Quilt Shop Tours

Taking a New Quilter on Her First “Shop Hop”

I’m not sure if our day qualified as a “Quilt Shop Hop” since we only visited two quilt shops (the day got away from us) but on Friday I headed with two other quilters to Loveland and Longmont, Colorado for a day of quilt shop hopping, tasty treats/food, and a yarn shop.

My new community has a quilting group that meets monthly and I have new quilting friends in my life now! One of our members D is a brand new quilter (though she is a very experienced seamstress) and my buddy J and I decided we should take her on her first quilt shop hop to help her select fabric for her first quilt that she is making for her newborn grandson.

Now if you are a quilter, you know experienced quilters LOVE to get in other quilters “business” (ha!) and help them choose fabric for a quilt (just visit any quilt shop and you will see this is action).

So J (who has been quilting since birth I think) and I (since 1999) couldn’t wait for this road trip. Luckily D was of good humor and appreciated (being bossed around) the help to select fabrics!

J drove and I sat in back and worked on my latest granny square blanket:

(Previous post – Starting a New Granny Square Blanket – I’ll do an update on that post from April 2026 once I get a little further along on it.)

Quilter’s Dream

Our first stop was Quilter’s Dream in Loveland, CO (they don’t have a website but I linked their Facebook page) where we got to work helping her pull fat quarters and yardage for a beginner quilt pattern that D was making:

And we figuratively “held her hand” while she got her yardage for a quilt pattern cut from bolts for the first time:

(By the way the “Toilet Paper Quilt” I shared in the post The Funniest Quilt Concept I’ve Seen was in the loo at this shop!)

After all that fabric selection assistance and additional time wandering around this wonderful quilt shop looking for ourselves (it’s not like J and I weren’t going to shop too!), we were ready for a treat and headed to the ice cream shop next door to that quilt shop! (hmm…wonder if they get a lot of business from quilters, ha!)

Yes we were well behaved and did not tap on the glass…but we did longingly gaze at all the delicious sounding flavor options! (This shop also has a “liquor infused” ice cream selection but we thought that a bad idea at 11 am and fabric shopping!)

A couple ice cream cones later (only one person, ha) and we were ready to head to the next shop.

Maggie’s Sewing & Fabric

The second shop we visited (and fell into a hole in the space-time continuum because I think we spent a month there, ha!) was Maggie’s Sewing & Fabric in Longmont, CO.

We were greeted by an adorable pup as we walked in, which is also a good sign for me when I enter any shop!

They had quite the sense of humor in this log cabin themed quilt shop with fun displays like this Barbie fabric one:

A couple photos around this shop, which I really liked and didn’t want to leave:

Yes I spent some time visiting the Clearance section where they had some amazing modern fabrics for 30 – 50% off, as well as kits, panels and pattern. I ended up bring the kit (for 50% off) of this quilt home with me (hey, it begged me to take it home, not my fault!):

The shop dog saw us off after our long visit (which did involve some dog petting of course):

Yes we had ice cream (hours ago!) but we were now hungry for actual food and had a wonderful lunch at Teocalli Cocina in Downtown Longmont.

I had the most amazing salad with a spicy oil infused egg and lots of avocado (I love, love, love avocado).

As we came out of the restaurant we noticed that practically next door in Downtown Longmont was a yarn shop!

Longmont Yarn Shoppe

We couldn’t stop ourselves from wandering in since we all either knitted and/or crocheted.

While checking out (I bought a deck of granny square pattern cards) they had this awesome crocheted mandala on display behind the register, which reminded me I want to make one someday.

Believe it or not, we began our day with J picking us up around 9:00 am and it was now 3:00 pm! So it was time to head home and to wander how we didn’t have enough time to have fit in a 3rd quilt shop (unfortunately the one we wanted to go to next closed at 3:00 pm we discovered too late!).

Very fun day and it’s been a long time since I’ve had the pleasure of quilt shop hopping with other quilters and bossing around new quilters on their fabric selections – ha!

(I posted that meme above with humor as J and I were very respectful of D’s choices on fabrics and just acted just as facilitators…okay rather passionate and insistent at times facilitators..ha!)

