Our fourth annual Local Quilt Shop Contest has come to a close. We are so excited to announce the winners!
The outpouring of support and love for all of the participating local quilt shops, regardless of their total vote count, was outstanding on all fronts. We have read hundreds of moving comments and recommendations for beloved shops that go above and beyond fabrics and sewing to provide love, creativity, and care to their communities.
This year’s contest was sponsored by Blank Quilting Co., FreeSpirit Fabrics, Studioe Fabrics, and Henry Glass & Co.; you can see the prizes offered below.
PRIZES
Grand Prize
$800 store credit from ByAnnie.com.Blank Quilting Corporation will donate up to $400 store credit. Must be claimed within 90 days. US only.FreeSpirit Fabrics will donate up to $400 store credit. Must be claimed within 90 days. US stores only.Studio E Fabrics will donate up to $400 store credit. Must be claimed within 90 days. US stores only.Henry Glass & Co., Inc. will donate up to $400 store credit. Must be claimed within 90 days. US stores only.
4 Runner-up Prizes
$500 store credit from ByAnnie.com.Blank Quilting Corporation will donate up to $100 store credit. Must be claimed within 90 days. US only.FreeSpirit Fabrics will donate up to $100 store credit. Must be claimed within 90 days. US stores only.StudioE Fabrics will donate up to $100 store credit. Must be claimed within 90 days. US stores only.Henry Glass & Co., Inc. will donate up to $100 store credit. Must be claimed within 90 days. US stores only.
2021 LQS CONTEST GRAND PRIZE WINNER
The Quilted Cow – 1231 votes
Location: Branson West, MO
About: “The Quilted Cow, located in the Ozark Mountains, just outside of Branson, Missouri opened in 2010 in the small lakeside village of Cape Fair.
We originally opened as a clubhouse, of sorts, to gather and sew with friends in a welcoming atmosphere. After observing the trend of quilters traveling the area’s back roads on their way to vacation in Branson, we recognized the potential for accommodating their creative needs by offering a wider range of products and services, including an extensive variety of high-quality fabrics.
Since then, we’ve expanded our business space to 3000 square feet, as well as moving The Quilted Cow into a new home, closer to Branson. Just a few minutes from Silver Dollar City.
We are thrilled with the opportunity to meet quilters from all over the country and strive to provide a welcoming atmosphere where our visitors, guests, and customers will want to come in and stay a while!
In addition to providing a casual, inspiring gathering place for creating and socializing, we also offer a full schedule of quilting classes, block of the month programs along with other events to meet a variety of quilting needs.
When you’re in the Branson area, we hope you’ll drop by The Quilted Cow… one of the friendliest quilt shops in Missouri!”
- Website: www.TheQuiltedCow.com
- Instagram: @TheQuiltedCow
- Facebook: @TheQuiltedCowMo
2021 LQS Contest Runner-Ups
The Old Country Store – 1002 votes
Location: Intercourse, PA
About: “Since 1978, The Old Country Store, located in the heart of the village of Intercourse, PA, has provided its customers with a wide assortment of fine wares. Today, The Old Country Store, with its selection of more than 6,000 bolts of fabric, gorgeous locally-made quilts and crafts, array of books and kitchen gadgets, and irresistible collection of locally preserved foods, remains a destination for visitors and locals alike.”
Their mission is to offer exceptional customer service, whether in their extensive knowledge and experience with fabrics, sewing and quilting, or in the telling of their rich history and culture through locally-made quilts and crafts. Many of their staff are Mennonite or Amish themselves.
The joy of learning motivates us to offer sewing and quilting classes for our customers. Since 2012, we have introduced quilting to beginners and challenged experienced sewists by offering lessons on advanced techniques. Small class sizes and knowledgeable instructors bring students back multiple times a year.”
- Website: www.TheOldCountryStore.com
- Instagram: @TheOldCountryStore
- Facebook: @OldCountryStorePA
Events:
- March Fabric Frolic (In-store only, 2021) specials on Hoffman Batiks and Andover Dimples for $6.99/yard.
- Facebook LIVE on March 19 at 1pm to sneak peek new patterns, fabrics, kits and more!
