Quilters feel very much at home in the Hill Country, partly because they can find nearby quilt shops that carry the best available fabrics and other supplies.

Equally important, those same shops offer quilting classes, while quilt guilds and numerous clubs provide opportunity for socializing with other members who also are "addicted" to fabric arts and crafts.

Historically speaking, quilting is not new to the area. Soon after the Republic of Texas became the 38th state of the Union in 1846, quilters brought their quilts and other housewares by wagon to help settle the Hill Country.

Many of today's quilters like to use the traditional designs that those pioneer women sewed into their utilitarian quilts, while others appreciate contemporary art quilts. Quilt shop owners are challenged to have fabrics to be of interest to all their customers.

For Hill Country shoppers, San Antonio and Austin have several quilt shops each. These cities have quilt guilds and host annual quilt shows to display and judge quilts. The guilds often bring in well-known quilting teachers.

Shops also have opened in smaller cities like Boerne, Brownwood, Castroville, Fredricksburg, Georgetown, Goldthaite, Kerrville, Kingsland, Lampasas, Mason, New Braunfels, Round Rock, Salado, San Marcos, Stonewall and other nearby towns.

A number of the shops combine efforts for the Bluebonnet Shop Hop each spring and for the Fall Frolic in September. Quilters visit as many of the shops as possible during the three-day weekends, to enjoy the trip and get special bargains in each location.

Quilters in smaller locations organize clubs, where members can see demonstrations of quilting techniques, show their own creations, and bring in an occasional program speaker. Quilt "bees" also are common, usually made up of a small number of members. These members get together to work on their own individual projects, while visiting with and learning from each other.

As an example of a really fine quilt shop in a ver ...

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