July Shop Hop

In Southern Ontario, Canada some of our quilt stores host a "July Shop Hop". There were 15 stores this year and although it's a lot of driving, it is the only time I get around to visiting some of these shops. It's amazing how each store sells different products and has their own unique personality. 
Each store gives you a package with a block pattern and the fabric to make that block. That's right... it's a free event and you get the fabrics and patterns to 15 blocks if you visit all the stores. I only had time in July to visit 10 of the 15 stores.
Each store makes a unique quilt from the shop hop blocks, so you get to see 15 different sampler quilt layouts.
Have I mentioned lately how much I love sampler quilts?!?!

The one drawback about the event (for me) is that they do not want any photos of this event posted on social media, thereby keeping all the projects a mystery for the participants for the month of July. I did ask for permission to take photos so that I could remember layouts and be inspired by the creative quilting ideas. I must admit that I don't really understand the whole "top secret" philosophy! But they do have a huge response to this event and perhaps don't want the increased participation that social media exposure might bring.

I wasn't going to participate this year since both of the previous year's projects are in my UFO closet, but once I saw the finished quilt at Creative Sisters, I was ALL IN! Their shop hop quilt was wonderful and thankfully they recently posted photos on line, so now you can see that quilt (and all the 2017 sampler layouts) at the shop hop photo page here.



At the same time as the July Shop Hop was going on, there was also the popular Row By Row event. I have not yet become enamoured with this concept (thankfully!) but I do get a kick out of the creative fabric license plates at some of the stores. 

Do you participate in shop hops or the row by row?

Shop Shop Report

My friend Louise and I had a great day shop hopping this week. We found lots of treasures and even had our photo taken and posted on the Cobwebs and Caviar Facebook page! We felt like real celebrities!

Louise and I have been friends since 1990 and although we only get to see each other 2 or 3 times a year, we treasure every moment of great conversation we can squeeze out of our very busy lives.

These are some of the treasures I found at the 6 shops we travelled to. Most of these fabrics are "needed" for ongoing projects including the elephants, 150 Canadian Women and the bear. I also got a new Bohin pencil to replace the one I wore out, and some unscented Best Press spray.
I almost met my goal of not starting any new projects, but could not resist the "Bee Creative" fabrics so bought a few fabric pieces to make a quick and easy door hanging. How could I resist?!?

Goose on the Loose

Today is the start of the Goose on the Loose shop hop. My friend Louise and I have attended this annual event for the past 11 years.

I have been having car troubles recently caused by a mouse on the loose! Because the shop hop involves a lot of driving, it was looking like I might not be able to go this year. But yesterday the mechanic assured me that my car has been repaired, is now rid of the destructive rodent that had taken up residence under the hood of my vehicle, and it is road worthy once again. 

And so we are off on another quilty adventure! 

Local Shop Hop Project

At the beginning of November there was a local 5 store shop hop that I was able to fit in my schedule. It was a lovely day for a drive and the stores are within a workable driving distance to visit in one day. Here is the cute passport for the hop, which was stamped at each store you visited.
In addition to having lovely gift packages for draws in each store, they also hosted a free mystery project. You picked up a small piece of fabric at each shop, and when you arrived at your last store you received the pattern to go with the fabric. 

Even though my unfinished Halloween project was sitting on the table, I brought this fabric home and started cutting! The project turned out to be a cute snowpeople tablerunner (12" x 41") that was fun and easy to make. The next step is pin basting and machine quilting, and then hand stitching the little snowpeople faces. In the middle of working on some challenging patterns and large projects, it was so refreshing to have a quick project to enjoy!
Linking up today with Lorna's party over at Let's Be Social.

July Shop Hop progress

Seeing finished quilts inspires us all to keep working on our projects. I saw this finished Shop Hop quilt at the London Friendship Quilters' Guild show on the weekend. It was made by Yvonne Yardy. She collected and sewed all 14 blocks, made the quilt top, basted, quilted and bound the quilt, and entered it into a quilt show...
and I haven't even taken some of the blocks out of their packages yet!

This is the perfect time of year to work on this project with these lovely fall colours and now that I'm inspired by this quilt I'm going to start opening these packages. I won't be making all the blocks that are in the quilt above since I didn't get around to all the stores, but I will make most of them.

July Shop Hop 2016

In Southern Ontario, Canada there is an annual shop hop in July. This is the 6th year and I haven't really participated much in the past because it's a busy time of year for me, and it is a lot of driving because the stores are far apart.
I did participate in 2012 with my sister and that year there were 10 stores. I don't remember a "shop hop quilt" project from that year, but I do remember we got some great deals on fabric purchases (click here to read about it). 