Watergirl Quilt Co. – 729 votes
Location: Prescott, ON
About: “Watergirl Quilt Co. was created to inspire, support and educate quilters of all experience levels and offers high quality, reasonably priced products. We believe in community and have innovated to bring quilters together virtually during this pandemic. We offer Facebook live videos three times per week, online interactive workshops, online lectures, newsletters, a blog, video call shopping appointments and our passionate staff work hard to offer expert advice and attentive customer service to our customers. We are here to serve you on your creative journey!”
“A bit about how we came to be. I was an elementary school teacher for 25 years and took early retirement at the end of 2019 to pursue my passion for quilting. I had an agreement to purchase an existing quilt shop and would have become the owner of that in 2021 except that the Covid pandemic hit and the bank froze commercial lending. I had to walk away from my deal but I was determined to bring my dream to life.”
“My husband and I turned our house and garage into a warehouse and together we worked very long days to build a business from scratch during a lockdown. That was in April of 2020. We began with online orders and curbside pickup or shipping. In July 2020 we were finally able to open our brick and mortar location in Prescott, ON.”
“We are located on the shores of the St. Lawrence River and look across the water to our American neighbours in northern New York State. We are building a Canadian quilting destination where quilters can come to shop, learn at our soon to open Education Centre, stay in a beautiful town with lots of tourist attractions.”
- Website: www.WatergirlQuiltCo.com
- Instagram: @WatergirlQuiltCo
- Facebook: @WatergirlQuiltCo
Beyond The Stitches LLC – 661 votes
Location: Crystal River, FL
About: “The name Beyond The Stitches was created as the purpose is truly beyond the “Stitches”. Whether you are a sewer, quilter, embroidery novice or master there are Stitches used in each item; it is about relationships, helping each other, supporting one another and making a difference in all of our communities. A purpose far greater than ourselves.
We offer a full line of Baby Lock machines, Floriani products, Fabrics, Threads and Notions. You are sure to find a class or event at our Learning Center that will provide additional ideas for you to explore.”
- Website: www.BeyondTheStitches.com
- Facebook: @BeyondTheStitchesLLC
Cali Quilt Co. – 615 votes
Location: Rancho Cordova, CA
About: “We are a Modern Quilt Fabric Shop specializing in Children’s Prints, Minky/Cuddle, Kona Cotton, and other Modern Fabrics.”
Cali Quilt Co. just recently moved into a 20,000 sq ft store! Making them one of the hottest spots in all of California for all things Shannon Fabrics, ByAnnie.com, and so much more!
- Website: CaliQuiltCo
- Instagram: @CaliQuiltCo
- Facebook: @CaliQuiltCo
2021 LQS Contest Stats!
In 2021 we saw record votes come into the LQS Contest, topping off at 17809 votes! A far cry from the 2640 votes that came in during the first year of the contest. That’s a lot of support and encouragement!
This year, we saw 1385 individual quilt shops from all around the world receive votes. Each shop provides incredible resources and community to quilters and creatives and we can’t thank them enough for existing!
A special thank you to everyone who participated. From our incredibly generous sponsors, to quilters and sewists far and wide, and of course our phenomenal local quilt shops. 2020 was a difficult year for many quilt shops and small businesses. By opting to shop local you are helping to enrich your local economy!
Let us know in the comments if you’ve been to any of these winning LQS Contest shops, or leave the name of the shop you voted for!
This was the first year I heard about the local quilt shop contest. I voted for my favorite in my city, and then I looked back at other years, and noticed that you only announced winners nationwide. Since this is supposed to be a “local” quilt shop contest, it would make sense to announce the most popular shops at least by state or metropolitan area. You wouldn’t necessarily have to award prizes by state, although that could be an incentive – maybe smaller prizes for best in state, but I would really like to know which shops in my “local” area are most popular. Just saying…
Hi Dotti, this is a great idea. We’ll work on that for this year.
In the past it was hosted on ByAnnie.com, which made it difficult to do content specific to LQS Contest. It all just got jumbled.
Now that it is hosted on its own website, that will be much easier to do.
We really look forward to being able to do shop highlights year round now. Focusing on regions, states and more will be great fun.
-ByAnnie.com Team (LQS hosts)