Quilt Shop Tour: Cotton Creek Mill

Here I am back to share another quilt shop tour with you.  Kelli and I stopped here on our way home from the Elton John concert.

This shop, Cotton Creek Mill, is located in West Branch, Iowa.  Neither Kelli nor I had ever been there before.  It was a cute little shop out front but let me take you inside.

The girls at the Neal’s in Muscatine had told us we “had to stop there.  They just expanded”.  Well we took their advice and stopped.  I started my journey through the shop with my camera open and snapping pictures.  If you ever do this, it’s always polite to ask the owner first.  Most people like it as I’m basically giving them free advertising for writing this blog post BUT there are others who are way over protective and think people who take pictures are stealing their ideas.  This shop was fine with pictures.

I loved the colors in this display.

The shop has fabric and sells Bernina machines.

There is a awesome rustic-folksy feel to the shop.

I love the openness.  

A few things were displayed high but most low.  Kelli had to take this in.  She’s stitched many of the Crab Apple Hill designs…not this one though.

Isn’t this cute?  I miss working on small projects.  They bring instant gratification.

Kelli was focused on finding BATIKS!!  She was in this are most of the time during our visit.  She was looking for mystery quilt fabrics.

The shop had great architectural features…brick here!

I don’t see Civil War reproduction fabrics used a lot in the shops in my area so I was really happy to find some here.

…and don’t forget the 30’s prints.

I really liked the staging of the shop.  Things were displayed nicely and not too cramped.

There was a section of baby things with a touch more modern but mostly is was darker fabrics.

I resisted this large selection of good neutrals.  There were several fabrics that had words and I’ve been collecting them but I resisted.

We hadn’t been in the store before so had no idea what the “new addition” was and what was old.  I think that means it was a very successful remodel.

It was fun to look around.

The store was busy the day we went.  We even saw two people from our area.  They had been to the Elton John concert as well and were shop hopping their way home.

Here is Kelli’s stack of fabric that she picked out… quarter yard cuts was what she wanted!  I do the same thing!!

While we were waiting to get the fabric cut, I continued to roam.  I saw this book and would really like to try this technique of raw edge applique.

I am going to do a 1-5 rating….five being the best-I’m going to be stingy with my fives.  This is just my impression on the day I visited and took pictures.
Warm and Friendly: 4 The shop was very busy
Selection of Goods:  4
Neat and Organized:  5
Parking:  4
Cozy and Cute: 5
Outside Appearance: 5

The only thing I didn’t like about the shop was that there was a class going on.  The class room was out in the open and it was hard to know where the boundaries were.

….and remember I was being so good, well while I was waiting for the fabric to be cut I roamed back to one of the displays in one of the pictures above and ended up breaking the bank.  UGH….but the good news is, I love what I bought.  You’ll have to stop by tomorrow and see what that was.

Remember if there was something you want more information that you saw in the pictures, please don’t contact me, contact  Cotton Creek Mill quilt shop by following the link provided.