Road Trip

 

 

The Row by Row Experience shop hop was a good excuse to take a road trip on Saturdays in August.  I really enjoyed it, but now it is time to wind down.  I didn’t get to do all the Georgia shops that I would have liked to, but we did get to visit many new to us shops in Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee.  The first trip took us to five shops in NE GA.  The first stop was Intown Quilters in Decatur, and then on to Georgia Sewing & Quilting in Buford, Betty Sue’s Quilt Shop in Flowery Branch were the people were so friendly.   We also found the people very friendly at Annie’s Pretty Pieces in Hartwell and lastly, we just did make it to Thread Bear Fabrics in Cumming before closing time.

The 2nd Saturday found us heading to Tennessee where we again visited five quilt shops. Our first stop was Ready Set Sew which carried Janome sewing machines and was a nice shop.  Our second stop was Spools, the home of the Bad Ass Quilter’s Society.  I like the atmosphere and will stop there again when I’m up that way.  Next, we headed to Pins & Needles and was very disappointed to find them closed and no sign telling us why, although there posted hours said they were open on Saturdays from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm.  I hope that whatever reason that kept them away wasn’t too serious.  It looked like a nice shop from what we could see through the windows.  We moved on to Bernina Sew N Quilt Studio where they had there demo machines on sale.  It was so tempting to buy a new Bernina. At least I know to head to Chattanooga when I do get ready to buy a new machine. Our next stop was Chattanooga Quilts in Ooltewah with lots of old time charm. 

 

Here are Jean and me in front of Hyderhangout: Quilt Fabric & More in Cleveland, our last shop of the day.

We stopped for some good Barbeque before heading home. 

The third Saturday, Jean, Nancy and me headed to North Carolina.  We stopped at the Fabric Center & Quilt Shop in Blairsville, GA on the way north. 

 

We stopped to enjoy the scenery along the way.  We finally arrived in Franklin and A Stitch in Time.  Our next stop in Franklin was Deb’s Cats N Quilts where we found lots of stuffed cats, but no real ones.  It was a nice shop and well worth a return visit.

Next we visited Bless My Stitches Quilt Shop in Murphy, NC.  We ate at a retro diner that had real malted milk shakes.  It sure did bring back memories of my younger days.

The fourth Saturday started with Jean and Mine’s first stop being the Comcast Cable office.  From there we went to The Stitchery in Rome, GA.  She has some really nice fabrics.  I couldn’t resist getting a FQ bundles on clearance.  We then moved on to Douglasvill,e to a wonderful shop, Pickleweeds Quilt Shop.  We kept wondering why we hadn’t heard of it before now,  It is worth the drive.  On the way home we stopped at a little fruit stand advertising “the world’s best peanuts”.  I have to admit they are pretty good.

There is one more Saturday this month, but I’m pretty well shopped out.  Unless Jean and Nancy really want to go, I’m through,.  It will take me awhile to get all the rows made that I’ve already collected.  I don’t know if I will have one large quilt or two smaller ones.  It has been fun and maybe next year I can get to some of the ones I wasn’t able to this time.

Shop Hop

Sandra and I did the North Georgia Shop Hop yesterday. We had a nice time. I'm sure glad I printed out back-up directions from Map Quest though. The GPS didn't always go the way we wanted to. We found that out right off the bat when it took us to Tate instead of Dawsonville for the first shop. We eventually found the shop. We had to call them, luckily they had cell service in that area. We were only a couple of miles down the road from them, so we found them easily.



This is Sandra standing out side Sew Memorable in Dawsonville. It was a nice little shop. I bought a yard of very pale pink fabric there. The were celebrating Arbor Day as their theme. They were dressed in camouflage shirts and one of the ladies was wearing tree branches. The other shops didn't play up there chosen holiday.

We ran into rain in Dahlonega. When we got to the Magical Threads, we had to park in a near by church parking lot and walk back to the shop. Just as we got parked, it started pouring rain with hail. It didn't last long, thankfully.

I bought 1 yd of black on white music fabric for Rae's birthday there. The shop owner lives on the upper floor.

The next stop, also in Dahlonega was The Common Thread. I bought the Turning Twenty - Simply Sashed book and 1/2 yd of striped fabric.

