The Long Story

From DFW to the Ozarks: How Lake Quilt Co. & Mercantile Came to Be

My name is Kristi. I’m a Texan in love with a boy from Arkansas — and somewhere along the way, I fell in love with Arkansas too. I’m a Registered Nurse, and I’ll confess that I used to roll my eyes at “dog moms” talking about their fur babies. Then I became one. Trudy, Wally, and Gus are three Mini Schnauzers who have my whole heart, and I literally do not care who knows it. Fur or not, they’re my babies. Now — let me tell you how Lake Quilt Co. & Mercantile came to be.

I was born and raised in Texas. When I was fifteen, my family sat us down and told us we were moving to Arkansas. I didn’t know what to think. To be honest, I didn’t even know where Arkansas was on the map. I knew Texas shared borders with Oklahoma and Louisiana — I didn’t realize it connected to Arkansas at all. I can still remember riding in the U-Haul with my mom, driving through Little Rock, watching the terrain change around me. It was so foreign. We might as well have been in another country.

I was a few days late starting my 10th grade year. I remember a handsome boy opening the cafeteria door for me. I remember his friend giving him a hard time about it. I had no idea I would marry him one day. His name is Jeremy — JB to most people who know him — and we’ve been together ever since.

We had all the typical teenage drama. Ups and downs. I wouldn’t have guessed, standing in that cafeteria, that we’d still be here all this time later. We can drive each other nuts. We are also each other’s biggest fans. Some things just work out the way they’re supposed to.

We went to college, got married, and by then my family had moved back to Texas. We followed. We built careers, chased the American Dream, and life was genuinely good. We’re thankful for every bit of it. But by our mid-forties we’d really accomplished everything we’d set out to do — and having children wasn’t in the cards for us. We grieved that. We came through it. And somewhere on the other side, we started asking a question we hadn’t let ourselves ask before: was this all there was until retirement?

The what-ifs started over margaritas on Friday nights and had a way of lingering into Saturday morning conversations. There was really nothing keeping us in the suburbs anymore. JB had been working remotely for a few years. And I — even though this is the long story, I’ll spare you the details — I hit a wall. I’d been working days as a nurse manager and giving up my nights and weekends to graduate school. I knew I was done with that chapter. It was a future I could no longer picture. Call it fate or luck, I don’t care. The right opportunity landed in my lap, and that was the last piece we needed.

We’d already been looking at land in Arkansas. We’d spent a lot of time there over the years visiting JB’s family and going to the lake. He wanted to get back. We found a beautiful piece of property that honestly, most people wouldn’t want — much of it isn’t “usable” because of steep elevation changes. That’s exactly why we loved it.

We bought a house that really should have been torn down, made it livable, pulled up roots in Texas, and made the Greers Ferry Lake area our home. That house was always meant to be a placeholder while we built something new on our land. But life is funny.

The widow who lived next door to our property passed away. Her home sat on the market for a long time. JB kept asking me to go look at it. I kept saying no — it was way too big for two people and needed everything. But in a moment of weakness, when we were trying to figure out how to make the new build work, I agreed to go see it. We made an offer that same day.

That house is what makes Lake Quilt Co. & Mercantile possible. It gives me the space I need — for inventory, for the work, for building something real. Where it all goes from here, I’m still figuring out. But for the first time, there’s room to find out.

I’m still learning as a quilter and as a shop owner. I share that openly because I think there’s something worth saying about being a beginner at something you love. If you’re just starting out, you’re in good company. If you’ve been at this for decades, I hope you find something here worth your time.

Either way — welcome.

Kristi

Lake Quilt Co. & Mercantile | Greers Ferry Lake, Arkansas