Quilting Adventures

It's time for the July Shop Hop in southern Ontario, Canada. There are 13 stores to visit this year and there are great prizes to be won if you get your passport stamped at each of the stores.

Also...at each shop you get a free block pattern and the fabric to make their block. Just look at the effort that went into making this sweet package! I greyed out the colours so I don't ruin the surprise of the theme for this year's project. But wow I am so impressed with this event and have visited 5 shops so far. Great summer fun! 

Of course I am making a few purchases along the way! I bought 2 of these fun kits to make a Canada Day pillow at Ye Olde Fabric Shoppe. A friend has a red Adirondack chair on her porch that needs one of these pillows, so I'll make one for her and one for me! At the end of the month I will share more about this adventure.

One of my favourite things to do on shop hop is to notice all the vintage machines they have on display. Look at this "Peerless" from New White  seen at  Heart 'n Home Creations! The decals are so beautiful! 

Are you going on a shop hop this summer?

July Shop Hop

There hasn't been a July Shop Hop since 2019, but it made a comeback this year on it's 10th anniversary with 11 quilt stores participating (down from 15 stores in 2019).  At each store you were gifted a block pattern and the fabric to make the block. I was really hoping to get around to visit all of these stores in July, but alas it was one of the things to fall by the wayside due to catching covid midmonth. I did make it to a few stores and collected some of the patterns/blocks.

The shop hop project uses a Northcott fabric line called 
"Dublin" to make a variety of star patterns. Just look at this lovely package from Heart 'N Home! I couldn't wait to sit at the machine and sew this block!

Here are the lovely blocks I have sewn so far.

The majority of the block kits were made with a line of fabric called Dublin by Northcott which has a lovely texture. Some of the kits had substituted some "non Dublin" fabric that I didn't like for this project. So that is going in the scrap box, and I have purchased some extra Dublin fabrics to make those blocks.

The July Shop Hop page has photos posted of the sampler quilts that each store made using the same blocks. There isn't a photo of the layout that I hope to make from Quilting By Design. I have already purchased the fabrics for the strips, and just need to get a few more block patterns.

First Shop Hop

For the first time in almost 3 years, I went on a quilt shop hop! It was so exciting! Of course I went with my quilting mentor Louise as we have been doing this shop hop for as long as it's been happening.

The last shop hop was in 2019 and we were delighted that there are still 5 quilt stores that survived covid and were open to visit on the 2022 shop hop. 

Most people here wear masks because we don't want to give or receive covid. Here we are in front of the shop hop quilt called Square Box by Sewl Sister. Every store made the same quilt with a different "background" fabric. 

This is the version of the shop hop quilt that Louise is going to make... "someday". She collected all the Fossil Fern fabrics and the pattern and is ready to sew. This quilt has navy blue as the background fabric which gives the quilt a different vibe.

And you will never guess who I saw at the first shop... my friend Christine! We met at Quilt Canada in 2014 and we continue to randomly see each other at quilting events. It was so serendipitous that on my first quilty outing since before covid Christine was there to greet me! That made me so happy 😄

In preparation for the shop hop, I reviewed one of my all time favourite blog posts by Maggie at Making a Lather - the stages of grief of a quiltaholic. My fabric is not yet at the point of breaking through walls, and in fact has been greatly reduced over covid lockdowns, so I was very cautious to make only necessary purchases which include batting, backing and background fabric.

Thank you to the quilt shops and to the organizers for a wonderful event full of demos, door prizes, and inspiration. 

July Shop Hop

Completed shop hop passport & quilt block

The end of July has come and gone, and I was able to get to all 15 quilt stores on the July Shop Hop. I gathered all the block kits from each store, but didn't fall in love with any of the quilt layouts enough to want to make one. That was a relief. But there were many cute blocks that I will make, and turn into a small project like a mug mat or table runner.



One of the highlights of the many trips was the day I went with my friend Joanne to Tillsonburg and had lunch at a place called The Cup and Cake.  I just love finding these unique, creative restaurants to try. Isn't this a beautiful building for a restaurant?

