All Iowa Quilt Shop Hop - Day 3

Sunday, on the hop, is a short day for shopping, only 5 hours. So, that means, that I will need to pay attention to what I am doing and get some driving in. The day started cloudy and dreary which persisted until the very end of the day when we did get a little sun, showers off and on all afternoon.

Forgot to take photos at the first two shops, so sorry, will go back and get them later as they are close to home. My camera which was acting up, started working again for a short period of time after I accidentally dropped it on my kitchen floor. Evidently 'restart your camera' is shorthand for drop it on the floor. It only worked for a couple of pictures and then I was back to the phone again.

The first stop today was at Larson's Mercantile in Clear Lake. The store is exactly was it says, has little of everything: fabric, sewing and knitting supplies, quilt blocks to embroider, toys for the kids, jewelry, you name it. They have a large stock of Moda marbles and some flat fold fabrics as well. The annual flower are arranged around the outside of the building and some of the hanging baskets were buy one, get one. Will need to come back after the trip to get some flowers for the patio.

Posh Fibers is a very small shop in the basement of a home in Mason City. They also have fabric and kits in the garage as well for this hop. A mix of fabrics, lots of kits. Did see a new fabric in gray, pink and black that has line drawing pictures very reminiscent of Tim Burton illustrations. This is Halloween fabric.

The next stop is a way down the road at Waverly, Moose Patch Quilt Shop. Iowa is not really know for their moose, so this is kind of a novelty. They have a wide array of fabrics and have some very nice displays, including a quilt on a bed (not something you see in shops often). Shop is very quiet, especially after the bustle at the shop in Mason City.

Crazy to Quilt is the shop in Cedar Falls. I have been here many times, my dear daughters went to school at the University of Northern Iowa (Go Panthers), so I spent a fair amount of time here, off and on. The shop is very busy, compared to some that I have been at. This shop has lots of batiks, good representation of large florals and reproductions. They also have lots of great samples made up for inspiration. I did find a charm pack of coordinates for the panel that I had purchased at Carroll on Friday.

The weather is actually starting to look kind of ominous with lots of dark clouds as I travel to rural Jesup and Merry's Stitchins. It has been a while since I have been to this shop and they have a new building! It is beautiful! The shop is large and open and has a great classroom and lots of samples made up. Lots of fabrics and kits. The previous shop was small and cramped, so this is wonderful.

I have just enough time to get to the shop in Oelwein, Lou Ann's Quilt Garden and Retreat and breeze in with about 10 minutes to spare. It is really good that there are no constables patrolling the back roads today! This is a smallish shop with a retreat area next door. Nice selection of fabrics.

The next stop would be Elkader and The Back Stitch but I will be there after the shop closes. I did drive to Elkader and spent the night at Elkader Bed and Breakfast. Had a restful night and a wonderful breakfast, highly recommend that you give it a try. Here are pictures of the Queen Ann Victorian and my room.

My room and bath!

What luxury!

Well, time to hit the road for another day. I expect to be near Iowa City by tonight.

Day Two continues - All Iowa quilt shop hop

I will pick up where I left off with the previous post.  After leaving West Union, I drove to Postville to go to the Forest Mills Quilt Shop. The shop is actually out in the country, way out in the country.  I had to call twice to make sure that I wasn't lost!  Should have hooked up the GPS.  The shop is tucked back behind the trees and without the sign easy to miss.  Wide selection of fabrics and I did find some music themed fabric that my DD 1 had asked me to look for. This part of Iowa is hilly and rocky, more like parts of Minnesota that I have seen from that state-wide shop hop.  For a flatlander like me where I expect the roads to be straight and the intersect at right angles, this driving can be interesting!  I really enjoy it.

The next shop was Country Stitchin' near Waukon.  This is again, out in the country, but well marked and easy to find.  It is a pretty large shop with a wide selection of fabrics.  The gentlemen sitting on the bench in the front of the store was also at the previous shop but you can't see him in the picture.  At Forest Mills, he asked why I was taking pictures and I told him it was for my blog.  When I showed up at the shop in Waukon, he wanted to know if I wanted his picture again, so here he is.  He was traveling with a group of quilters who were traveling in the white van you see in the picture.

