2010 MN Shop Hop Day 1, Part 2

2010 MN Shop Hop Day 1, Part 2

The afternoon of 7/30 starts at Quilt Cove in Eagan. This store has lots of fabric but needs more space. A lot of the fabric is sitting on the floor and is therefore hard to see. They have a great notions wall!

The next stop is Quilter's Haven. This store in Rosemont has a nice space and lots of room, They also sell Bernina sewing machines. They also have several samples made up with the shop hop fabrics including a quilt as you go bag by G.E. Designs from the Fast and Furious book. This looks like a quick project and is a good sized tote.

On to Fabric Town in Apple Valley. This is another shop that my Garmin GPS can't find and I am not going to spend $199 to upgrade. For that kind of money, I could buy a new GPS. This shop has a Cher song on the sound system and we are singing along. Is there a better way to spend an afternoon? This shop has nice displays and isn't too crowded. One does not feel like you are tripping over bolts of fabric to get to the one thing that you want.

The next stop on the list is Eagle Creek Quilt Shop in Shakopee. This shop is fun inside and out. They have a lot of flowers and bushes around the shop, which is an old depot. Inside is a great selection of fabrics, including a large selection of oilcloth (vinyl covered fabric). Lots and lots of wool and batiks.

Sorry that the pictures weren't much better, but it was starting to mist. This misty/drizzly/messy stuff continued the rest of the day.

The next shop is the furthest west of all of the shops today. Heavenly Patchwork Quilt Shop is in Wachonia. This shop is owned by the mother of the designer for This and That patterns and Sherri has designed a special quilt for the shop hop. This shop has expanded in size since my last visit during the last shop hop. This shop is worth the drive!

Now back to the main metro area and to the The Sampler quit shop in Chanhassen. This shop has more contemporary fabric lines. This shop is also a Bernina dealership. They also carry rayons, corduroy and other unusual fabrics.

The weather is slowly getting wetter and it is getting close to 6 PM. I will not be able to get to the shops in Rogers and Elk River today. The last stop today will be Blue Bamboo in Plymouth. This shop has a huge selection of oriental, batik and contemporary fabrics. I would like to compliment the store on their update! Everything is organized, on shelves and easy to see. I am able to find the Judy Neimeyer quilt pattern that a friend asked me to look for. I also get the last charm for my necklace.

I decided to put split rings on the necklace to make it easier to put the charms on as I received them. This really helps keep me from loosing them as I collect them. 14 shops today, not a bad day's work. I do think that if I do this next year, I may do the route in reverse as think that I could get to more shops that way. A big thank you to all of the shops that were open early and late as they made this long day possible!

2010 MN Shop Hop 7/30

I must admit that I am a terrible blogger, I feel like I never have anything interesting to say. That aside it is time for the 4th annual Minnesota Shop Hop, so here we go again. I have a new much faster laptop this year, so maybe that will help too. (ha ha)

I have to post this first. I went out Thursday morning to water the pots in front of my house and I find this little gal (guy?) in one of the pots. She sat still while I watered the plants, went in the house to get my camera and took about 5 pictures. Then the flash went off, and away she went! I was about 18 inches away from her most of the time. Mom and Dad Robin didn't like me much. I'm sure that they were probably swearing up a storm, they were noisy enough.

Day One of the 2010 MN Shop Hop

Try to get the day off to an early start, so head to a shop that opens at 8 AM. This is 2 hours before the usual hop times. I start this year at Silver Lane Quilting in Forest Lake. This is really nice little shop. The owners son Doug is the designer for Antler Quilt Design. Shop has Doug's Warm Winter Wishes quilt using the shop shop fabrics behind the counter. The kits are gone, but Doug has a insert for the pattern that lists the fabrics he used in the quilts. I can't seem to get any of my Garmin products to find this shop, so they put their coordinates up on the website and it is easy to find.

Next shop on my day 1 hop is Fat Quarter Quilting in Coon Rapids. This shop is the first one in the Metro Section that I will visit today. The metro shops offer a charm with a $10 purchase. I will not let any know hop much that I really spent, but I have to spend at least $120 to get all the charms. (A real bargain!) However, I do have a list of fabrics that I need for a quilt that I want to make and a hop like this is a great way to gather a diverse number of fabrics for a scrap quilt. Fat Quarter has moved down the sidewalk in the same shopping center and is in a new space that is much bigger than their old store and has nice classroom space. I don't that I have been here since the last state hop. Used to get here more often when my daughter lived in Coon Rapids. The shop has some great sale items and they have a Lazy Girl bag made with the shop hop fabrics that is really cute

Back to the charms. The charms this year all have a winter theme. Before the hop started, I decided to make a necklace to put the charms on. The fabrics are blues and grays and white and so I choose blue beads and a matching pendant on a silver snake chain with silver findings. I have made 2 bracelets and a necklace with previous years charms. I wear them for the time that I am on the hop and the rest of the year they hang on the bulletin board in my sewing room.

Shop # 3 is the Calla Lily in Blaine. This shop is part of the Central East section and the section is giving away snowflakes that can be used to make a candle mat or table topper. This shop has a great display of the items made with the hop fabrics. I would like to show more pictures of the inside of the shops, but due to concerns about copy writes, etc., I'm sticking to just showing the shops.

Shops 4 and 5 are both in White Bear Lake.

The first shop is Bear Patch Quilting. I didn't realize that Friday mornings are evidently Farmers Market day and so the downtown is packed with people and cars and I have to park about 4 blocks away. What a baby, you might say, and you would be right. I does however make a difference latter when I have about 5 plastic bags of produce to carry back 5 blocks to the car! I think that it must have weighed about 20 pounds.

This shop is quite eclectic and has numerous display quilts and bags to help you choose just the right purse, bag or quilt that you would like to make. They also have a quilt with hand embroidery using the hop fabrics. In addition to the 5 inch square of the hop fabrics that you get at each of the shops on the hop, as well as a block pattern, Bear Patch has the pattern for a couple of hand stitched quilt tags.

About 2 blocks away is Rosebud's Cottage. This shop was in North Saint Paul on the last shop hop. The store is at one end of the street where the farmers market is being held. This shop was quiet at the time that I was there, so I had a chance to talk to the owner for a little while. This shop has some cute Halloween fabric in the window.

Now I have to walk back to the van, through the farmer's market. I am not going to be able to eat any of this stuff, but my son and daughter-in-law and my oldest daughter live in the metro area and they can use this up.

This is a picture of all the stuff that I hauled back to the van. The picture does not include the slab of Alaskan salmon that I purchased as well. It's in the cooler.

I also had a bag of quilty stuff to carry as well. I need to do some weightlifting!

Down the road to Stillwater and to Charlotte's Quilting Web. This shop is a little tricky to get to off the highway coming from the west, and I seem to mix it up every year! Oh well, what's a little more driving. This shop is full of shoppers and is pretty crowded. They have a great sale fabric area and a nice selection of batiks. I am able to find a couple more of the teal and brown fat quarters that I need for a quilt that I plan to make.

Just around the corner from the quilt shop is a great bakery and restaurant, Fresh Fields. It is time for lunch!