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Must-Visit Midwest Quilt Shops and Museums If You Love Sewing

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Updated June 8, 2025

A quilt will warm your body and comfort your soul.” (Author unknown)

During my travels, I’ve learned to be more patient with myself, a trait that quilters have in spades. While shopping at small town boutiques, I’ve discovered several quilt shops and museums that deserve recognition. Quilters are incredibly creative people who spend endless hours mastering the art.

Fabric

QUILT SHOPS

KANSAS

Charlotte’s Sew Natural – Newton, Kansas

Charlotte’s Sew Natural (710 N. Main Street) is one-stop shopping for stitchers wanting to buy fabric, patterns, or notions for their quilt project. They stock the most cotton bolt fabric in the state. Inventory is organized by color, season, and theme, making it easy to direct oneself to the section of fabric they’re seeking.

Quilt FabricThe customer service was genuine and helpful during my visit. Employees, who are experience quilters, are eager to swap project stories or assist shoppers of all quilting experience levels.

Beehive Quilt Shop & Bee Creative Toys – Wellington, Kansas

Two stores in one, Beehive Quilt Shop & Bee Creative Toys (122 N. Washington Ave.), share the same space. People travel from far away to check out the quilt shop that stocks over 100 books, dozens of kits, hundreds of notions, and over 1,000 patterns. The store frequently hosts instructional sessions for quilters of all experience levels.

QuiltHaving visited several quilt shops across Kansas, I was impressed by the staffers’ knowledge of on-trend designs and how to teach others the techniques for every kind of quilt.

Seneca Variety – Seneca, Kansas

I love a shop that carries a bit of everything, and Seneca Variety (425 Main Street) is where shoppers go when they need a gift from someone or a little something special for themselves. The well-organized store has aisles of inventory and a side room is full of quilting supplies from fabric and notions to appliqués and thread.

Seneca VarietyPRO TIP: The Seneca Sampler Quilt Mural (425 Main Street) is the most vibrant and colorful one in town. Seneca native Ellie Haynie painted a collection of quilt blocks, each submitted with a donation by community members.

Sew Country – Belleville, Kansas

I stopped inside Sew Country (1834 M. St.), a quilter’s paradise. Two friendly employees greeted me and took me around the store. I quickly discovered that Sew County is the place to source the latest fabric patterns and supplies for quilters planning a project.

Sew CountryIn business for almost three decades, they carry over 6,000 bolts of fabric (check out their gallery). Quilters come from miles around to peruse their inventory of seasonal prints and notions (snaps, elastics, threads).

If you want to learn more about taking a DIY class or asking them to ship quilting supplies to you, visit their Facebook page.

Field to Fabric Quilt Company – Winfield, Kansas

The staff at Field to Fabric Quilt Company (907 Main St.) is passionate about quilting, just like their customers. The shop is located on the Kansas Barn Quilt Trail Map and is featured in the All Kansas & Nebraska Shop Hop magazine.

Field to Field Quilt CompanyKnown for carrying a large selection of cotton fabric, notions, and floss, it’s one-stop shopping. Beginners and veteran quilters can take advantage of on-site classes.

Quilt Display WallPRO TIP: Walk down to The Great Hall of Quilts to see handcrafted masterpieces.

The Creative Place – Spring Hill

The Creative Place (118 S. Main Street) s a retreat venue for artists from quilters and scrapbookers to writers and painters.

The owner created a spacious workspace for up to 40 people, featuring individual tables and design walls to facilitate project completion. Since 2016, people have gravitated to the studio for the day or chosen to stay for multiple days.

Quilters' RoomQuilters, who often seek out retreat spaces in groups, will appreciate The Creative Place’s sleeping quarters, which include a full kitchen (bring your recipes!), two full baths, and individual lockers.

Quilters' RetreatAttend one of The Creative Place’s workshops.

MORE QUILT SHOPS: Refer to Rona The Ribbiter’s Complete List of 63 Quilt shops in Kansas

MISSOURI

Missouri Star Quilt Company – Hamilton, Missouri

The City of Hamilton Missouri is a quilter’s heaven. I pulled off Mo Hwy 36 – Way of American Genius to explore Missouri Quilt Museum, the World’s Largest Spool of Thread, and shop the Mo Hwy 36 Quilt Trail.

Hamilton Missouri MuralI discover far more than expected. Quilt Town USA is home to 16 quilt shops and multiple vibrant murals depicting quilts. A tea shop, café, restaurants, and more line Hamilton’s Main Street, making it the ultimate destination for a day trip.

Missouri Star Quilt CompanyPRO TIP: Check out The Quilter’s Daily Deal.

