What makes a quilter a quilter? Is it a multitude of quilts stashed all over your house? Is it the person who has a quilt collection or is it a person who has a passion for fabrics and provides support for the daily quilt producer.  Recently I got to spend time with my friend in Boise, Idaho who happens to have an online quilt store in her garage.  Being a lover of fabrics myself I was in textile heaven.  A little background about my fabric buddy.  I found her when my husband and I needed to hire an attorney for some legal help for an ongoing matter.  I remember our first interview with her and we both discovered our love of all things quilting.  At first my husband was a little put off when we  kept wondering back to quilt talk in between talking about the real issues.  But it became apparent that our relationship with her was going to be something special.  We have been getting to know each other for the last 2 1/2 years and just like all of my quilt projects I am still surprised at how much I am blessed by just knowing this person.  So what makes a quilter?  To my knowledge she has only made one large quilt that she gave to her special friends.  So of course I asked her “What are you doing with 500 hundred bolts of fabric in your garage?” Well she said “I love to look at it, touch it and just plain hang out with it my garage.”  It turns out that fabric gives her a real sense of peace.  Her life as an attorney can be very stressful at times and at the end of the day she visits her fabric and truly relaxes and winds down. I have to mention that not only does she have a doctorate in law she also has a degree in engineering.  So all of her fabric is lined up on shelves by color, pattern, designer, and manufacturer. It turns out that she sells a lot of her fabric online at her website idahoyankeefabrics.com. It is a thrill for her to be able to put together fabrics with  complimentary fabrics and helping quilters make fabulous quilts.  And she is very good at it.  I am currently working on a pheasant habitat quilt.  The background is painted with a corn field with a beautiful orange and blue sunset and is still waiting for the final element to appear to finish it.  She mentioned that she had some great pheasants in flight fabric that would be perfect.  And guess what it was perfect.  Didn’t take much to say yes and I got a piece for my growing stash.  You know that you make a quilt by selecting a pattern, gathering the fabric, putting it together to make your masterpiece. It turns out that my friends part of the masterpiece is the one thing that ties everything together, the fabric of course.  You can’t finish you quilt without it. Check out Kristen’s website @ idahoyankeefabrics.com.