Wow! thank you all so much, did not expect such wonderful insights into this question. Once again you just proved that quilters are a very generous group. I am in the extremely early phases of thinking about this. And I am NOT convinced this is the move I want to make. I am retired and will start drawing SS next year, thanks to calliope for mentioning that...would owning a business affect my benefits? One of my thoughts was I would not need the shop to support myself, just to support itself. Any profit would be extra. But SS is something to think about, and will need to be looked into. Many many thanks to quiltpartner for her detailed response. You certainly have a grasp on this subject and I deeply appreciate the time you took to respond. Your points are well taken especially about the "difficult" customers. I know they all can't be as nice as us!! LOL I had already decided that this could not be done without an initial investment of at least $20,000. Good to know that $25 would be more realistic. I live in a town that had a quilt shop that closed about a year ago. The owner had a wonderful shop (to me anyway) but for a variety of reasons, she sold out and closed. We have two active guilds of about 100 members each in this town. We have two options to purchase fabric, Hancocks and Hobby Lobby or drive for 45 minutes. I think combining the quilt shop with another "business" would be a good idea. Not sure about the liquor store though, although I think it could be successful....."buy a bottle get a fat quarter free" promotion. but perhaps a bar/quilt shop combo, catering to the ladies only. Something to think about. LOL There are a lot of retirees in this area....so a place near one of the retirement homes might be something to look at. Anyway I have a LOT of research to do but it was great getting your prospectives. Will let you know what I come up with. Again my deepest appreciation for your responses. Murphy

Valarie, I love your class story! I learned to knit when I was very young (around 5 or 6) and when I was around 7 my mom took me to knitting classes at Sears. She would drop me off at the classroom and go shop. The adult ladies in the class (who all seemed quite ancient to me LOL) just loved having a little kid to teach! One made me a knitting bag and others gave me tools like row counters and yarn needles. I learned to sew clothes when I was young, too. My mom sewed all our clothes. She made quilts, too I remember going off to 7th grade in an outfit I had made. The first time I remember quilting was when I was in high school - I started a quilt that I designed (a log cabin variation). It's king size, all hand cut with scissors and templates, hand pieced, and hand quilted. I have no idea what got me started on it, but it took a very long time to finish it! I kept making clothes for myself and DH. When we bought our house 23 years ago I decided the space above the mantle really needed and Amish quilt. After that one I made lots of other wall hangings, then about 10-12 years ago I attended the quilt show put on by the local guild. I just loved the quilts so I joined the guild and started seriously quilting. I have lots of photos in albums and on the computer - I should try to catalogue them. I have no idea how many I've made. Donna

Color grabbers are sold as Color Catchers. You will find them on the shelf with fabric softener sheets. They catch loose dye molecules and are just the best for quilting fabric. I always use them when pre-washing batiks which often bleed. You can see from a used one how much color was loose in the wash. They can be used over and over. I often wash quilts after completed. It prevents surprises before giving a quilt to someone. I use Orvus soap, which is a gentle detergent often used to wash animals. My mother's beautiful applique quilt is being washed at her "home" by helpers who just throw it in the wash on hot and throw it in a dryer. Although I cringe when she tells me, it seems to survive in spite of them.

It's so much fun to hear what all of your favorites and non-favorites are. We are all so different, and yet, we are united by our love of quilting and fabric. People have pretty strong feelings about grey, even the spelling. I've always spelled it with an "e," but I notice most of you spell it with an "a." I just looked it up in the dictionary, and it seems that "gray" is most commonly used in the US, while "grey" is more common in other English speaking countries. Like Fran, I think grey is a great neutral. I lean toward the greys that have a tinge of brown in them, what I would call taupe. I'm not so fond of greys that have much blue in them. I was delighted to see a whole line of new reproduction prints that were all in my favorite shades of grey. The owner of the LQS was so excited to have them. I had all I could do to keep from buying a yard of each of them. But I resisted.