Quilt Shop Tours, Special Events

Central Oregon Quilt Shop Hop Day 2

Continuing my two-part series on participating in the Central Oregon Quilt Shop Hop last weekend. If you are just joining us, check out Day One in this post: Central Oregon Quilt Shop Hop Day 1.

Rather than worry about leaving Mike the Miniature Schnauzer at home all day while Terry the Quilting Husband (TTQH) and I drove around to the remaining four (4) Central Oregon Quilt Shops, we brought Mike with us:

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Mike started in the back seat but convinced me he needed to ride around in my lap

Mike started in the back seat but convinced me he needed to ride around in my lap.

We did the bulk of our driving (at least 130 miles) on Day Two of the Shop Hop and luckily my lap converted to a dog bed (with the addition of a fleece blanket in the backseat) when Mike grew tired of looking out the window!

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130 miles? Yes the remaining four (4) shops spanned from La Pine, Oregon (Homestead Quilts), lunch in Sunriver, Oregon (Sunriver Brewing) to Prineville, OR (The Quilt Shack), to Redmond, OR (Material Girl Fabrics), and finally to Sisters, OR (Stitchin’ Post) and then back home. Basically it was like a tour of Central Oregon!


Homestead Quilts (La Pine, Oregon)

Homestead Quilts is actually a lovely quilt shop with a wonderful collection of fabrics, however I only go there once a year (during shop hop) as it is about 35 – 40 miles from my house.

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They have some lines of fabrics that the other Central Oregon quilt shops do not have (or not as wide a selection of that line) such as Northcott’s Stonehenge fabric line:

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This is the same line I used for this quilt Cozy Cobblestones (which was quilted by one of my blogging buddies, Cindy @inastitchquilting.com):

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I had a little bit of a beautiful Stonehenge blue that I wanted to use in the piece but not enough to repeat the fabric in more than one block so I did not use it. If only I had thought to check out Homestead Quilts to pick up some more!


Sunriver Brewing (Sunriver, Oregon)

We needed to “fuel up” our shopping engines to make it to three more quilt shops so we stopped at Sunriver Brewing in Sunriver, Oregon on our way to our next quilt shop.

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I had a healthy delicious lunch of one of the best chef salads I’ve ever tasted:

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While TTQH had a delicious but very naughty lunch!

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Then it was onto The Quilt Shack in Prineville, Oregon.


The Quilt Shack (Prineville, OR)

The Quilt Shack is another Central Oregon quilt shop I rarely visit except during shop hop.

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As you can tell from several of the photos, it was a cloudy/overcast day for Day Two of Shop Hop. The end of April in Central Oregon can be hit or miss: we’ve done Central Oregon Quilt Shop Hops when it was 80 degrees and like a beautiful summer day; and we’ve done shop hop when it was cold and raining, etc.

The Quilt Shack specializes in novelty fabrics and if you are looking for special cowboy themed fabric, fishing themed fabric,  or the perfect fabric with farm animals, etc. – they have it:
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Next we took the 26+ mile drive from Prineville to Redmond, Oregon.


Material Girl Fabrics (Redmond, Oregon)

Material Girl Fabrics in Redmond is in an old house and the owner and her son who own the shop also live upstairs in the house. It is a very sweet shop and you feel like you are wandering around a house (because you ARE wandering downstairs in someone’s house!):

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TTQH searched for dog themed fabric at this quilt shop like he does at every quilt shop:

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Interestingly TTQH did not buy any fabric this year at shop hop, it was not like last year where he seemed to be “buying out” every shop we went to (see post Central Oregon Quilt Shop Hop 2017).

Our Shop Hop passports were nearly filled as we headed to our last quilt shop of seven (7) – the Stitchin’ Post in Sisters, Oregon:

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Stitchin’ Post (Sisters, Oregon)

We were flooded with relief when we arrived at the Stitchin’ Post as it had been a long day of driving and shop hopping and we were ready to be done.

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After turning in our Shop Hop passports we wandered around the quilt shop (which also has a lovely yarn shop) a bit before heading home.