Then we headed for Hiawassee to Log Cabin Patchworks. It was a nice scenic drive on hilly, windy roads with hairpin curves. We made it there and ate lunch at Subway before finding the quilt shop, only to realize that I had left my purse in the booth at Subway. I dropped Sandra and rushed back to the restaurant and found my purse still in the booth, untouched. Thank goodness! Back to the quilt shop I went, luckily I didn't get lost. I was in a panic and sure wasn't thinking too straight. I bought another Turning Twenty book there.

From there we headed to Blairsville and Fabric Center. It was in a strip mall a little ways off the round-a-bout going around the court house. There I found some pretty FQ bundles, so got two.

We headed to Blue Ridge and our last two stops. We went to Country Stitches first. It was a cute little shop in an old house in the down town district right across the street from the railroad tracks.

We found their sale section and I got the end of bolt of a pretty brown paisley print for 40% off. Then we headed for our last stop, Mountain Holly Quilters on the Appalachian Hwy. There I got a FQ and some thread I hope will work for the Simply Squares quilt that's on my list of tops to quilt this month.

At each shop we received five 5" charms fitting their holiday theme to use in the Charm Table Runner pattern we received and a little charm. Doubt that I will get around to making the table runner, I'll probably add them to my 5" charm collection.

In spite of the goofy directions the GPS gave us on occasion, we made good time. We'd follow the directions I printed out and eventually the GPS would get with the plan. On the way home we passed only one area that had restaurants and none appealed to us. So we ended up being back in Cartersville before we found a place to eat supper. Can't wait till next year to do it again.

Shop Hop

The Greater Atlanta Shop Hop is going on. I just did get my new purse made in time. I didn't want to carry my big bulky old one. I'm tired of it anyway. That is another one off my to-do list.

This purse was awkward to make because it has timtex in it. That's what the pattern called for, and I just happened to have some left over from making fabric bowls and take out boxes a few years ago. I call it "the purse from hell", that's how bad it was for me to make. I like the purse now that it is done, but I won't use timtex again, if I make another one. It is a "Pat-e-Pattern" called "Got Pockets?"

We left out around 5:30a.m. on Friday to go shop hopping. We stopped for breakfast and arrived at the first shop a few minutes before they opened at 9:00. Our first stop was Heritage Quilts and Fabrics in Newnan. I bought the pattern "Just Can't Cut it and a couple of Kaffe Fassett FQ's. Then we went to Quilts and Fixins and A Scarlet Thread, where I got more FQ's and found the purse pattern I wanted, called "Bow Tucks". Then we went to Patrick's where I bought fudge instead of fabric, and Sweet Home Quilt Co. I was doing good about not buying much, until we hit Intown Quilters. They had Kaffe Fassett fabric in their sale section. That was my down falling! I found this really cute pattern I liked, "drama queen" by Thimble Blossoms. So after I got the sale fabric, I finished picking out fabrics for the quilt in the regular priced fabric. I think Intown Quilters is my favorite quilt shop. They have the best selection of Kaffe Fassett, Amy Butler and Michael Miller fabrics. I just wish it weren't so far away. I knew I'd kick myself if I didn't get what I wanted while I was there. The traffic was heavy on the way back north to Marietta, so didn't get to do the last 3 shops. Well Jean and Dell cheated and went to Red Hen and Little Quilts on Thursday on their lunch break, so they were only short one shop. We decided to go to a Mexican Restaurant for supper and then head on home. Sandra and I went to Marietta this morning and went to Tiny Stitches, Little Quilts and Red Hen. It rained on us the entire shop hop.

This was taken outside Quilts and Fixins in Jonesboro. Jean and Sandra are checking out there "goodie bags" in front of the store.

This is Sweet Home Quilt Co. in Conyers. I like that it is in an old house. It is a nice shop.

This is their shop hop quilt. It was hanging so nicely when we arrived. By the time I decided to take a picture, it had started coming down. At least I can see what fabric they used as backing.

Here are the four of us on the front porch. I can either smile or have my eyes open. I couldn't seem to do both at the same time. I had a wonderful time and am ready to go again next year.