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!