I have sewed all my life, grew up watching my mother and grandmothers sewing mostly clothing. I know my paternal grandmother made quilts, not sure about my maternal grandmother, but she was an excellent seamstress. Grandma Everts was known to have sewed a new blouse for my mother rather than iron the one that was already made…. I loved Grandma Evert’s train of thought, I don’t like ironing clothing either.
My first career with the telephone industry lasted 31 years, I retired in October 2020.
Initially, my plans were to travel around the country with my husband and our yellow lab, Rudy. My husband, who has worked from home long before Covid raised its ugly head, decided that it was too difficult to work with me home all the time, and he didn’t think it was gonna work to go on the road with our camper. Oh boy, what was I supposed to do? I knew that I couldn’t just sit around the house all day and traveling isn’t much fun all by yourself.
As I said, I have always sewed and have been quilting for about 20 years. The nearest fabric shop was almost an hour away. I found a retail space and began my adventure. As I told my friends, if this doesn’t work, we will never have to buy fabric again.
My paternal grandfather was raised in the Gap Creek area of Wayne County, Kentucky. Kentucky is one of my favorite places to spend my vacation time. So coming up with the name for my shop was a no-brainer, Gap Creek Quilting Mercantile was born.
I am lucky enough to have a quilt that was hand sewn by my husband’s great-grandmother. Blanche is a Grandmother’s Garden quilt and she is the shop mascot. Blanche also travels with me and has had her picture taken in lots of places. Naturally she is featured in my shop logo, Blanche is hanging on a post next to Gap Creek in Wayne County, Kentucky.
Gap Creek Quilting Mercantile outgrew it’s original location very quickly, and in November 2021 I was lucky enough to find my present location. I purchased the Odd Fellows Hall and remodeled the building, giving me over 2500 square feet of retail space and a full basement that is currently used for storage. In April 2022 after moving over 1000 bolts of fabric and fixtures, Gap Creek Quilting Mercantile found its forever home and I love it!!!!
I currently have over 2000 bolts of fabric, mainly cotton and some flannels. I also have a few wideback fabrics and batting. There is a wide variety of notions, patterns, and threads. The best part is that I have an area for sewing classes and open sewing areas.
There is also a “husband’s corner” featuring a couple of nice comfy chairs and a nice big TV on the wall for husbands to relax while their wives are shopping. It seems there is always a project going on in the shop somewhere….it will be my forever unfinished project.
I can’t wait for the 2023 All Iowa Shop Hop!