Shop Hop

I spent Friday participating in a quilt shop hop--Quilt Tour 2012, "Sew Northwest".  There were 13 shops participating in all, however, I only "hopped" to the first 6 shops in Lynden and Bellingham.

My first stop was Tangled Threads in Lynden.

http://tangledthreadsquilts.com/

Each shop was giving away the pattern for a block.  All of the shops made all 13 blocks and put them together in unique quilt settings.  Seeing all of the quilts was like a mini quilt show.  This was Tangled Threads' quilt:

I found some fabrics at Tangled Threads that go with some challenge fabrics that Cher  sent each of the FABs last year.  These three fabrics are from In The Beginning Fabrics from their, "My Sunshine" fabric line by Kathy Deggendorfer.  http://www.inthebeginningfabrics.com/cgi-server/itb/displayfab.cgi?product=mysnshne

These are the fabrics that were in the "kit" that Cher sent last year after she attended the annual quilt show in Sisters, Oregon.  This panel was the official fabric for the 2011 Sisters Quilt Show, and is called "Nature's Symphony", by Kathy Deggendorfer.  Cher challenged each of the FABs to make a quilt using this panel and the other kit fabrics that she sent us. 

I may have found a new addiction--cat fabrics.  While at Tangled Threads I found these three cat themed fat quarters.  They seemed to call out to me so I brought them home.  I also found some teeny tiny black buttons that my Mom and I might be able to use in our snowman blue work blocks.  (We seem to be French Knot phobic!  LOL)

The pattern in the photo is called, Field of Flowers, and is by a Canadian artist from DJ Richards Designs.  The artist lives in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.  http://www.djrichardsdesign.ca/

My second stop was also in Lynden at Calico Country.

This is Calico Country's quilt using the shop hop blocks.

I found the perfect cat fabric at Calico Country.  This fabric is from Loralie Designs and is called, "Spice Cats." 

The third shop I visited was, Folktales, also located in Lynden.  http://folktalesfabricshop.blogspot.ca/

This was Folktales' version of the shop hop quilt. 

I came across this cute panel at Folktales.  It was on sale for less than half price, so I brought home two.  If one is good, then two must be better, right?

I also found small black buttons - a little bigger than the buttons that I had bought at Tangled Threads.  This cute Easter stitchery pattern also came home with me--Easter Stack by Kassie Moen.

This was the shop sample of Easter Stack.  The woman who stitched this sample was in the shop when I was there and told me that she used Crayola Crayons to colour her fabric, not chalk as had been used in the pattern.  I prefer the look of the crayons myself.

That was it for quilt shops in Lynden.  I then headed down the highway to Bellingham where I stopped at Fabric Etc.

This was Fabric Etc's version of the shop hop quilt.  They added the name of each shop that participated in the shop hop above the door on the house that featured that shop's block.

I found some fabric that looked like a box of chocolates at Fabric Etc.  I plan on using this fabric on the border of a second Valentine's panel like the one I just finished.  I also picked up a coordinating brown fabric as I don't have much in the way of brown in my stash.  The gal in the shop called this a rich brown, not a "wimpy" brown.  LOL

The next stop was Fourth Corner Quilts.  This is the side of the shop that you see as you approach the shop from the road.  You have to pull in off the busy street and park in the rear of the shop.

This is the view around the corner where you park and enter the shop.

This is Fourth Corner's version of the shop hop quilt.  Fourth Corner's block is the Maple Leaf block.  All of the blocks are arranged  in the shape of a tree, symbolic of all the trees in the Pacific Northwest.  You can't see it in this picture but the background quilting contained many images of things you might see in the Pacific Northwest like birds.

I found Mardi Gras fabric on the back Fourth Corner's sale shelf.  When I was in New Orleans in 2010, I was unable to find a quilt shop.  I believe that although some businesses have returned to New Orleans after the devastation of Katrina, quilt shops had not yet returned at the time that I was there.  I will be using this fabric to make myself a table topper to remind me of my visit to New Orleans and Louisiana.

The last shop that I visited on the shop hop was Two Thimbles, also in Bellingham.

This is Two Thimbles' version of the quilt shop hop quilt. 

I picked up two fabrics at Two Thimbles--a green and a brown.  My daughter is getting married in September and her colours are green, brown, and champagne. I have a lot of greens in my stash, but as I said before, very little in the way of browns.  This brown had so many shades of brown in it, I thought I couldn't go wrong picking some of this one up.  The woman in the shop told me that this particular brown is very popular with the local quilters as it covers a wide range of shades of brown.

A popular feature of this year's shop hop were the charms that each shop was giving away.  These are the 6 charms that I picked up in my travels.

As you can see in many of the pictures, the weather was great--sunshine and blue sky.  It was a great day for a drive and an excellent opportunity to visit some quilt shops that I don't get to on a frequent basis.