20 years can fly by in the blink of an eye. The 20th anniversary of Fat Quarter Shop truly snuck up on us, as so much has changed since the first days! Today we’re looking back on the past two decades of running a business while raising four kids (they were featured a lot on the blog as babies!), the wonderful employees we’ve made memories with (some have been here since our second year!), so much fabric, thousands of quilts, the milestones reached, and all the good times we’ve shared.
In the early days, we cut and packaged fabric from the middle room of our home. We had our first child, Emma, in 2007, and she was raised running through the halls of Fat Quarter Shop, watching us work. We’ve collected some photos to share that capture just of few of the moments from the past 20 years.
Click on the photos below to see a larger version of each photo with a caption!
International Quilt Market has always been an exciting time to visit with friends and colleagues, see the new releases, and cut loose. We have a lot of good memories over the years.
Now here’s a crowdsourcing project we’d like some help with. Do you have any old photos of Kimberly, Kevin, or the Fat Quarter Shop team in the wild you would like to share with us? Please drop them here in this Dropbox folder and leave a comment below to let us know where and when the photo was taken. We may use them in a future blog post. Thank you!
Our First Website
We created the first version of the Fat Quarter Shop website in June of 2003. The menu images no longer work, but you can see how it started.
A year later, the website had grown! Raise your hand if you ever coded a website in Microsoft FrontPage or straight HTML.
Another snapshot from 2004 with Kimberly’s dog, Bugsy.
Thank you for joining us to look back at some special memories from over the years. If you’ve ever shopped with Fat Quarter Shop, thank you for your business!
Stay connected to Fat Quarter Shop!
46 comments
It’s fun to see how you maintained your relationships with family and coworkers through the years. I wish you success in the years ahead!
I’m so glad I found you! It’s fun looking at your pics and to see how much you’ve grown!! I hope you have many happy and successful years ahead!!
While I have not been apart of the quilting community for the 20 years you have been doing business, I am thankful for what I have learned through you. I appreciate your company, the customer service, and the chance to learn from another quilter who is honest about what she loves and how she likes things. You do you in a wonderful fashion Kimberly. You and Kevin have made a wonderful busines!! Here’s to another 20 more years. 👍👍
What fun to see the “old” photos of the early FQS! I sure enjoyed my “10-years” there and all the fun we had! I remember the day Kimberly hired me as we had lunch at a restaurant and she told me she was pregnant with Emma! Best job ever working for the Jolly’s!
Thanks for this trip down Memory Lane! I love seeing how you have hanged thru the years!🥰🥰
Happy, Happy Birthday! How wonderful to celebrate 20 years, and to have grown so much during those years. Congratulations and wishing you many more years of success!
Just for fun I looked at views of your website through the years at the Wayback Machine just to see the changes. It was interesting to see what fabrics were offered during those years. If you haven’t looked and you’re interested, here’s the link: https://web.archive.org/web/20030101000000*/http://fatquartershop.com
Again, Congratulations and Happy Birthday!
Great pictures – such precious memories!!! Thank you for your service and expertise to the quilting community!!! Happy 20th Birthday FQS!!!!
Love all the pictures. Great way to show how your journey has evolved. I hope that you continue the journey because it is my favorite place to go on the internet
Love Fat Quarter Shop and the Friday Livestreams!I wish you, Kevin, and your family continued success! Your setting your family as the priority over the business is endearing and I for one admire you for it, as do many others!
Sweet memories!! Thank you for sharing with us!! God has been good to you and your family.❤
Congratulations on your 20th anniversary! What fun to see the pictures! Here’s to 20 more years and more!!
Oh my gosh, thank you for sharing those fun pictures. Such a wonderful journey for you guys and know how much you are appreciated! I started out as a new quilter three years ago and bought my first sewing machine (Eversewn Sparrow 20) through your shop. I learned to quilt by watching your videos and now have a well-stocked sewing space in my home thanks to your shop. And after three years of quilting, I consider myself to be an intermediate sewer and I contribute that success to you. Thank you…. And congrats on 20 years and going strong. Hugs to all…
I recognize the fabric lines in the quilts from several of your photos! It’s been a great ride, hasn’t it?
Congratulations!
Thank you all for excellent products, service and packaging! All I can say is Nobody Does It Better! Love the photo history, so much fun to see.
Enjoyed the pics so much! Thanks for sharing. Hard to believe baby Emma must be a young women by now! Wishing you success for the next 20 years! The quality of service you provide is exceptional! God Bless.
Really enjoyed the pictures from your beginning. The warehouse with no AC made me smile. Heat in Texas can be brutal. I live in Arkansas but have been in the Austin area in years past with my granddaughter playing travel softball in the summer. Thank you and your family for giving 20 years to the industry.
I’ve alway done heirloom sewing for my grandkids, but when I retired 5 years ago, I was so blessed to find fat quarter shop on you-tube!! Thank you so much for teaching me art of quilting. I love seeing the new fabric lines when you show them… and the wonderful quilts you make. I never hesitate to get my fabric from your store! You, Kevin and your staff are the best, wishing you many more years of success and giving back to your charities!! God Bless you!!
I remember Emma toddling around your business. That’s how long I have shopped with you!
