FESTIVE FABRICS AND MORE
With many Amish Country businesses steeped in family history, Lone Star Quilts has one that started almost 43 years ago, when Sara Yoder started her quilt shop on her family’s front porch. After marrying, Yoder moved her shop to an addition on the back of her husband’s shoe and harness shop and continued to expand the business in that building.
“Mom had one-third of the building, and Dad had the rest,” said Yoder’s daughter, Ada Miller. “After growing up learning from my mom and helping in the shop, I bought the business six years ago, and we’ve expanded even further.”
Lone Star Quilts offers start-to-finish Juki sewing machines, sergers, long-arm quilting machines and treadle machines along with finished quilts, quilting kits, patterns, rulers, notions and wall hangers.
“We have over 5,000 bolts of fabric and 200 panels in the shop along with table runners, potholders and locally made, wood sewing cabinets,” Miller said. “And Mom still helps out at the store and enjoys talking with the customers, answering their questions and sharing her knowledge and passion for quilting.”
Yoder’s quilts are famous, not only in Ohio, but also all around the country. She made quilts for the Land’s End catalog and for the Ohio Governor’s mansion under the Celeste administration.
Generations of Yoders and Millers are involved in the family quilting business, and each adds their own creative touch.
“We offer decorative silk flower arrangements of every size for every holiday and special occasion, handmade by my daughter,” Miller said. “She’s always loved decorating, and this is a great way for her to be creative and stay involved in the family business.”
The artistry of quilting is a skill and a passion passed down and appreciated through generations in the Amish community and in many families everywhere.
“All of our quilts are hand-quilted by local women,” Miller said. “One woman now in her 80s has been marking the quilts for us since my mom started the shop on that front porch. She brings the marked quilts back to us, several local women sew the binding, and then my mother-in-law hand-finishes the edges. Lone Star Quilts really is a local and family business.”
Miller started teaching her own daughters to sew when they were 5 and is proud of their progress.
“I’ve always taught them like my mother taught me as a young girl,” Miller said. “It’s very satisfying to have a skill like this that allows you to create something beautiful that will be here, not just after we are gone, but will also last for generations.”
Lone Star Quilt Shop is always bustling with visitors and locals alike shopping for finished quilts, or all the supplies and expert advice needed to create their own. The shop also makes custom-order quilts to fit your own personal decor and hopefully become a part of your family’s history.
“Several events this season allow us to share our family’s quilting tradition with your family,” Miller said. The All Ohio Shop Hop will be taking place August 1 through September 30.
The Ohio Amish Country Quilt Shophop
Monday, Oct. 30 through Saturday, Nov. 4, nine local quilt shops will join together to set you off on a quilting journey. Pick up your passport and receive a stamp at each shop along the way. Every shop will display their quilt that corresponds with the theme. And no hints. The Quilt Shophop theme is a well-kept secret.
Lone Star Quilt Shop is located at 7700 County Road 77 in Mt. Hope with a Millersburg GPS designation. Hours are Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The phone number is 330-674-3858, and you’ll find Lone Star Quilt Shop on Facebook.