The Primitive Thimble

After the Fabric World debacle in Portland (I will post about the experience soon) we headed toward Vancouver, Washington to spend the night with a promise that in the morning we could visit another quilt shop before we drove to Seattle to visit the University at Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington.

Since we had a few computers with us I made sure to investigate a few quilt shops online before we got in the car. Lesson learned...

We stopped at a lovely quilt shop called The Primitive Thimble in Vancouver, Washington.

Notice the front door. . .


Come to find out that their shop was broken into on the weekend. The thieves stole the cash register and a few other random things but the QUILTS were not touched. They must not have known the REAL VALUE of the quilts in the store. Just the hand appliqued quilts behind the counter are worth over a $1000 dollars not to mention several antiques that they had around the shop. Luckily they were clueless!!

Moving on. . . Let me introduce you to Lynn.


What a wonderful lady. I felt like a dear friend that she hadn't seen in a while. She made us feel right at home. Lynn is one of the staff there at The Primitive Thimble. We had such a fun time visiting and learning and talking quilts.

I looked over while we were talking and noticed this curved looking box sitting on the counter and it was covered with a white cloth. I asked her what it was and she revealed this really wonderful lace making pillow. Can you see it? Click on the pictures to have a good look. It's marvelous.

Click on the pictures to look at the detail on the heart lace and the 3 other pieces of lace on the right side of the pillow bed. The lace pattern is on the blue paper and it's attached to the drum in the middle of the lace pillow.

I've done a bit of research on lacemaking and here is a great website to visit. It's a beginner's guide to Bobbin Lacemaking.

Here's a look at the quilt shop. . .

Look at the yummy over dyed wool on the table next to the doll. I wish I could have bought some of it and I'm probably going to regret it but I do have the phone number so, I'm good.








I really fell in love with one of the quilts in the store but, I can't believe I forgot to take a picture of it, I guess I was really excited about it. You can see the store's version of the quilt here on their website. This is the book and the fabric I bought to add to the collection of Civil War Prints that I have in my stash.

Here's a picture of the quilt in the book.

Now this was my kind of Quilt Shop. I Loved it!!!

The Quilted Forest

Saturday morning while the girl's were still sleeping in the hotel and before the Family Reunion in the afternoon my husband and I snuck off to visit The Quilted Forest located in downtown Salem, Oregon.

The Quilted Forest was chosen in 2007 as one of the
Top 20 Quilt Shops in the United States & Canada.

They're also celebrating their 110th year anniversary.

Don't you love the Singer Featherweight in the store window?

We only had a small window of time so I rushed in and started looking around. This antique cash register was the first thing I saw.

I saw great quilts hanging all around me. . .

Here you get a feel for the shop as
you look down the aisle to the cutting area.

Here's the great book & pattern section. . .

Have a look at all of the great Kaffe Fabrics,
I thought of Nedra when I saw them.

Here's what I purchased. . .

These are two Kaffe's that I liked.


These are for Kenna.


I saw these cute scissors as we were leaving the store.

More to come. . .

Quilt Shop Hop Part 1

The Theme for the Wasatch Front Quilt Shop Hop for 2010 is Celebrating 10 Years, it's hard to believe it's been 10 years. I don't think I've missed more than 1-2 years of the 10 years. This year each shop picked a celebration and made a block and then also made a quilt to showcase their celebration.

Shop Hop came upon me quickly this year and I wasn't quite prepared for it. What I mean is that with the wedding I didn't have as much money to spend as I wanted to have but, I had fun with my $100 budget and was able to collect some wonderful fabric for a new quilt I'm making this summer. I'll talk more about that in another post later where I'll share the pattern and show pictures of the fabric I bought.

(Picture taken at Quilts Etc.)

Diana, Jackie and I started our Shop Hop Day at 8am and drove to one of the furthest Shops and worked our way down through the Salt Lake Valley.

