Cory Krueger uses his 1946 custom-painted Singer Featherweight machine to sew together pieces of quilt at his Watertown store, The Quilter’s Block. Krueger only picked up quilting two years ago as part of a resolution to try a new craft or art project each month for 2020. He never expected to love sewing quilts nor that it would turn into a business.

Cory Krueger uses his 1946 custom-painted Singer Featherweight machine to sew together pieces of quilt at his Watertown store, The Quilter’s Block. Krueger only picked up quilting two years ago as part of a resolution to try a new craft or art project each month for 2020. He never expected to love sewing quilts nor that it would turn into a business.

Cory Krueger set a resolution for 2020 to take one craft or art class each month. Unfortunately, a few months into the year that plan was curtailed by coronavirus.

“I had signed up for all of these classes and all of them were cancelled,” said Krueger, 44.

Instead of giving up the resolution, a couple of his friends helped him continue the goal by giving Krueger a tutorial on quilting. He already owned a sewing machine but rarely used it.

“I knew this wasn’t going to be serious because I knew this wasn’t going to be something I wanted to do,” Krueger said.

Mother-daughter duo Sharon Zastrow and Miranda Kluge invited Krueger to what he thought would be some very basic quilting and sewing lessons.

“We’d often go shopping together and we’d go to craft stores because I knit and crochet. I would pick out fabric and say, ‘Can you make me a quilt for me,’” Krueger said. “It was so much easier for me to buy (fabric) and have them put it together.”

Upon arriving, Krueger, who has lived in Lake Mills for 20 years, was met with multiple pre-cut pieces of fabric. Zastrow and Kluge walked him through assembling and sewing his first quilt block.

The women directed Krueger to make another block, this time without their oversight.

“I hadn’t been paying that much attention, but they told me, ‘You’ll figure it out,’” he said. “When I got home, I thought, ‘That was kind of fun.”

Krueger had not anticipated the lesson would result in a new hobby and a business venture.

Determined to make a quilt Krueger promptly ordered fabric and a log cabin pattern from the internet and even ended up buying another sewing machine since his machine needed a replacement part that was backordered.

“When I finished the blocks for that quilt, none of them were the same size but it was okay because I loved it and I was learning along the way and I was just having such a blast,” the Lake Mills man said. “There was something that clicked about taking a big piece of fabric, cutting it into pieces and then sewing it back together with different pieces of fabric.”

By June of 2020, Krueger decided to make a quilt as a Christmas gift for a family member. However, at the request of other family members who wanted one of his quilts as a gift, Krueger set a goal of finishing seven quilts in time for Christmas.

“Then my husband said, ‘Which fabrics did you pick for my mom and my brother?’ I hadn’t planned on sewing quilts for them this year so now I was up to nine,” he said. “I made all the (quilt) tops and I had someone else long-arm quilt them. It was an adventure.”

About 90% of the quilts Krueger has made are given as gifts for various occasions. He has a bin of completed quilt tops ready to be completed.

“It’s the whole process; I love piecing, I love taking the small pieces and making the block and turning the block into something bigger. I love the variety of quilts. And I love the look of people’s face when I give them the quilt,” Krueger said.

“I’m still not perfect at it, but I’m seeing improvements,” he said. “I redid that first log cabin pattern. Compared to the first one, it’s a night and day difference. I thought it was just going to be another hobby that I would pick up here and there, not something that I would want to do when I’d be done with work for the day.”

Krueger learned more about the quilting process and different types of patterns by absorbing knowledge passed along through YouTube, online communities, and even a week-long trip to the Missouri Star Quilt Company in Hamilton, Missouri.

“I ended up giving away all my yarn when I decided to focus on quilting because I needed to find room to store my fabric,” the Lake Mills resident said.

But Krueger wanted to do more than just make quilts – he wanted to create a store where he could not only sell fabrics and quilting notions but connect quilters with one another.

“It didn’t make sense to me to spend all the money at somebody else’s shop when I could spend the money in my own shop for fabric,” the Lake Mills resident said.

The Quilters Block launched as an online shop January of 2021. Krueger sold pre-cut fabrics, rulers, patterns and books. This was a precursor to his larger plan of moving the business into a brick-and-mortar storefront; last week, the The Quilters Block store opened in Watertown.

Krueger aspires to host beginner quilting classes at the store and have open sewing times where people can bring in their machines, work on their projects and get assistance from other sewers.

He’d also like to serve as a sewing machine dealer and service. Krueger plans to showcase a customer quilt each month to inspire other shoppers and connect people.

“I never expected to take this hobby on and didn’t think it would turn into a business,” Krueger said. “But I’m really happy it’s worked out this way.”

Jean Lynch has always dreamed of owning a bookstore.

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