The Most Amazing Quilt Shop

I love the name The Most Amazing Quilt Shop.  I'm enamored with the little shop's bright front windows, homey atmosphere, and plenty of space for sewing classes. I love seeing perfectly stitched examples of quilts lining the walls and displayed throughout the store.  I love the pretty selection of cotton print fabrics, even though selection is dwindling at this point.
Customer Nedra Bralley Purchases Fabric for Bags of Love from
Owner Lynda Wolanin of The Most Amazing Quilt Shop
I met shop owner Lynda Wolanin just in time to purchase a few of those pretty cotton prints.  Wolanin says she's about to close up shop on South Jefferson in Cookeville, Tennessee.  Too much competition, too few customers, too little backup cash to keep a small business afloat.

When I started apologizing for not showing up to do a feature story until this going-out-of-business time, Wolanin seemed unfazed. She preceded to explain why she thinks the shop was a success. The best thing was that, in her opinion, it was never about commercial success, "Actually, it was about a husband and a wife who needed to heal their marriage."

When her husband, Ted, became disabled and lost his professional livelihood a few years back, the couple became partners in business, spending more time together than they had for a very long time.  Wolanin affirmed, "God healed our marriage," through their experience of running the shop.

The only other customers in the store during my visit were Nedra Bralley and a friend, purchasing fabric for a community project.  Bralley coordinates a seven-county group that stitches what they call Bags of Love:  fabric totes and comforters that go, along with toiletries and school supplies, to children in need. The Bags of Love ministry is an effort to nurture children sent to foster care because of their parents' methamphetamine addictions.  "You feel good that you're providing something for the children," Bralley explained, "because they don't have anything when they're removed from the home."

If you have designs on buying pretty cotton fabric, you have just a scrap of time until the shop closes sometime in August.  You can find it pretty easily just north of the Cookeville exit off Interstate 40.  You'll find the makings of love stories and cozy quilts all quietly tucked away at The Most Amazing Quilt Shop.