MUSEUMS

International Quilt Museum – Lincoln, Nebraska

You don’t have to quilt to appreciate the beauty of a well-made piece, and the International Quilt Museum (1523 N. 33rd Street) showcases some of the world’s most exquisite handiwork. With a collection of over 8,000 quilts in its inventory, the galleries’ pieces rotate regularly.

International Quilt Museum DisplayYou can count on five rotating Now Showing galleries, and their inventory of acquisitions is the largest in the public collection in the world, so exhibitions of regularly rotated.

Missouri Quilt Museum – Hamilton, Missouri

Located inside an old school, Missouri Quilt Museum showcases thousands of quilts, antique sewing machines, thimbles, needles and more. Take a self-guided tour of over 30,000 square feet of gallery space with works represented by individual quilters and quilters’ guilds.

Missouri Quilt MuseumHave you seen miniature quilts? Viewed a 3-D quilt? See them and more at the annual Airing of the Quilts, a massive collection on exhibit every September.

PRO TIP: Don’t miss your chance to take a photo with the World’s Largest Spool of Thread in front on the museum. Bring thread to add to it.

Iowa Quilt Museum – Winterset, Iowa

If you quilt or appreciate those who do, visiting the Iowa Quilt Museum (68 E. Court Ave.) is essential. The downstairs gallery houses evolving exhibits of handcrafted quilts. Curious about the evolution of making quilts, I walked upstairs to view historical displays.

Iowa Quilt MuseumOn the day of my visit, I voted for my favorite quilt, a 3-D pattern, from the collection “Welcome Home: A Celebrate of Quilts.” It was interesting to look closely at the handiwork of quilts dating back to the 1850s. The museum installs new exhibits four times a year.

PRO TIP: Next door, Pieceworks Quilt Shop, sells fabric and supplies.

MORE QUILT MUSEUMS: Refer to Rona the Ribbiter’s Complete List of Quilt Museums Around the World

Quilt Mural
Mural: Wellington, Kansas

Do you need a place to stay while on the road traveling from shop to museum? Check out my suggestions for Unique Vacation Rentals for a Kansas, Missouri, or Iowa Getaway. Call your gal pals!

Mural
Mural: Hamilton, Missouri

If your favorite quilt shop or museum didn’t make this list (places I’ve visited), please add it in the comments below. I’d love hear about it.

 

 

 

How to Achieve Clutter-Free Bliss

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You might think I’m weird when I tell you my secret. I love to declutter. The messier the junk drawer, the more I want to clean and organize it.

I realize not everyone enjoys my odd hobby, but decluttering has to be done people! If you accept that what you’re pitching in the trash, or donating to charity, is only “stuff,” then it makes it much easier to remove it from your life. Besides, doesn’t spending time with your friends and family hold more meaning for you than the energy you spend looking for things amongst the junk?

After cleaning my closet of clothes I don’t wear, I was shocked at what I was actually wearing! About half of my closet represented clothes that were out of style, over worn, not my size or in bad shape. Warning: Don’t clean out your significant other’s closet without their permission. You’re just asking for WWIII by assuming they’ll appreciate you for spring cleaning.

Lack the knack for decluttering? Use The Get Rid of It List below to guide you to clutter-free bliss. Happy Spring Cleaning!

If you want to deep clean your home after you declutter the junk, check out my Ultimate Summer Housecleaning List!

Grab a pen and cross off each item as you get rid of it!

 

Garden House Showcase: A Special Place for Mom

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My mom is quite talented at a lot of things. When guests come over she rolls out the red carpet with the some of the most delicious meals. Even if you’ve dropped by the house mid-day, she’ll serve you a delicious cheese and fruit platter and pour you a glass of Chardonnay. Yea, she’s that kind of hostess.

But don’t be surprised if you knock on the door and she doesn’t answer. She’s most likely outside in her custom built garden house doing what she does best…gardening. Make no mistake. This is no She Shed. She refuses to let people label it as such. This is a real-deal garden house where she spends time cultivating her craft – making her gardens flourish. Whether she is sitting in the screened in porch chair reading about rose bushes or potting plants in the stainless steel sink, her green thumb is at work.

Located behind my parent’s home, mom’s garden house often entices strangers driving by to stop and ask to see it.

It seems only fair that my step-dad, who has his own woodworking shop, would build a garden house for her, right? The 8’x12′ house (not including the 5’x12′ screened in porch) includes the same amenities that any home would have including running water and electricity. During the winter it houses plants she wants to keep alive from the outdoor elements and during the summer the sun beams in on oversized house plants.

