Hi, welcome to the website of JoQuilter Fabrics. A cozy quilt shop located along the Mississippi River in Bellevue, Iowa. Jo Fifield, proprietor. The shop specialties include "Big Stitch" hand quilting and Paper Pieced Hexagons.
I grew up on Main Street in small town Iowa. My parents owned a service station and that is where I spent summers and after school. I loved "downtown."
After I was married, I became a stay at home Mom and started crocheting afghans in my spare time. After crocheting came the knitted sweaters, then needlepoint, and then counted cross-stitch. During all of these phases, I wanted to own my own shop. First it was yarn only, and then my dream shop started to include floss and all the other things that were needed.
In the year 1982, my husband, myself and the kids, moved to Dubuque IA. I looked for a way to make friends using my needle skills. I discovered that Dubuque did not have an Embroiderers Guild at that time but someone suggested I take a quilt class at the all-purpose fabric store. Well, I did, and made the strangest looking Dresden Plate block. I enjoyed it so much that I made enough blocks for a twin bed quilt and two pillows.
During that class, I heard there were some ladies wanting to start a guild. I called them and volunteered my time, ending up as Treasurer and Membership Chairman. I am still in that guild (Cable Car Quilters Guild) and have the honor of being one of their "founding mothers!" Geez, that really makes me feel old!
During the fall of 1989, I took a drive down the Mississippi River and found an old limestone building for sale in downtown Bellevue. It had been made into two apartments. After many months of talking my husband into it, we bought the building. We rented the apartments until we were ready for our retirement. In 1997 we renovated the building into a townhouse and moved down. The year 2002 was the year I was able to open my small quilt shop in the front of the building. My dream was finally realized.
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