Stitchin’ Heaven: Texas’ Premier Quilt Shop and your block of the month headquarters.

What do emus and quilting have in common? In 1996 Deb Luttrell moved to Quitman, TX with the intent to raise emus. Instead she opened Stitchin’ Heaven Quilt Shop. She had a vision — a premier quilt shop appealing to ladies who loved to quilt and sew that offered the very best fabrics and supplies. Deb was quite the topic of conversation in Quitman when she opened this venture in a city with a population of only 1895. Most of the local residents did not know how the shop could survive and secretly whispered that it would be out of business within the year.

We did not go out of business. Rather, we were voted one of the Top Ten Quilt Shops in North America by American Patchwork & Quilting only 3 years later. We grew from 1000 square feet to 7200 square feet in our Quitman store. We have registered over 16,000 friends on our in-store mailing list and over 40,000 registered Internet friends. We offer the most beautiful fabrics in the marketplace today and host world renowned teachers including names like Eleanor Burns, Marianne Fons, John Flynn, Marti Michell, Billie Lauder, Debbie Caffrey, Judy Neimeyer, Becky Goldsmith and a host of others. We built the Bunkhouse — a 2200 square foot log cabin designed especially for small group quilting retreats. We host Camp Quilt S’more where over 40 ladies can spend the weekend laughing, eating, and (oh yes) sewing! And, we support Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, Children’s Miracle Foundation, the Hainesville Volunteer Fire Department, Project Linus, the American Cancer Society, the Quitman Pilot Club and many other charitable organizations.

But, our business is not just about beautiful fabric and sewing machines and scissors. Our business is about people. It is about friend evangelists — people who meet others and tell them about this wonderful quilt shop in Quitman. It is about developing friendships like the ones we developed with Barbara Johnson and Beverly Wheeless and Sharon Newman before they left us to go to an even grander heaven! Our job is about inspiration, and belonging, and providing encouragement and applause. The emus never made it to Quitman but quilting did. And it is there to stay!