Final days setting in for Quilters Garden
Fri, 02/14/2025 - 9:54am
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By:
Dan Evans TPD Publisher
CRESCO - From riding in a horse and buggy, to creating quilts with a customized long-arm quilting machine, Katie Mast has come a long way!
Having grown up Amish, Mast has been making a living the past 15-plus years owning and operating Quilters Garden in downtown Cresco. Having made thousands of quilts over that time, she is finally calling it “quits” after selling her building and the family purchasing a small farm located near Canton, MN.
“I had put the business up for sale over two years ago and just didn’t get the right offer,” said Mast, who loves the quilting business, but not the extras of owning a retail store. “Back in November we were looking for land to buy and I had talked with my neighbor (Michelle Ahern) about getting a farm. We had also mentioned about selling my building. She called a week later and asked if I was serious, and I said as serious as a heart attack!”
It was shortly after that conversation the building was sold to DBA Properties (owned by Dave and Michelle Ahern), where Mast has been renting the facility the past two months, trying to get things in order.
Family Farm
Later on, the Mast family found an Amish farm for sale up in Canton, perfectly fitting the family’s needs.
“We’ll be moving about half mile north of Canton on a little Amish farm with about 31 acres,” said Mast with a big smile. “The property has two houses with other buildings, such as a barn and out-buildings. It will be perfect for raising animals, which is what we want to do.”
Granted, Mast will be quiting the store in Cresco, but much of the equipment, fabric, additional quilts and more will be moving with her. She is offering a “closeout sale” currently, but anything remaining will move to the farm location up north.
“We’re going to basically reopen a store up there and will continue to have an on-line presence with quiltersgardencresco.com,” said Mast, who will also continue using the long-arm sewing machine in making quilts for her new store and customers. “We still will have a use for all the remaining items, inventory, but we just don’t want it all. So instead of buying a dozen roses for your sweety, buy a dozen bolts of fabric! They’ll love you for it!”
Will Be Missed
Having owned and operated Quilters Garden for such a long time, Mast said she’ll definitely miss it, especially her many clients.
“The people, the customers are what I’ll miss most. If I could have just done that, work with my customers and nothing else, I would still own this store. It’s the extra parts of running a business that wears on you and makes you so tired.”
She had started the business from scratch back in 2009 shortly after Pine Needles (another quilt shop in Cresco) had closed.
“I kind of blame my daughter as to why I own this business,” said Mast of her eldest daughter Amanda pushing her to make it happen. “I had kept saying I should open up a quilt shop, so Amanda had told Randy Mashek (who was Chamber Director back then) that I was interested. Randy gave me a call and the rest was history and the push I needed.”
Mast stated she went and toured other quilt shops in different states to see what may work best for her.
“It seems like yesterday when I did that, going to Illinois and Indiana,” added Mast. “I did get a lot of great ideas from that trip, plus where to purchase my merchandize.”
It was not long that the store was opened and customers started flowing in.
“I like to talk and I will talk to people,” laughed Mast. “People far and wide came here largely because we have fun. We were a different, unique store and had lots to offer and conversations were part of that.”
Mast said she never considered herself as a sales person, but was “far and through” when it came to quilting, fabrics and equipment. Her store became successful and her customers were supporting it well.
“We would also bend over backwards for our customers at times and that would always bring them back.”
New Location
As for her new location, Mast stated she’ll be creating a new shop on the farm.
“It’s going to be different as we’re not going to be open all the time and I really want to try and do different things that I didn’t have time to do here,” said Mast. “I am going to miss some things, like buying fabric and other little things I had enjoyed, but mostly the people here in Cresco. We had some great customers.”
Farm Life
As for the farm, the Mast family is extra excited to get to the acreage near Canton, planning to raise numerous animals and getting back to nature.
“I grew up on a farm and being outdoors,” said Mast, who said owning a store was really out of her element in being inside most of the time. “We plan on raising just about everything. We’ll have chickens, horses, a milk cow–producing our own milk, goats, beef cattle and who knows what else! We want to raise our own food, yet want pets with most of them.”
Mast noted she has not been on a farm for a long time and is just looking forward to returning to that type of life.
“I’m just going to live life and live off the land,” joked Mast, with a little bit of seriousness involved. “That’s what we want to do. It’s going to be a joy to feed the animals, grow crops and collect eggs. Looking forward to it!”
She said her husband, Dan, will continue to run his trucking business and help with the farm.
There will be plenty of work to start, as all the buildings will need electricity, heat/AC (HAVC) installed along with other items.
“We’ve had to hire plumbers and electricians to get things in order,” said Mast. “Like most Amish farms, there are two houses along with the other buildings. The farm, itself, is located only a half mile north of Canton on a hardtop road.”
She commented that the farm is easy to get to, and everyone is welcome to come and visit. Mast added that they’re not far from Cresco and want to remain friends with all their old customers, neighbors and more.
“We just want to live life in the way God has planned for us. Owning this farm is exactly where we’re supposed to be!”
Family Life
As for the Mast family, Dan and Katie have four grown children in Amanda, Amber, Annie and Ethan. The couple has been married for 29 years and both are from the Ohio area.
Katie had moved to Minnesota when she was 18 and Dan when he was age 10. They eventually found each other and had moved to Cresco, where they had a home in the community.
Mast was involved with the Cresco Chamber Retail group over the years and was a member of the Chamber.