Here is a list of the 10 shops we visited along with links if they have them:

1. Quilter's Haven located in Bountiful, Utah
2. Piper's Quilts & Comforts located in Historic Sugarhouse in SLC, Utah
3. Whimsy Cottage located in Holladay, Utah
4. Mormon Handicraft located in Deseret Book in Midvale, Utah
5. Elaine's Quilt Block located in Cottonwood Heights, Utah
6. Pine Needle's located at Gardner Village in West Jordan, Utah
7. Material Girl's located in South Jordan, Utah
8. Quilt, Quilt, Quilt, Etc. located in Sandy Utah
9. Thimble & Threads located in Draper, Utah
10. Broadbent's Quilt Shop located in Lehi, Utah

Shop One:
Quilter's Haven
Located in Bountiful, Utah

This is a view of the front of their shop. I loved the Halloween quilt made using Riley Blake's Halloween collection called "Boo to You". I bought the majority of my fabric from this shop.

The theme for Quilter's Haven's quilt is Cinco de Mayo.

I loved the Tool Minder's as seen in the picture below.
I actually have a tutorial in the works that I have planned for next week sometime.

Shop Two:
Piper's Quilts & Comforts
located in Historic Sugarhouse in Salt Lake City, Utah

Jeannette is the shop owner and she has a wonderful flair for quilting, crocheting, knitting, and applique. I'm quite certain those are just a few of her many talents. Her shop also has the most beautiful garden and her hollyhocks are so gorgeous.

You must click on the picture below to get a closer look at all of these darling handmade baby shoes. I just want to make them and line them up on a shelf or hang them in the window. They are just that cute. The picture doesn't give a clear picture of just how precious they are.

These Hand Smocked Dresses have been a favorite for years and I have yet to take one on. I should've bought a kit to make and frame at least one of them. I just couldn't decide which dress I wanted to make. Each kit comes with a pre-gathered piece of fabric for smocking.

I love this yarn display and love the quilt on the door too.

Jeanette has many wonderful crochet and knitting books along with quilt books and patterns. I wished I had had more time to peruse her book shelves.

Shop Three:
Whimsy Cottage
Located in Holladay, Utah

This shop is small but full of great fabric. I'm not as keen on their present location but it's wonderful to have them in the list of Quilt Shops to visit. Last year they had one of my favorite quilts.

This is an inside look at Whimsy Cottage.
We ran into some of our American Quilting Retreat Buddies here and had fun visiting with them.

Whimsy's Quilt Theme: Mardi Gras

Shop Four:
Mormon Handicraft
Sorry NO Pictures taken here.

This Quilt Shop used to be one of the premier places to visit when in Utah and they have since moved from downtown Salt Lake City to "This is the Place Heritage Park" and Pioneer Village in SLC and now they are located in a corner of some of the bigger Deseret Books in Utah. I don't know about every quilter but, I think we all miss their previous locations, especially the Pioneer Village. That was a great place to visit.

Shop Five:
Elaine's Quilt Block
Located in Cottonwood Heights, Utah

This is one of my favorite shops that I'd love to visit more often than I get too. It's not terribly far away but just far enough with all of the summer road construction that it makes it difficult for me to get too as often. Their shop has a great variety of fabric with lots of fun things to look at.

Elaine's Quilt Shop Theme: Happy New Year

Shop Six:
Pine Needles
Located at Historic Gardner Village in Holladay, Utah

I'm so happy this shop is so close to home and it's in my top five favorite quilt shops to visit. The location of this quilt shop is also very fun with lots of other shops each in their own little house. Gardner Village is actually a little village of old and historial houses that have been brought to the site and given a new home. Gardner Village is a delightful place that you'll have to put on your must visit places when you come to Utah.

A view of Pine Needle's from the bridge you walk over when parking on the north side of the building.

Pine Needles theme: Baby Shower
Click on the picture to see the darling bibs and baby shirts.

I love this crib and the darling things displayed inside.

Look at this darling baby carseat/carrier cover. It's an actual quilt, not just two pieces of fabric sewn together and I loved the extra attention to detail on this carseat cover.

Well, that's it for today!

Tomorrow: Part Two
Quilt Shops 7, 8, 9, &10

I hope you enjoyed a peek at some of our local quilt shops.