Last year my friend Barb participated in the shop hop and collected the block packages each store gave the participants. She didn't want to sew them, so she donated them to me (click here to see that post). I took the project to fall retreat and finished sewing some of the blocks. 

And then I lost the momentum. Or maybe I got distracted by another project or deadline? Or maybe the problem was just that I didn't like some of the blocks and didn't want to sew blocks with templates?
Whatever the reason, all the finished blocks and unopened fabric packages were in this bag. So I hung it on my sewing room wall to think about it.
Do I want to participate in this year's July Shop Hop, which is even bigger with 14 stores to visit when I am so annoyed with myself for not finishing the project from last year's event? 
Have you struggled with the same dilemma? 
What would you do?

Shop Hop Report

From the wonderful Kelly Rae Roberts

My friend Louise and I had a great time at the Goose on the Loose Shop Hop last week. We went to 6 quilt stores in one day and we were exhausted by the end of the day. What a great problem to have - too much great conversation, too much creative stimulation, and too much fun! It was so wonderful to be with an old (as in long time friend, not as in elderly!) friend who really "sees" and understands me, and who enjoys my company as much as I enjoy hers.  

These are my purchases from the shop hop ... clothesline to make more fabric bowls, the 60 degree triangle packs (which were the shop hop special and is my newest UFO!), a frixion pen, a bit of thread (quilter's candy) and the border/backing/binding fabric to finish my UFO of the month.

From Quiltville

What a great day!
We laughed a lot about how much I still love my old "fliposaurus" phone, and continue to resist entering the new millennium of "smart" phones. We feel privileged to have shared a  friendship for almost 25 years without needing Facebook, or Twitter, or any other way of being pseudo-connected through virtual reality. We just meet together face to face in real life whenever we can, and we connect on a heart and quilting level. Aren't quilting friends just the best?!?

Goose On The Loose Shop Hop

Every year my friend Louise and I attend the Goose on the Loose Shop Hop.  Heaven knows we don't really need anything! We love seeing the new fabrics and quilt patterns, and we enjoy the creative energy of a shop hop.
But mostly we look forward to being together and visiting while driving between stores. Over the years I have realized that the shop hop is really secondary to the visit! We have our shopping lists ready and can't wait until we are on the road to the quilt store!!

Design Wall Monday

A couple of weeks ago I participated in a shop hop with some quilting friends in the Kingston area. At each store you could buy a kit with block patterns and fabric strips. If you went to all the stores, you would have enough fabric and instructions to complete a sampler quilt. Each store had their version of the quilt and it was fun to see the layout variations. If you have Facebook (which I don't) you can see the layouts on the KBH Shophop page.
I have finished all my blocks and have been rearranging them on my design wall. I purchased two fabrics for borders, but haven't decided on my layout yet. I will keep admiring the blocks until I decide :)
To see more design walls, hop over to Patchwork Times.
And to all you Canadian quilters....
Happy Canada Day!!

"Yours to Discover" Shop Hop

I am totally blaming my sister for this one! I was prepared to "pass" on a big, 10 store, month long shop hop since July is such a busy month, and it involves a lot of driving. But my sister convinced me that it would be a fun challenge to see if we could visit all 10 quilt stores this month.
So we started off on the "Yours to Discover Shop Hop". I have been quilting for more than 20 years, so it was a surprise to find out that half of the stores were new to me!

We discovered some great quilt stores and I will mention my two new faves from this shop hop:
1) Quilt Junction in Waterford 
Their website does not in any way reflect this store...it is an amazing store in a renovated train station! It's a bit of a drive from anywhere, but it's a "destination location". They have adorable displays of the various fabric lines they carry and tons of finished quilts to enjoy.
You need to plan for a lot of time to have coffee/tea on the deck by the river, while you enjoy the scenery, visit with other quilters, and do some relaxing hand work. My sister took this photo of me stitching down some binding while enjoying the deck.



2) The Marsh Store in Ilderton
We really loved the Marsh Store, which is a renovated general store built in 1869. There are many rooms in this building which contain a huge variety of fabrics, and many products I haven't seen before. They also have a good supply of fabric paints, and specialty threads.





It was delightful to be greeted by their very friendly store manager Nellie (curled up in front of the door). Next time I visit, I will take treats for Nellie!







Just when you think it can't get any better, we found out there was a 30% sale this week... woohoo! This blue sale bucket had half meter cuts for $2, or 6 for $10! 
Some people got carried away and dug right to the bottom to see every single piece of fabric! 
Even though it was a lot of driving, we thoroughly enjoyed the Yours to Discover Shop Hop and are completely inspired to get in our sewing rooms and SEW!