The lunch was delicious with homemade soup and sandwiches, but just look at this cherry almond cake! It was heavenly and tasted even better than it looked! It makes my mouth water even to look at the photo!
I know I should be talking more about the quilt shops, but I'm telling you this cake beats all!!

I had a great time over the month with all the road trips driving with friends and sometimes driving by myself. I was able to visit with many of the store owners and employees that I have known for so many years. I also met some fun customers, and groups of friends that were on their shop hop adventure together. I left every store with a smile on my face, some fabric treasures in my bag, and a much lighter wallet!

I did make a couple of impulse purchases that I couldn't live without, including a kit to make this Nancy Halvorsen quilt. Now if only I could get some time in the quilt studio to play with my new fabric!

July Shop Hop

Is anyone participating in the July Shop Hop in southern Ontario this year? This is the 9th year for this hop and there are 15 stores this year. 
I really enjoyed it last year and finished the Shop Hop project over the winter, which you can see here. But I seem to be running out of steam and enthusiasm this year. The amount of driving is a bit prohibitive, but I do like to make a concerted effort to get out to the stores I can't usually get to in the winter. 

Last weekend I stopped in at the Hobby Horse and had such an enjoyable visit. I made a few purchases, and they gave me this free reusable box bottom tote bag which I love. And I overheard some interesting conversations while I browsed, including a very generous staff person teaching a new quilter how to hand quilt - that made me smile :)

This store is on such a beautiful property out in the country. I took along a salad (which you can see sitting on the picnic table) and I enjoyed a relaxing lunch listening to the birds, and the breeze, and heard an occasional chicken and a dog.

Do you see the old treadle sewing machine in the garden? I'm fairly certain that this baby is rusted beyond any possible further usage, even with my expert tender loving care! 
I felt restored after my visit, with the wonderful staff, the beautiful fabrics and free gifts, and such peaceful scenery.
It's likely that I won't get around to all the stores since July is drawing to a close, but I sure would love a chance to win 1st prize in the draw which is a $3,500 Eddycrest custom made sewing table, so I will see how my free time and energy holds up before the end of the month.

Annual Shop Hop Report

My friend Louise and I attended our annual shop hop last week. I think this was our 13th year of attending this event, which used to be called the "Goose on the Loose" shop hop and is now called "Hills and Valleys Quilt Shop Tour".

For many years it was the same list of stores, but in the last couple of years there have been changes with stores closing and thankfully new stores opening. We are still sad that 2 of our favourite stores have closed (Quilter's Line in Markdale and Lilac Lane in Alliston) but we are happy that there were 5 stores willing to participate this year. 
When you see the same sequence of events playing out in different stores (excited quilters shopping in droves) you really notice things such as the difference in energy and enthusiasm of the staff, the range of items they stock, and the (in)efficiency of their checkout/payment systems. It's easy to make decisions about what stores are the favourites and that is confirmed by the purchase receipts!

Louise at Creekbank

We loved the Creekbank store in Mount Forest and Louise bought the finishing kit for the featured sampler quilt. See that amazing border fabric that is navy blue on the inside of the border and cream on the outside? It's such a unique print and was available only at that store. 
Each store gave shop hoppers 2 free block patterns, and you could buy fabric kits if you wanted to make the featured blocks/quilt. 

We found the most fabulous place to eat lunch. Affairs Bakery in Creemore had delicious homemade soups, salads and sandwiches, and 10 varieties of tarts that were to-die-for! We liked the sign they had in the cafe, and we did talk like it was 1995... for about 8 hours straight!


Here are some of my purchases... batting, pieces for a baby quilt, my favourite hand stitching needles, a new tool called Clearly Perfect Angles, a border print for a RSC project (multi coloured squares) and 2 backings (for Clarissa and Ringo Lake).

Design Wall Monday

The last 5 blocks to construct

For the past few years I have been participating in the July Shop Hop in Southern Ontario. The hop includes 15 quilt stores, and at each store you receive (yes they GIVE to you) a little package that contains the pattern and the fabric to make their block. It's like a quilter's version of Halloween with free fabric candy! 

