Electronic Advantages

I still mourn the closing of my favorite local quilt store though I am probably part of the problem. As with the publishing industry and hard copy books versus e-books, so it is with fabric stores. Recently I was looking at a Romanian quilter's blog site and discovered that she and I use the same electronic quilt store, eQuilter.com. That's good for her since quilting fabrics are hard to find in Romania, but it isn't good for my local stores. The variety of fabrics and patterns available has probably never been bigger but there is nothing like walking in to a quilt store and seeing bolts of fabrics lined up and patrons walking around. Sometimes it is hard to tell from the thumbnails online just how big the pattern is and you can never tell what the fabric feels like--a prime concern for hand applique. As with books I want both experiences.