shoppe, visit prairiestitchesquiltshop.com.

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