Also at each store you can see 15 unique sampler quilts made from the same blocks for which you have received the patterns and fabrics. You can see the 2018 finished quilts at their website here.

Finishing Kit

Although I had participated for a few years, I had yet to finish one of these quilts, although I love them all. This year I bought the finishing kit from Undercover Quilts in Fergus. I really liked all the neutral fabrics in the kit. But what good is a kit if you don't actually finish the quilt?!?!

Here is my quilt pinned to the design wall. All the 15 shop hop patterns are in the quilt, including 1 paper pieced block and 2 appliquéd butterfly blocks. I added in some teal fabrics here and there for a little sparkle. 
The alternate double 4 patch blocks were fun to sew from the fabrics in the kit, and I laid those blocks out according to the pattern in the finishing kit.

When I realized the deadline for submitting photos of finished quilts to be entered in a draw for a $150 shopping spree, I got busy finishing my quilt. I had my quilt finished, but between some surgery I had, and the terrible weather and driving conditions, I didn't think I'd be able to drive to the store to get a photo taken for the draw. But I did and I'm so happy that an  Undercover Quilts kit sampler is represented in the finished photos. You can see photos of the finished projects here, including mine! 

Here is the backing pinned to the design wall. It was pieced from 3 large scraps found in my sewing area plus leftover border strips. You can actually see the quilt top peeking through the backing. 

I was motivated to finish my quilt before the deadline. I worked really hard, enduring a bit of back and hand pain but it was worth it. I'm in training for my upcoming quilt retreat, which is painful when you sew for 12 hours a day. It's almost like training for a marathon!! 

I did some very simple horizontal, vertical, and diagonal straight line quilting using the walking foot. I quilted large diamonds in the outside border but it seems to need more quilting in that space so I might add more diamonds. But for now it qualifies as done!

Here is an outside photo with granddog Max trying to be the star of the show! He does match the quilt with the neutral colours of his winter coat and his little teal coloured dog collar tag.

Finished size: 61" x 70.75"
Hop over to Small Quilts to see more design wall activities.

July Shop Hop

For the past few years there has been a July Shop Hop in Southern Ontario. It involves visiting 15 stores to collect block patterns and the fabrics to make those patterns. Each store makes their own version of a quilt layout using the same blocks and it's amazing to see the 15 completely different quilt layouts. 
They ask that participants not take any pictures in order to keep it a mystery for everyone until the end of July, so I reluctantly comply with that rule and don't have any quilts to show you.  

shop hop blocks plus teal

But believe me we saw some lovely quilt layouts which will eventually be able to be seen on the website here. I think you can still see the 2017 quilts when the theme colour was grey. The 2018 quilts will be posted any day. This year the colour was beige/neutral and the blocks are kind of boring. So I decided to spruce those up with some teal fabrics left over from 2 of my previous quilts - Clarissa and a Patchwork Times mystery. The idea to add teal to the sampler quilt came from the Cherished Pieces shop in Tillsonburg.
Some of the shops I travelled to on my own, and some parts of the journey I was able to car pool with some quilting friends. 

Esther of Heart N Home Creations

I was happy to be able to visit each one of the shops during the month of July, and ended my journey at Esther's shop in New Hamburg called Heart N Home Creations. A huge thank you to all the quilt store owners for organizing this fun summer event for us. The Shop Hop is a lot of fun for quilters but it's also a lot of work for the store owners. I hope it is financially worthwhile for them otherwise they won't continue to offer it. You can rest assured that I bought something at every store and definitely did my best to support the effort! I treated myself to a new cutting mat, a roll of batting, new needles, marking pens, and perhaps a bit of fabric here and there! LOLOLOLOL 
I am well stocked for the year (well, for years to come actually!)

July Shop Hop

It is time once again for the July Shop Hop. This is a large scale mystery quilt adventure sponsored by stores in southern Ontario, Canada. 
This year there are 15 stores that you visit to collect a block pattern and the fabric to make it. If you go to all 15 stores, you will have a 15 block sampler quilt. Each store makes a unique sampler quilt using the same blocks, so you get to see 15 different quilts.
It is such a large project and I am amazed that they are still offering this to us for free! And there are door prizes and a grand draw prize of an amazing sewing desk made locally by Adam of Eddycrest. 