I recognize quite a bit of my mom’s style in her garden house’s design from the upcycled screen door to the ceiling light fixture that she held on to for years until this house was built.

Mom’s garden house is an extension of her own home. The interior’s neutral colors, off-set by the bright white counter tops and trimmed windows, includes various green hues from decorative additions and dark black metal pieces. Having collected many of the sitabouts over time, she decorates in a style more sophisticated than rustic farmhouse but less stuffy than classic traditional. She has an eclectic sense of design style that is uniquely her own.

Once inside the screened in porch, glass French doors remain welcome you into a spacious window lit space.
Muted green wicker chairs flank both sides of the screened in porch to the east and the west.

When not busy nurturing plants, she uses the garden house as a quiet refuge to read or just watch her many bird feeders in the yard over a glass of wine. When friends visit on occasion, like her Bunco gal pals, it serves as a getaway space to venture to between games for a quick tour. You can hear the women audibly dote over each detail of the garden house. They want one too. Who wouldn’t?

A serious gardner needs a space to pour over the details found in gardening books. Always the humble student, my mom enjoys learning why some plants and flowers flourish and how she can attract or eliminate insects.

Mom’s appreciation of nature goes back as far as I can remember.

“It (gardening) feeds my soul in a way nothing else does. I’m connected to plants in new says every year,” she said recently.

My childhood was spent watching her in the yard with her hands in the dirt on weekends. After coming home from school we would drag around the hose to water thick, layered flower beds of all colors and varieties. Sunflowers towered over our heads and wildflowers nestled at our feet. She would tell me about butterflies that she adored and the grasshoppers that broke her heart.

Today, she still sees beauty in the colors of delicate flowers and enjoys the harvest of a vegetable or herb garden. Her accepted challenge each year is to learn about the needs of plant placement in her landscape while always attempting to attract birds, bees, and insects.

Antique pottery and her favorite pieces adorn a shelf above the door inside the garden house.
The east side of the garden house exposes an area behind it where she also pots plants and flowers.
The wooden table on the right was her only potting station at our old house.

Gardening is not easy. She admits that the challenge is to find the balance between what she wants to plant and what nature will allow. Admittedly, she says there are more failures to learn every season and enough small successes to keep her happy.

I love spring and wish it lasted longer, she says.

It’s true. She smiles the most in the spring (with college basketball season in a close second place). When the weather begins to warm up and the days spring forward, she is more outdoors than she is indoors. I often call her to wish her a “Happy Spring” only for it to go to voicemail because she’s outside playing in the yard.

While I love the outdoors, I’m not a natural gardener. I struggle to keep plants alive. I either over or under water them. Completely forget about them. I never installed the proper drip system. Can a person’s “green thumb” be learned? Maybe I just wrote it off as “mom’s hobby.” I should have really paid more attention when helping her in the yard as a teen. Just last week I called her seeking advice about our sad rose bushes. Before I knew it, I was at her house on my hands and knees pruning her rose bushes while she used wood glue on the stem ends to prevent bores for invading them again. Glue? Who knew!

A rusty garden tool serves as a door knocker on the exterior of the garden house.

I’m “foodie” thanks to my mom’s love of cooking. In fact, many of her garden harvests end up in her recipes. Ripe tomatoes are the star ingredient in her homemade gazpacho, a cool treat during a blazing hot summer day. Fresh herbs like rosemary and thyme find their way into many of her savory recipes. This year she has decided to trade her tomato plants for perennials because it’s just less to have to worry about and each year perennials come back stronger when given the space to spread out.

I’ve have so much to learn from her wisdom about nature, about plants and birds. As I mentioned before, I’m at best a wannabe gardener. In fact, I’ve killed so many house plants over the years that if there is every going to be any hope for me, I’m going to have to spend more time with mom in the garden house. If you’re more like me, you’ll appreciate a post she helped me write last summer 10 Hard to Kill Houseplants You Can Leave While on Vacation.

But not every day can be spent gardening. Sometimes the body needs a day of rest between the hours spent digging in unforgiving soil and pulling weeds away from flowers. On these days, she takes time to let her body relax but we all know she is still thinking about her next outdoor project.

A water drip system was installed for her window boxes, which extends to the container pots near the garden house entrance.

What can we learn from mom’s garden house? Every woman, every person, needs a space to call their own. Where they can go to escape the chaos of the day and appreciate some quiet time or just enjoy their hobby.

Looking west from inside.

What is it that brings you peace? What do you enjoy learning about most? Tell me in the comments section how you pursue your hobby or where you like to spend quiet time.

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