Shop Hop Report and Giveaway

There were two local shop hops over the past weekend, involving a total of 8 quilt stores. Of course I stopped in to a couple of other stores that weren't part of the official hop, but you can't be that close to a quilt store and not drop in and say 'hi'! This is a photo from my first stop at Quilters' Line.  Chrissie (in the middle) is the store owner and my friend Louise is on the right (trying to pretend she works there by sneaking behind the counter LOL!).

As I was driving, I saw these women walking along the road and really admired their hats and colour co-ordinated outfits, which remind me of the colours of Amish quilts.







Here are the cupcake treats we enjoyed sampling at Cobwebs and Caviar...yum!


Here are the fabric treats I bought. I finally found the BlocLoc ruler which I have been wanting to try. I also found the binding clips that I've seen on a few blogs, so I look forward to trying those soon. And of course I bought a few Fat Quarters!

I also bought some treats for one of my special blog readers to celebrate Shop Hop weekend. 
At the Quilters Nine Patch in Elmira I saw this wonderful tablerunner in reproduction fabrics (just like my civil war blocks in blue and brown) and they had kits made up with the tumbler blocks pre-cut, so I just had to buy one of those!
Then I found these cool row marking pins where you pin the letters on your blocks or rows to keep everything in order while you sew (bought one for me and one for you). 
And of course every giveaway has to include a charm pack. This one is the Seasonal Little Gatherings, which I adore.
If you would like to enter the draw, leave me a comment and I'll draw the winning name on the weekend.  Good luck!

Michigan Stash Dash

Every year my sisters, my Mom and I go away for a women's weekend. This year we decided to combine the getaway with the Michigan Stash Dash since my little sister lives in Michigan. 
The problem was that none of us remembered that the date was 11-11-11 and it was Veteran's Day in the US. So the border crossing was a nightmare - 4 hours parked on the highway and then inching across the Blue Water bridge in Sarnia and finally through the interrogation. So by the time we actually got to the first quilt store, it was already 4 pm. At the second store which was small, there was a busload of shoppers, so we couldn't really see anything and by that time we were too exhausted anyway. Over the 2 days of traveling we were able to get to 5 of the 8 stores. 
It was fun to collect the little charms and to see the lovely projects in each store, but it was difficult to focus. 
The whole experience was so stressful that we didn't really feel like shopping at all. I made a few little purchases to finish up 2 of my quilts and some fabric to add to my collection for Bonnie Hunter's new mystery (starting next Friday - click here for the fabric requirements).  I think I don't need to do any shop hopping for a long time! 

Design Wall Monday #19

I can't believe that a new project is on my design wall today! Didn't I say I wasn't going to start anything new?!? I wanted to tackle my pink scraps and my May UFO, but there were 2 shop hops in my neck of the woods this weekend and that's my excuse!  It's so annoying that both shop hops are on the same weekend, because I couldn't get any time off work, and I missed out on one hop completely.
I went with my friend Louise to the Goose on the Loose shop hop, which we have been attending for years. Last year it was snowing, so this year we were happy to have a sunny day and see some flowers blooming along the way.
Here is Louise winning a gift bag at Cobwebs and Caviar - isn't this a gorgeous photo of their shop?!?

We really enjoyed the demos in each store and I plan to try the new techniques they showed us... which I guess means that there will be 4 new projects!?!
One of the things I bought (besides a little bit of fabric!) was a Lil' Twister ruler. I saw lots of these quilts on blogs last year, but hadn't seen the ruler until this weekend. I bought an older charm pack called Aster Manor to experiment with and sewed together this little quilt top as soon as I got home. Today I went to work with the twister ruler and this is what is on my design wall... three rows assembled and I'm still cutting out blocks.  Very fun! I wish I would have put all the solid charm squares in the quilt to give it more contrast, but it's my first one, so now I know. Do you notice how much it shrinks down in size from the original pieced quilt to the finished pinwheels?

I just love the Robert Kaufman Quilter's Linen that I bought for the border and can't wait to finish the project.

For more inspiration, hop over to Patchwork Times and see what other quilt bloggers are working on.

Middle of the Mitten Shop Hop

Every once in a while I get a crazy idea in my head and I've had a lot of those lately!

My most recent quilt-related crazy idea was to travel to Michigan with my Mom and sister to visit my youngest sister, and "on the way" (which was WAY out of the way - I'm bad with directions!) we'd participate in the Middle of the Mitten Shop Hop. 