I have attended on and off over the last few years:
-in 2012 it was called "Yours to Discover" and had 10 stores, 
-in 2015 I collected a few blocks and Barb gave me all her blocks since she doesn't like blue, 
-in 2016 we collected block fabrics in fall colours and I didn't make it to all the stores but together with some of my friends we are making a quilt to donate to the Mennonite Relief Quilt Auction with these blocks, and 
-in 2017 the blocks were grey and I got around to 10 of the 15 stores.

It is quite a lot of driving, and this year I am joining with some quilting friends to try to get to as many of the 15 stores as we can before the end of the month. It is inspiring and very fun, and a very expensive adventure because of course you spend money at every store you go in. 
Click here for the Shop Hop Facebook page.
Do you have shop hops where you live? Do you participate?

Design Wall Monday

On the design wall today is a quilt that my small quilting group is building. 

We collected the block kits on a shop hop in July of 2016 and have decided to combine our blocks to make a donation quilt. None of the 4 of us were able to travel to all the shops so it will be interesting to see what blocks we end up with. 
I am sewing all 4 of the log cabin star blocks, since the centres are made from 1" strips and none of my friends will sew with 1" pieces! I have 1 more of those star blocks to sew. Also my friends don't like paper piecing, so I'll be sewing the pumpkin blocks that they collected. It will be an interesting fall themed sampler quilt.
To see more design wall postings, hop over to Small Quilts.

July Shop Hop

In Southern Ontario, Canada some of our quilt stores host a "July Shop Hop". There were 15 stores this year and although it's a lot of driving, it is the only time I get around to visiting some of these shops. It's amazing how each store sells different products and has their own unique personality. 
Each store gives you a package with a block pattern and the fabric to make that block. That's right... it's a free event and you get the fabrics and patterns to 15 blocks if you visit all the stores. I only had time in July to visit 10 of the 15 stores.
Each store makes a unique quilt from the shop hop blocks, so you get to see 15 different sampler quilt layouts.
Have I mentioned lately how much I love sampler quilts?!?!

The one drawback about the event (for me) is that they do not want any photos of this event posted on social media, thereby keeping all the projects a mystery for the participants for the month of July. I did ask for permission to take photos so that I could remember layouts and be inspired by the creative quilting ideas. I must admit that I don't really understand the whole "top secret" philosophy! But they do have a huge response to this event and perhaps don't want the increased participation that social media exposure might bring.

I wasn't going to participate this year since both of the previous year's projects are in my UFO closet, but once I saw the finished quilt at Creative Sisters, I was ALL IN! Their shop hop quilt was wonderful and thankfully they recently posted photos on line, so now you can see that quilt (and all the 2017 sampler layouts) at the shop hop photo page here.



At the same time as the July Shop Hop was going on, there was also the popular Row By Row event. I have not yet become enamoured with this concept (thankfully!) but I do get a kick out of the creative fabric license plates at some of the stores. 

Do you participate in shop hops or the row by row?

Shop Shop Report

My friend Louise and I had a great day shop hopping this week. We found lots of treasures and even had our photo taken and posted on the Cobwebs and Caviar Facebook page! We felt like real celebrities!

Louise and I have been friends since 1990 and although we only get to see each other 2 or 3 times a year, we treasure every moment of great conversation we can squeeze out of our very busy lives.

These are some of the treasures I found at the 6 shops we travelled to. Most of these fabrics are "needed" for ongoing projects including the elephants, 150 Canadian Women and the bear. I also got a new Bohin pencil to replace the one I wore out, and some unscented Best Press spray.
I almost met my goal of not starting any new projects, but could not resist the "Bee Creative" fabrics so bought a few fabric pieces to make a quick and easy door hanging. How could I resist?!?

Goose on the Loose

Today is the start of the Goose on the Loose shop hop. My friend Louise and I have attended this annual event for the past 11 years.