On to Decorah and to the Pine Needles Quilt Shop.  This shop used to be in Cresco and moved to Decorah. They have a very nice shop on the main downtown street.  Lots of room, lots of fabrics of all kinds, kits and precuts. The shop was a  American Patchwork and Quilting Shop Hop shop in the past as well.  

The last quilt shop for today is Quilter's Garden in downtown Cresco.  This smaller shop has quite a few panels and I find a panel of fabric that coordinates with some of the music themed fabric that I already have. Bonus points for me!  Eclectic mix of fabrics and very good service.

Time to stop shopping and start delivering!  I drop off the graduation stuff in Rochester and drive to Brooklyn Park to drop off the rocking chair, only to discover I was given the wrong chair!!??!!  Back home I go, will try to get this straightened out tomorrow.  Sunday hours for the hop are 11:00 to 4:00, so probably won't get to very many shops.  Monday I will need to buckle down and get busy getting to the shops!

Day 2 - All Iowa quilt shop hop

Day 2 gets off to a late start again, that seems to be a theme with this trip.  I am going to the northeast corner of the state today, it will make it quicker to get to Rochester, MN to drop of some items that my sister needs for a graduation party for her daughter, Emily, next weekend.

I also received feedback from DD 2 that I need to do better editing before I publish my posts, so I did do a little work on the previous posting.  I must admit that things very often look a little different in the morning than they do at midnight!

The first stop of the day is at Debbie's Quilt Shop and Gifts in Osage.  Couldn't find a link for the shop.  This is a medium sized shop with an eclectic mix of fabrics as well as small gifts, tea cups etc.  They have food for the hoppers in the back of the shop along with their sale fabrics.  Nice selection of batiks.   I do find a very nice kit for queen sized quilt on sale for a great price, so it went home with me.

The gentle reader will note that I will comment on specific fabrics or types of fabric from time to time, These comments are usually based on something that I am currently looking for and are not meant to state that this is the only type of fabric that the shop carries.

The next stop was a new shop to me and I had trouble with the GPS so it took a while for me to find it, even though if I had been looking up instead of at the screen, it would have been easy to see!.  Stitches is a yarn and quilt shop in a building next to the Theisen's Supply in Charles City. New, small shop but nicely laid out and accessible from both the front and the back of the store.

It is almost noon now and I am not seeing too many other shoppers or hoppers yet.  I decided to move on to New Hampton and hit the 2 shops there before I get something to eat.  Both shops are downtown and essentially across the street from each other.  Material Magic is the smaller of the two shops. They also have some craft supplies as well as a nice area of Christmas fabrics.

The second shop is Quilter's Window.  This shop was an American Patchwork and Quilting Shop Hop shop in 2008.  The shop sell sewing machines, a wide range of fabrics and has a very nice classroom.  I did find a book for bed scarves.  I think that it would be fun to try some of these 'little' quilts. I also live the building that the shop is in.  Don't you love that old architecture?

I pick up a bite to eat on the way to West Union and One Block Over,  Watch out for the construction again.  This is a medium sized shop with a large selection of Jinny Beyer fabrics.  The store has bolts of her border fabrics, as well a many of her blender fabrics.  I find a couple of bolts of a cotton silk blend and purchase some for garment sewing.

I do want to apologize for the pictures at this venture.  My digital camera failed to work and now I have resorted to using my camera on my Samsung Nexus.  On the computer they actually look pretty good, but I miss being able to compose the pictures like I could with the camera.

Well, that's all for now.  I need to get packed and get the van loaded and on the road.  Only have 5 hours of hop time today, starting at 11 so I need to get 'hopping'. (pun intended)

First Day of the Hop - June 1

Well, day one is at a close and I made it to 10 shops today.  I did get started a lot later than I wanted to, so I could have gotten a couple more in, but that's life.  I was a beautiful day, sunny and just the right temperature.  It was fun to be out in the sun all day, instead of indoors, working in a basement with virtually no windows!