There were 8 quilt shops on this hop, and it was a LONG drive...about 300 miles (approx. 475 km) from the first store to the last (plus driving to and from Ontario, Canada to the middle of Michigan in the USA). We pretended we were on the Amazing (Quilt) Race - left home Wednesday after work, and returned home on Friday night. We managed to find our way to each store, stayed overnight Wednesday at my sister's, and then slept overnight in East Tawas on Thursday night.

These are the gifts we received from various stores along the way. When your star matched another customer's or staff member's star you could get a free Fat Quarter and that was fun.

One of the best things about this shop hop was to see the 8 quilts at each store that used the same block patterns with 8 different settings. At each store we received one of the block patterns for the shop hop quilt, except somehow I did not get block #6. I'm sure I can figure it out using EQ or maybe my sister will find her copy. There were draws at each store for various gift baskets and a grand prize draw for $800 in gift certificates, but so far I haven't heard that I am the winner.

And of course I did some serious shopping!

I found quite a few pieces for my son's guitar quilt...don't have a design in mind, but am collecting fabrics for it. The majority of these novelty fabrics were found at the Material Mart in Midland.

I picked up a few FQ's to go into my Saturday Sampler blocks and think I have enough fabric now for several of these quilts!

I love these Presencia threads and treated myself to a few of those...they are like candies...who can resist them?!? And I picked up a few little supplies when I spotted them here and there.

But my main goal was to collect fabrics for a new quilt for my 14 year old niece. I got the paint sticks from when she redecorated her room and took those with me on the shop hop, trying to get a couple FQ's at each store.

This is what I collected and I can see from this photo that some of the selections will likely not make it into this quilt, but may get sewn into the backing!!

And a few more odds and ends...some fabric for the border of this quilt, some basketball fabric for my nephew's tshirt quilt, a new Moda fabric that I like and just needed for no apparent or logical reason, a couple of B & W's that were cheap, and a floral quilt kit that I picked up at the Quilted Cottage to make for a donation quilt.

And that's the damage! 

Lots of fun, but too much driving for this old gal!

Design Wall Monday

My life has been so frenetic lately that I haven't had much time to sew. These are the pieces sitting beside my sewing machine waiting to be sewn together. It will be another tablerunner like the one on this post made from the leftover scraps to make another Christmas gift. It feels good to be thinking ahead and not leaving all my Christmas sewing until the last minute.
Last week was Shop Hop but I was so busy at work, I had to spread it out over 2 days, which is not as much fun. But I did manage to get to all the stores and collect the fabrics for the Shop Hop tablerunner before I left the country to visit my little sister for the weekend.
My other sister, my Mom and I spent the weekend at her home in Michigan and we had a great time together. Lots of visiting, laughing, shopping, and playing games, but not much sleeping. Here we are at the "Always Christmas" store in Canterbury, and we also visited the the Village Quilt Shoppe. The weekend was great but it took us 7 hours to get home due to the over 2 hour wait at the Bluewater Bridge border crossing in Sarnia. That sure discourages cross border visits! I was always thinking about the volume of air pollution of thousands of vehicles inching forward, idling on the bridge, and running their vehicles for hours waiting to cross the border. 

Anyway, from the shop hop and Michigan shopping, I managed to do a little damage to the credit card and buy some fabrics for future projects. Bonnie at Quiltville has announced that she is hosting a new mystery soon so I had to get a few new Fat Quarters. I am not going to use the  Christmas colours she suggested since I already have a couple of Christmas quilts. I bought these yummy fabrics but I don't know if they will be for the mystery or not.
Hop on over to Judy's blog to check out the design walls of other quilters around the world.

Shop Hop Fall 2008

I have been having a great quilty week. But I have 17 people coming over for supper tonight, so I really should have been dedicating myself to cooking and cleaning and not having so much quilty fun!

Yesterday (instead of shopping and cooking and cleaning) I went on a Shop Hop with my friend Judy. First we stopped at a store that wasn't even on the Shop Hop and I picked up a few plaids for a quilt I want to whip up for a Christmas gift. Here are some of the fabrics I bought...they are in the washing machine at the moment.

And we visited at the chocolate store in Stratford called Rheo Thompson, which has not only great chocolate, but gorgeous packaging and displays. I bought some little chocolate stocking stuffers and some chocolate covered strawberries for my sweetie, which he quickly devoured when I got home.

And then we stopped in at Harry Ten Shilling in Shakespeare and had tea and scones with strawberry jam and clotted cream...yum yum!

Don't we know how to have a great day!!?!

And then we continued on the shop hop...collecting bits of fabric as we visited each of the 6 quilt shops in the area. This is what we gathered and we were given instructions at the last store on how to make a quilted picture holder.

Well, I can't even play with that today, because the work I put off yesterday must be done now!!