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Mike outside the shop waiting to head home:

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The Haul

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, each quilt shop on the Shop Hop provided a block pattern for a mystery quilt. When you completed your Shop Hop passport after visiting all seven (7) shops then you got the final layout pattern and instructions:

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Each quilt shop also gave out a free fat 1/8th quarter of batik fabric. Below are my seven 1/8th quarters and TTQH’s (which he gave to me) – we made sure not to select the same colors:

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I usually try to support as many shops as possible by buying a little fabric at each shop during Shop Hop, but this year there was only two shops that I found fabric I had to have – Homestead Quilts and the Stitchin’ Post (and of course the scrap bag I found at QuiltWorks on Day One of the Shop Hop – see previous post for image):

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Thanks for joining us on Central Oregon Quilt Shop Hop 2018!

Quilt Shop Tours, Special Events

Central Oregon Quilt Shop Hop 2017

Friday, a day after returning from our Oregon Roadtrip, Terry the Quilting Husband (TTQH) and I hit the road again – this time for the annual Central Oregon Quilt Shop Hop.

We visited all seven (7) Central Oregon quilt shops in order to fill out our shop-hop passcards for a chance to win a dream Bernina sewing machine (and gift certificates to the local shops).

As much as I enjoy the annual quilt shop hop, I did offer to pass on it this year as TTQH had just done all that driving. But he insisted – he wanted to go and wanted to complete our shop-hop passcards (he likes a challenge).

Here are the seven (7) shops we visited:

Several of these shops were featured on previous posts. I have added a new Category for my posts – “Quilt Shop Tours” in case you want to find quilt shop photo tours I have posted (check out “My Topics” Menu).

Quilt Shop Hop is always fun: you run into the same people shop-hopping in the same order as you are; the quilt shops have tasty treats and one even served lunch; and you get to look at the wonderful displays and fabrics at each shop.

In addition, each shop you visit gives you a free fat 1/8th of fabric. Between TTQH and myself, we collected 14 fat 1/8ths. Here is the haul (note, I let TTQH select his own fat 1/8th and he went rogue and selected a black & grey one that did not match the rest of the brights palette!):

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Several fabrics are duplicates because we accidentally selected the same fat 1/8ths!

Last year I took our collection of fat 1/8th from the 2016 Central Oregon Quilt Shop Hop and turned them into English Paper Piecing (EPP) hexagons (see post Adventures in English Paper Piecing, Part II). I plan to use the collection of fat 1/8ths from the 2017 shop hop for a project, this time I am thinking a standard paper piecing project.

I would like to use these free fabrics in a challenge project each year. I was intimidated by the thought of doing of EPP and now I absolutely love it!

I am completely aghast at the idea of traditional paper piecing (my sister-in-law Sue, the master quilter, once showed me how to do it as did my first quilting instructor Roxanne Carter, but it still fills my heart with terror), so why not challenge myself again?

So I nicely pressed and organized the 2017 free fat 1/8th in preparation for a future project:

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I did not buy anything at shop hop, but TTQH did! He decided he wanted to make a flannel fishing themed quilt (he is into fly fishing). Also he could not resist a couple animal themed prints. Here is his haul:

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For the fishing themed flannel quilt

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For his “stash” I guess…

Sassy the Highly Opinionated Miniature Schnauzer and her adopted brother Mike went on the road with us during Central Oregon Quilt Shop Hop. We stopped for a nice lunch and lots of dog walks. Material Girl Fabrics in Redmond, Oregon is in a house in a quaint old neighborhood so we had a really nice long dog walk before heading into that quilt shop.

Here is Sassy on the road:

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Sassy has to sit on my lap in the front seat for the best views

Here is a sampling of the lovely Central Oregon views as we traveled around the area shop hopping!

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I would guess we did about a 100+ miles of driving on Friday; for example the distance between some of the farthest quilt shops (from my house) – Homestead Quilts in LaPine, Oregon and the Quilt Shack in Prineville, Oregon is 65 miles.


Postscript

In a future post I will feature more Central Oregon quilt shop photo tours.

If you enjoy quilt shop virtual tours, I highly recommend Anna of Woolie Mammoth’s YouTube channel – Quilt Roadies. She, her husband and their adorable dog, travel in their RV to quilt shops around the country as well as other interesting sights!