Shop Hop - Day 1

The day started out with breakfast at Bob Evans. Unfortunately, there was not an IHOP in the vicinity of where we were meeting, so I had to settle. It was still good. :) Dominique hadn't meet Maddy before and had only met Cathy once, but we all got along beautifully all day and laughed and joked with each other. We all had a great time! At breakfast, we discussed food, our lists of things to look for, quilts, patterns and tons of other topics.

After breakfast, we left our cars and all piled into Dom's car with the pan of cookies that she made especially for the day at my request. They were a God send! And we were off to Best Friends!

Maddy signed up for a class that Linda, Cathy and I had already signed up for. She is very excited to be taking the class with us. I found fabric for the One Block Wonder class and I picked up a can of spray adhesive and the September BOM kit.



Next, we headed to Quilt Bug in Indiana. They had some really nice fabric marked 50% off and I found a nice print and got a few yards to have on hand for a backing (left) and this fabric for a backing on a charity quilt (right).



Then, we ate some cookies and made our way to Cabin Arts in Burlington, Kentucky. This store has so many bolts of fabric that it is almost hard to walk through the store! Maddy found a awesome batik with music notes on it and she only bought a half yard. When Dom saw the fabric in the parking lot, she ordered Maddy back into the store to buy at least another half yard!! At first, I just bought a couple of packs of pins to split with Jeanette, but then I saw this wall hanging ...



... so I had to buy the kit for it!



We left there and headed down to The Quilt Box in Dry Ridge. I found some nice fabrics for the log cabin class that I am taking at Best Friends. I got some yardage and then looked in their sale section and found a great fabric for backing for the Lover's Lane! I also got a couple of spools of thread that were needed for projects.



We left the Quilt Box and made a pit stop at Cracker Barrel for a late lunch. They were having a 70% off clearance sale and we had to look through the crap, er uh, items. he he Dom found a stuffed turtle that she was going to buy and then wasn't going to buy and when I tried to grab it to buy it for my dear friend R the I, Dom grabbed it back and bought it. Sorry, R, I tried!

After food, we headed to the Victorian Quilt shop. They were packed so we didn't stay too long. Just long enough to get our stamps, buy a small amount of fabric (Dom) and a pattern (me) and we were outta there!



This was the last shop that we had actually planned on getting to today, but it was only 4:30, so we decided to get to a couple more. We ate some more cookies and headed to Sew Ezy. They had a couple of demonstrations that I got stuck watching so I am not sure what the other ladies did or bought. I found a book that I liked and a panel that would work up really cute and that is what I bought.



Here is how they had the panel worked up.



When we left Sew Ezy, we still had about 20 minutes to drive a mile or 2 down the road to Aunt Ruth's Scrapbasket before they would close. We made it! And as we walked into the store, Dom locked Maddy, Cathy and I out of the store. Corry and the other workers and shoppers had no idea what the commotion was about, but a good laugh was had by all when Dom realized that she really had locked us out and then couldn't unlock the door! I didn't get anything at this store.

We drove back to our cars to separate the bags and go our separate ways. This is what we found when we opened the trunk for the last time.



What a day! Each store participating in the Shop Hop designed their own block with the line of fabric that the stores picked for the Hop for this year. Each store also worked up their block into a quilt and, so far, each store has had a drastically different quilt layout. I have taken pictures of each quilt, but I will wait and post all of the quilts from all 10 stores in a separate post. I have also been buying the kits to make the blocks from each store. I like the fabrics this year and there is another chance to win something so I figured, "Why not?" :)

Well, it's late and I am tired from the excitement of the day. Tomorrow, we are going to lunch and then we have 3 shops to hit. Maddy has some family obligations so it will be Cathy, Dom and me.