Love seeing all the pictures! I can’t remember how many years I’ve been shopping at FQS? Your customer service and packaging in the best EVER. Thanks for all the weekly livestreams, free patterns, great ideas and inspiration. Happy Anniversary!
Thank you for sharing the photos! It was nice to see pictures of people you talk about but I have never seen their faces. I must say Kevin deserves a lot of credit working with all that estrogen. Congratulations on your 20 years of hard work. Here’s hoping for 20 more.
Kimberly congratulations 0n 20 years. It has been a ride I am sure! Thank you for all the work you do to bring all of us so much happiness! I hope you are blessed with many more years!
I enjoyed looking at your photos. You are an amazing team and it is wonderful to see you succeed in your shop and endeavors all while raising a family!
It’s so fun to see all the pics as your family as well as your business grew! Thanks for always making the customer first and providing such wonderful service. I shop here all the time and love all the videos too!
Congratulations on your 20th year! Your growth is amazing. Although you said in the beginning you had no “business plan” – you did – to offer folks something that wasn’t readily available, and to focus on your customers! Those certainly were two key elements you have continued to focus on. Thank you for that!
Loved seeing all the photos and hearing the story! I uploaded a pic of Kim and I at the Houston Quilt Fest in 2015. I had just started my blog and it was 4 years before I began my YouTube channel. Little did I know then that I’d be an affiliate for the FQS by 2020 and you’d be such an important part of my life! Still loving all the inspiration and incredible products and customer service! Looking forwards to decades more! Big hugs!!
Wow those pics are so fun! Thanks for sharing!
Congratulations Kimberly and Kevin! Y’all have the best quilt shop around! The FQS associates that work with y’all are so talented and everyone who has to answer all my calls are A+
Thanks!
Happy 20th Birthday/Anniversary FQS!! Love all the flashback photos! So amazing to see how much FQS has grown over the years. Thank you for all you have and continue to do!!
What memories you have recorded. From the beginning with Emma and the boys combined with starting the business. It always looks like Kevin and you are enjoying the journey. I’m sure there were tough days but 99% looks like you loved what you were doing. We the customers are so grateful you did. Thanks for the 20 years and hopefully a lot more to come.
Memories are so much fun! Thanks fir sharing yours with us!
I’ve followed your journey from Australia. Have made a number of BOM’s. Sadly postage costs have limited that now. Congratulations on 20 years and here’s to 20 more.🥂
Congratulations! You are an inspiration for me and so many quilters. Thanks for all the tutorials, videos, and Live Streams you do which are awesome. Looking forward to the next 20 years 😀.
Loved the photos! Thanks for sharing and congrats on 20 years!
Great pictures! From such humble beginnings… wishing you well for another great 20 years!
What great pictures! Congratulations on 20 fantastic years! Here’s to many, many more!!!
Congratulations on 20 years!! Thank you for sharing your life with us. The pictures are wonderful, they really depict how far you’ve come, and how fast time goes. Here’s to many more joyful, successful years ahead💗🙌🏼, Denise Minchin
Congrats on 20 years in the business!
Thank you so much for sharing your life and knowledge with us these past 20 years. Here’s to 20 more! Also, can you tell me the name of the adorable Dr. Seuss quilt shown in the boy’s room and as the backdrop in the second set of photos? I would so love to make one for our new grandson who is 8 months old. Thank you again for spending 20 years with us.
About 18 years ago at one of my first local quilt guild meetings someone muttered to me, ‘I get everything I need at the Fat Quarter Shop website’. At that time I didn’t even know what a stash was. Kimberly can probably see everything I have ordered since then and I’ve never been disappointed and had absolutely zero issues with order accuracy. I can’t say enough positive things about the consistency of service and value of your product lines. And you’ve done it all while raising a beautiful family. Congratulations to the entire crew, and thank you for the memories.
How fun to see all this wonderful pictures!! Congratulations on 20 years of running such an amazing business! I appreciate all that you do for your customers. Cheers to the next 20!! 🥂❤️
Your pictures are so much fun to see and your journey to success Happy Birthday on 20 years in business. HELLO, Fat Quarter Shop Crew!
This was so fun! God bless you and your entire team for making all kinds of wishes come true 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
You have made my life better! Buying product from you is fun, but watching Kimberley several times a week has added much color and fun to my life! I don’t know a better way to say it, than we all just love you and your business! Thank you for making us feel like family! 💕🪡💕🪡💕
Congratulations on your wonderful shop and website!! I have so enjoyed your videos, buying beautiful fabrics and fun items on your site. You make your videos so personal I feel like I know you Kimberly and that is what makes you so successful. Your sincerity and integrity shines through. Please keep it up!! I began quilting about 4 years ago
and I have learned so much from your videos. Thank you and God Bless you, your family and staff!!
Love seeing your journey! Thanks for sharing.
Happy 20th Anniversary Fat Quarter Shop!!! Loved all the photos that you shared on your journey. I know when I watch your videos, I will always learn something new. You share from your heart and “we” all feel you always want us to be successful in our quilting journey. I am 78 and have been quilting for about 20 years. I also know when I order from FQS I will receive it within a few days (the fastest service ever) Wishing you much success for another 20 years and beyond.