I've been reading a lot about "Shop Hops" lately; the official ones, where the participant collects stamps on a pre-determined quilt shop route and enters drawings for prizes along the way. I have never shop-hopped that way but it's safe to say that I've done my fair share of hopping from quilt shop to quilt shop. Each trip that my husband and I take includes a side trip to check out a quilt shop somewhere.What's the farthest distance you have traveled specifically to visit a quilt shop?
Ten years ago our son was attending Purdue University in W. Lafayette, IN. We drove Kyle out to school, dropped him off, and headed on further west, to Garner, Iowa. I had always wanted to go to Country Threads and figured; "since we'll be in the Midwest anyway..." My husband is a good sport, he agreed. It was only 391 miles out of our way! It was a great quilt shop (good thing!), we spent the night in a nearby city and drove back the next day. How far have you gone? How far would you go??
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Life is Good!
Life is Good!
17 comments:
I must lead a boring life. I've never gone outside of our area specifically to visit a quilt shop, HOWEVER, I do make a point of searching them out wherever I go and at least buy a fat quarter as a souvenier of the trip!
Mr. G is a GEM...I don't think mine would go that far out of his way for me to go to a quilt shop!
The furthest that I have driven to go specifically to a quilt shop is to Apex, NC. Not sure how many miles.
When my husband and I go on a trip I usually scout out the shops and he is really good about taking me to them but I don't know if he would drive 391 miles out of the way.
How about Denver, Colorado! Yep, we went there one time ( work) and I didn't get to go and I was sorely dissapointed, and the guy that we worked with/for knew that, but of course he couldn't do anything about it.So when we had to go back to California the next time he told my DH ( I didn't know about this conversation) that we were to detour back to Denver cause he was disturbed that I wanted to go so badly and didn't get to. So DH took me several hundred miles out of his way, specifically so I could go to "The Great American Quilt Store". That was a great trip and I will not forget the young man responsible for us being able to go.But as most of you know DH sees to it that I get to visit Quilt Stores whenever we are in a new ares. He's a gem!
The longest trip specifically to visit an out-of-town quilt shop was just over 200 miles (Memphis to Franklin, TN) ~ but whenever we are out of our area and have the time, I do like to visit quilt shops. Of course, DH and I have a standing agreement ~ we have to share our visiting shop time between quilt shops and woodworking stores :-)
Although, lately the trend has been to visit galleries where we can both gather inspiration and ideas...
I guess I am really blessed to have 4 great quilt shops within 30 miles of my home so I really don't have to go that far for wonderful fabric. During a quilt shop hop my husband and I did drive 100 miles to visit a quilt shop. Have a great day!
The local quilt shops here in North Texas have a shop hop day, but I have never been. What I do is to enjoy shops where my husband is traveling, whenever I can go with him. It is great fun! I have seen shops in California, Florida, and Pennsylvania.
I went to the NETHERLANDS!!! To visit "De Sampler" where Lucy works in Haarlem, NL.
That said...I did visit some fabric stores when I was in Japan in 1989. Does that count too?
Bonnie
My furthest is just over 300 miles. I participated in a shop hop that is just slightly *s* out my local area - the first shop was about 150 miles from home and then continued to get further and further.
I have to admit that I didn't particularly care for the hop itself. It felt to rushed and pressure filled to actually enjoy the shops themselves.
Instead I now try to find lists for shop hops in areas I'm traveling to, pick out a few that look interesting and stop in for a visit. I can enjoy the shop at my leisure and the people that work in the shops actually have a moment or two to chat with me.
I traveled from Californin to New Hampshire for the MQX quilt show and then on to Maine where I got to shop at Knights' quilt shop in Cape Neddick, Maine.
Country Threads would be a destination trip I would like to make someday. Did you love it?
Sounds like a lot of fun. We've done this same thing for other reasons ... great times, beautiful drive ... antiquing.
TTFN ~Marydon
I have never gone specifically for a shop, but when I am travelling for other reasons I try to look around for shops. I have visited great shops in Portland, Denver and San Diego due to other travels.
Well I live in new jersey and drove to Keepsake quilting in new Hampshire. I did include in that trip a Maine quilt show and a visit to the original Dear Jane quilt in Vt. Per google maps It was 394 miles from my house to keep sake quilting-that being one way. I do not care for shop hops-but I know many quilters who enjoy them.
Hi Debbie,
I guess these days I do my travelling on line to buy fabric. However I have travelled to a city that is 200 miles south of us to take a course from Ruth mc Dowell. My friend and I came back to the city that had had a flash storm that caused major flooding.( We were fortunate and did not suffer any water problems but the roads were a bit iffy coming in..
I have had adventures with another good friend when we decided to go on our own quilt shop hop.
We decided to go and visit some shops that were outside the city.We didn't do much research about the stores we were going to visit- which turned out to create some problems. The first one we got to was closed on Mondays and you guessed it - it was a Monday. We peered in through the windows and drooled at all the luscious fabrics that we good only gaze from afar at LOL !!!
The second stop was a great success though it was a Stedman's store not an actual quilt shop(but they had wonderful quilt fabric).Alas, The last stop closed 10 minutes before we arrived.. All in all not the most successful shop hop except that my friend and I have so much fun together that it really didn't matter if we bought much fabric or visited lots of quilt stores. We plan to make another trip to the outlying stores- just not on a Monday :O)
Regards,
Anna
Can't remember a time when I went a long distance specifically to visit a quilt shop. But when traveling to Chicago area and Houston I made sure I paid a visit to the shops there. And many visits to Hancocks from our home in Kentucky were made. Viva la quilt shoppes.
I can't say that I went to Australia to go to the quilt shop, but i did go to a quilt shop in Australia. I guess on purpose was Pensylvania or Western Maryland. (Western Maryland was on an official shop hop - I didn't win a darn thing & haven't done the whole thing since. A. they are "exclusive, meaning they only go to the same shops - missing out on some pretty cool shops on the way to those" & B. the cr@p out in Western Maryland isn't worth my time...)
With that said, I might do it on the bus if I like the sampler quilt that you can make if you get all of the blocks at the different shops. Jinny Beyer designs them...
I go on an official shop hop at least once a year. My favorite one covers my corner of three states. It's "Hop the Blues" and has the beautiful scenery of the Blue Mountains in SE Washington, Idaho and NE Oregon. I don't want to know how many miles the loop is (hundreds) but it's always a great time and superb scenery. I won't confess to how much fabric I aquire.
On one hop, my friend won the grand prize of a $50.00 certificate from each shop.
Well, I kind drove from South Carolina to Grandbury Texas - but it was to attend a quilter's weekend with some ladies I met over the internet. A friend drove out there with me and we had a blast and the shop was wonderful time. Now 1,086 miles one way might be a little long to do it very often.
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