best quilt shop in Texas... maybe just plain the best

take an old house... take everything out of it... fill it with the best fabrics on the market... add lots of notions and books... put it in the Hill Country of Texas, and you would have Creations. The best quilt store in Texas. Maybe just plain the best. Period.

I've read about this store in some of the "best of" quilt store articles over the years... I even heard one of the owners on a Pat Sloan podcast a while back. I always wondered about why they'd pick this one store over the millions of quilt stores out there. Then my quilt buddy Amy G. and I hopped in the car and 4 hours later we walked in.

Creations (in Kerrville, Texas, which is situated along the Guadalupe River) has everything the modern quilter needs. Traditional, reproduction era, Japanese imports, Stonehenge, batiks, Kaffe Fassett, Amy Butler... all the usual. Basically, they have a lot of choices - something that is just hard to find in one store these days. They have abstracts, prints, muted, black and white, sections of yellow or purple... kid fabrics... you name it. They also have fiber... burlap... every kind of fusible... They even have oodles of really great wool, silk, velvets and other specialty fabrics.

Plus, they have one of my favorite fabric designers right now: Marcia Derse! Most of these fat quarters and the bolts in the two pictures below are her designs. 

The other thing I really appreciate about this store is that almost every fabric in stock is already cut and ready to go in a fat quarter. They stash the fat quarters right next to the bolts, so you don't have to go traipsing around looking for them, and you don't have to carry a bunch of bolts up to the counter to be cut. Perfect for quilters. Variety without too much commitment.

For my quilt buddy and me at least, this store has as wide an offering (almost) as what you would find at the Houston International Quilt Festival... but here you can shop without the crowds and without the overload. And with staff that knows what they're doing and really want to help you.

If you're ever in the neighborhood, you should stop by. There is also a large retreat house and lots of great teachers offer workshops and classes.  They also have a large online business.

I've always felt lucky to live in Texas. But now I know I am really lucky!

One of the historic buildings in Kerrville.

Happy campers quilt buddy Amy G. (right) and me outside Creations in Kerrville, Texas.