Country Threads was my first stop today.  They are only a few miles down the road from where I live but I don't shop here much.  They have lots of reproduction fabrics and I'm just not into repros right now as far as my quilting goes.  The have a new little garden house in front of the store and I always enjoy their flowers.  The shop also has cats and one of them took a liking to the way that I scratched her and started following me around.

The second stop was at The Honey Barn in Goldfield.  This is a smallish shop with an eclectic mix of fabrics.  I run into a couple who are hopping and geocaching.  Sound like something fun.  So far, I've been like the first one or two customers of the hop to register, judging by the prize drawing slips.

The next shop is in Vincent and is a quilt shop that also has fashion accessories, gifts and serves food in the back of the shop.  Here is a link to the Facebook page for Mrs. T's Mercantile: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mrs-Ts-Mercantile/147205689236.  The shop has fabrics, threads and sewing machine accessories.  Your  purchase will be rung up on an old-fashioned crank register that really rings! Look at that beautiful sky.

I decided to go to the Gingerbread House in Webster City next.  It meant doing a little backtracking but that's OK, I'm on vacation!  This shop is in an older home and has fabric and gift items on the main level and holiday decorating items on the 2nd floor.  The ceiling is really short upstairs but the trip is worth bending over and walking around.  I have purchased several Santas over the years at this shop for my collection of 'tall' santas and I find another one today.

Fort Dodge is the next stop and I have to pick up the rocking chair here as well as visiting 2 shops.  The first shop is near downtown and is new to me, Tillie's Quilts.  I see that they have the some of the Bittersweet collection by Nancy Halvorsen, but I don't have the info on the amount that I need, so will have to make a trip back this way to get some.

After the pick up at Mcgregors Furniture, it is off to The Family Quilt Shop.  This is quite a small shop. They have their batik fat quarters flat and in a big bin so you can see the entire piece of fabric and get the color gradation that you want.  I really like this idea.

The next stop was an adventure!  Got to love summer with all of the road work.  Finding Lee's Quilt Shed was an experience.  Once the new highway is finished, it will be easy to get to, but not so much now.  It is a cute little shop, lots of patterns and the owner is very friendly and helpful!  She had written directions to get me to the next shop around all of the construction.  Yah!

Towne Square Quilt Shoppe in Lake City is a shop that I have been to before.  It is small, very neat and organized and has a trunk show at this time. Here is the Facebook link:  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Towne-Square-Quilt-Shoppe/142476009131743  They also had some great gingerbread cookies today!

Carroll, Iowa is the location of The Yarn Basket and Quilt Shop. This shop has a very nice yarn shop in the front and a quilt shop 'out back'.  They have a nice selection of pre-cuts and I found a cute panel that had the numbers 1-10 in three languages with appropriate animals in the proper number!  It will make a cute little quilt.

The last shop of the day is Threads, Etc. in Glidden.  This shop does long-arm quilting and has a selection of fabric and lots of kits.  The shop is neat and open and everything is easy to find.  They have several bolts of a fabric line that I need to finish a quilt, so they are on the list to contact again.

My day ended in Jefferson when I found the Ben Franklin closed when I arrived.  The brochure states that the shops are to be open until 6 PM, but I guess that not everyone got the memo.  I drove to Ames and ate at Hickory Park.  Since my son graduated from Iowa State, I have not been down this way much and the restaurant really has great food.  Home to bed and to start the hop again tomorrow!  It will be a shorter day as I have to be in Rochester and Minneapolis later in the day.

All Iowa Quilt Shop Hop begins

Time to back into the blogging!  I think that the redecorating project is about done with the final construction of a bookcase last night.  I still need to do some fine tuning of accessories and get my computer moved to a different area of the house, but the living room and dining room are completely new!  I really like my new comfortable furniture and the new look!

But I digress.  Today begins the All Iowa Quilt Shop Hop.  80+ stores to visit in a little over a week.  I don't think that I will have much of a problem with the trip, especially after having done the Minnesota State hop for the past 5 year.  They have a lot more territory to cover in about the same amount of time.  I hope to be blogging about the places I visit on this trip so everyone can get a chance to see the locations in Iowa where the quilters go!

