How we came to own this shop is a great story

                   How we came to own this shop is a great story.

     In January, 2003, a group of ladies from the local sewing group planned a trip to Athens, AL to see the largest quilt shop in Alabama. After we left there, Vanessa told us about a shop in Fayetteville Tennessee "that we just had to see". We went, snow and all. It was on the square in an old building that had been restored. When we arrived, we were all overwhelmed by how much it reminded us of our hometown.

    We all fell in love with it. It made you feel warm and welcomed as soon as you entered it. On the way home we began discussing how we all had a secret desire to own a business. Each one of us had the exact same dream. The more we talked the more excited we became. By the time we arrived back in Collinsville, we were praying that if this was God's plan that He would provide a building and we would start there.

    Two weeks later, while at Sunday night service, the preacher asked if we had any prayer concerns and Vanessa said that some of us wanted to open a business in town and we needed a building. After the closing prayer, the couple sitting behind Vanessa ( Martha and Thomas Barksdale), said, “Vanessa, we might have a building for you.” Just two days after our trip Martha, a local business owner, historian and member of the Collinsville Historical Association had purchased the 76 Main Street building which was the old town hall and jail. The building was in danger of having the jail cells removed, and with them more of Collinsville's history. When she found out what we were thinking of doing, she let us help design the renovations. We opened for business on July 4, 2003. Our business philosophy/strategy is to keep God first, have fun and help everyone we can by sharing our gifts, talents and time.

   The building had been vacant for at least 10 years (and it wasn't the one we had been praying about) so some heavy duty work had to be done. Anyway, we got to be involved on where things were put, like the wiring and lighting, etc… We prayed about a lot of things, like displays, rugs, refrigerators, chairs and God just kept answering our prayers.

One thing that we were not prepared for was the selfishness of some of the fabric dealers, or the jealousy of some other shops and friends. One fabric dealer told Vanessa that if we didn’t have $60K to spend with him that we shouldn’t open a quilt shop. (Busted Bubble). Long story short, she found one that was a lot nicer and here we are.

   We wanted our shop to be one that you felt you could come and sit down and talk, or sit and sew or sit and pray, laugh, sing.....whatever you felt like at the moment. We believe our shop is truly a gift from God. We are blessed and feel compelled to share all we have with everyone who enters.

   We wanted just the right name for our shop. We had a couple of "silly sessions" trying to find it, and then one day, one of us came up with a name that everyone agreed on instantly. It was, for all of us, “A Time 2 Sew”. It is from the Bible verses, Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8. We had all had many seasons in our lives and we felt that is was now a time to sew. We have an open Bible in all of our areas of business. It has opened up many opportunities to witness.

God continues to bless our businesses. And just so you know, the two story building that houses our class rooms, Embroidery shop and Nessa’s is the building we picked out to pray for on that snowy night.

To Everything There Is A Season......All In God’s Time!!!!!!!!!!!!!