A couple of weeks ago my best friend, Laurie (from Washington State and also a quilter), and I decided to take a week’s vacation and go on our own little shop hop. Five states and 10 shops later we were both deliriously happy and seriously broke. We traveled through parts of Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico before heading back home to Colorado. What a wonderful time we had! In town after town we discovered friendly, welcoming, and interesting quilt stores. Who knew there were so many? One of the highlights of the trip for me was visiting The Quilt Works in Albuquerque, NM. I learned to quilt at that shop in 1984 and have been immersed in the quilting world ever since. Can you believe the shop hasn’t moved in all these years… just gotten bigger?!
In short, we had the most marvelous adventure! Shops, diners, laughing hilariously in the middle of wheat fields… and the most delightful people everywhere we went. I strongly recommend grabbing your best friend by the hand and taking off on your own excursion from shop to shop. You’ll never regret it and you’ll have a whole carful of fabric memories!
We want to hear about your “Shop Hop” adventures. Insert a comment below and tell us about it!
I just did a day of shop hopping in western WA with my boss. I got her quilting and now I get days off (paid) to shop hop with her! We hit 9 shops, 3 that were new to me, and were exhausted at days end. Also a little giddy, my shopping partner said to me, “This fabric was $8.50/yd; I just bought a 1/2 yard cut and I got it for 1/2 price. She only charged me $4.25″ We laughed about that for a few days! Yeah, that’s right, buy 1/2 yd cuts and get it for 1/2 price!
Boy, do I understand your giddiness! Have you ever bought 6 yards of a fabric because you just LOVE it? Only to get home at the end of your trip to discover that you already HAVE 6 yards of it?!! We had a good laugh over that one. When I saw it in the store, I knew I’d seen it before, but thought that I’d seen it at a prior shop and neglected to buy any. It’s a wonderful fabric, just too good to miss, and one that I know I’ll like for a long time… Good thing!
Finally found you! I now know I am at the end of the line…..You have
far surpassed me in “pack-rat-ivity” I really envy your stash of fabric
but at my age I wouldn’t live long enough to use it all…..go girl !
That is hilarious! I needed a good laugh on this early Friday work day.