The trip starts today.  I hope to make a big loop and return home tonight and hit as many shops as I can.  I need to be in Minneapolis by tomorrow to deliver a rocking chair to my son and daughter-in-law in preparation for the grand baby.  Everyone with a baby need a chair that reclines and rocks at the same time, it's a life-saver.

Time to get going, I will try to do some posting off and on during the day if I am able to find a hot-spot.  Wish me luck and good shopping.

New Year Crafting

Well, I am settling back in the regular grove, after the hubbub of the holidays is over.  DD#1 was home before the New Year's holiday and DS and DDIL were here both before and during the New Year weekend.  It was fun to be together and have a second Christmas on Saturday.  I did not get much quilting done as I was busy enjoying my family.

I also enjoyed watching DD work on a craft project while she was here.  I was able to unload some of my old craft supplies as well.  She was working on making some hats for friends for New Year's celebrations.  Here are some of her creations

The hats are attached to headbands for wearing.  They were really cute and I hear that the people who received them really enjoyed them.  It was really fun to watch her work on this project and have such enjoyment!  Just the way I feel when I quilt!

After all of the eating, talking and laughing, when everyone went home, I was able to work on the Orca Bay Mystery.  Here is the picture of the pieces that I was able to get up on the design wall.  

Since this picture was taken over the weekend, I have been able to put together two rows of the body of the quilt,  I am putting the pieces together like a 4 patch.  I like to construct my quilts like this if possible as it allows me to 'pop' the seams.  I make a couple of rows of 4-patches and then use those pieces to make larger and larger 4-patches until I have 4 big chunks of the quilt to finish.  Especially with quilts that have lots of pieces like this one, being able to pop the seams really makes the quilt lay flat without lots of lumps where the seams meet.   I have also found that with the need to keep the string blocks oriented in a proper alignment, making all of the pieces the same (the black star blocks and the white star blocks are all constructed the same) really helps keep everything going in the right direction.  Helps to cut down on the un-sewing!  

I may not have much time to do quilting for a while as I am doing some redecorating, and that will start with some new carpeting in the living room and dining room.  Before that happens, I need to get rid of some old furniture, so that will probably be taking up a lot of time.  I am really looking forward to the new look.

Thanks, Bonnie for the great quilt and the fun time with the link-ups!

Boxing Day

I missed getting my post up for the last Link-up Monday last week because of a late shopping trip.  I signed on one minute before the time ended after shopping, getting something to eat and checking into the hotel.  I guess that I should have been better prepared.  Not a very good Scout.    : ^(

Here are the pictures that I was planning on posting from my work on Orca Bay clue 5.  I discovered that if you cut your triangles with the fabric either right or left sides together and were careful  about how you placed them, you would be able to have virtually no dog ears.

Here is the layout.

   And here they are constructed with no trimming.

That's where I was when the shopping intervened.  The trip ended with a flat tire.  Thank you, thank you to Dean's Towing in Owatonna for the help!

DD#2 was here for the Christmas weekend.  We went to the Christmas eve service at out church and she and her SO made lunch on Christmas Day and then we opened presents.  It is so much fun to have someone else do the cooking for a change.   : ^)    Needless to say, not much sewing was done, with all of the eating and presents and talking and laughing going on.  DD#2 is an interior designer and we discussed some plans for the house while she was here.  We also enjoyed the new fireplace insert.  It's nice to have toasty toes!  

So, after she left to go back to her apartment, I was able to get to the sewing room and work on the Orca Bay Mystery clue 6 for a while.  

I was able to get a couple of the blocks finished, but when this happened, I knew it was time for lunch.

I also decided to sew either black or white blocks and not both at the same time.   Takes too much thinking!
I was also able to get a nap in today as well.  All in all a very good Boxing Day.

I have also been listening to Pandora radio on my Ipad while I have been sewing.  I listen to an ambient station and they have been playing a lot of songs recently that contain whale song.  How strange is that?   I like the background noise, but if it is a song with words, I find myself paying too much attention to the music and not enough to the sewing.

I hope that everyone has been enjoying the Mystery Link-up Mondays, I know that I have.  It's great fun to see all of the quilts in all of the colors and to read everyone's blog and comments.  See everyone next Monday.  Have a Happy New Year!