I have been having car troubles recently caused by a mouse on the loose! Because the shop hop involves a lot of driving, it was looking like I might not be able to go this year. But yesterday the mechanic assured me that my car has been repaired, is now rid of the destructive rodent that had taken up residence under the hood of my vehicle, and it is road worthy once again. 

And so we are off on another quilty adventure! 

Local Shop Hop Project

At the beginning of November there was a local 5 store shop hop that I was able to fit in my schedule. It was a lovely day for a drive and the stores are within a workable driving distance to visit in one day. Here is the cute passport for the hop, which was stamped at each store you visited.
In addition to having lovely gift packages for draws in each store, they also hosted a free mystery project. You picked up a small piece of fabric at each shop, and when you arrived at your last store you received the pattern to go with the fabric. 

Even though my unfinished Halloween project was sitting on the table, I brought this fabric home and started cutting! The project turned out to be a cute snowpeople tablerunner (12" x 41") that was fun and easy to make. The next step is pin basting and machine quilting, and then hand stitching the little snowpeople faces. In the middle of working on some challenging patterns and large projects, it was so refreshing to have a quick project to enjoy!
Linking up today with Lorna's party over at Let's Be Social.

July Shop Hop progress

Seeing finished quilts inspires us all to keep working on our projects. I saw this finished Shop Hop quilt at the London Friendship Quilters' Guild show on the weekend. It was made by Yvonne Yardy. She collected and sewed all 14 blocks, made the quilt top, basted, quilted and bound the quilt, and entered it into a quilt show...
and I haven't even taken some of the blocks out of their packages yet!

This is the perfect time of year to work on this project with these lovely fall colours and now that I'm inspired by this quilt I'm going to start opening these packages. I won't be making all the blocks that are in the quilt above since I didn't get around to all the stores, but I will make most of them.

July Shop Hop 2016

In Southern Ontario, Canada there is an annual shop hop in July. This is the 6th year and I haven't really participated much in the past because it's a busy time of year for me, and it is a lot of driving because the stores are far apart.
I did participate in 2012 with my sister and that year there were 10 stores. I don't remember a "shop hop quilt" project from that year, but I do remember we got some great deals on fabric purchases (click here to read about it). 

Last year my friend Barb participated in the shop hop and collected the block packages each store gave the participants. She didn't want to sew them, so she donated them to me (click here to see that post). I took the project to fall retreat and finished sewing some of the blocks. 

And then I lost the momentum. Or maybe I got distracted by another project or deadline? Or maybe the problem was just that I didn't like some of the blocks and didn't want to sew blocks with templates?
Whatever the reason, all the finished blocks and unopened fabric packages were in this bag. So I hung it on my sewing room wall to think about it.
Do I want to participate in this year's July Shop Hop, which is even bigger with 14 stores to visit when I am so annoyed with myself for not finishing the project from last year's event? 
Have you struggled with the same dilemma? 
What would you do?

Shop Hop Report

From the wonderful Kelly Rae Roberts

My friend Louise and I had a great time at the Goose on the Loose Shop Hop last week. We went to 6 quilt stores in one day and we were exhausted by the end of the day. What a great problem to have - too much great conversation, too much creative stimulation, and too much fun! It was so wonderful to be with an old (as in long time friend, not as in elderly!) friend who really "sees" and understands me, and who enjoys my company as much as I enjoy hers.  

These are my purchases from the shop hop ... clothesline to make more fabric bowls, the 60 degree triangle packs (which were the shop hop special and is my newest UFO!), a frixion pen, a bit of thread (quilter's candy) and the border/backing/binding fabric to finish my UFO of the month.

From Quiltville

What a great day!
We laughed a lot about how much I still love my old "fliposaurus" phone, and continue to resist entering the new millennium of "smart" phones. We feel privileged to have shared a  friendship for almost 25 years without needing Facebook, or Twitter, or any other way of being pseudo-connected through virtual reality. We just meet together face to face in real life whenever we can, and we connect on a heart and quilting level. Aren't quilting friends just the best?!?