Before I left with the DH to go to Jackson, California, I looked up quilt shops (of course I did!) and found a few in the area. The issue is that ‘area’ in the surroundings of Jackson can mean anything from 5-30 miles. There is a lot more driving there than in my area. I ended up not being willing to drive the 45 minutes to Galt and Angels Camp, thus only visited one shop.
The Sewing Cottage turned out to be a very nice shop. It is the kind of shop I wish were near my house. It is in the same shopping center the restaurant where we had lunch on Friday (the day before I visited the shop). Clearly, my quilt radar was not working, because I didn’t see it. I did know where it was once I spoke with the owner.
They had very nice shop windows. One of them showed samples from their applique club, which was taken from a QNM magazine or series.
I also thought the unique way of using fan blocks was clever and interesting. There is a real sense of doing things in an unusual, clever, but not weird way in the shop. It seemed like they didn’t mind trying things.
The shop had a wide variety of styles of fabric. They had a little bit for everyone, which is probably a good decision in this type of area. The only thing I didn’t see was much turquoise fabric in the shop. They may have been out. I still found a few things to buy. 😉
Looking at this photo across the width of the shop, I was looking at their shelves of batiks.
They are also a Brother dealer. They had a few machines. I didn’t really spend any time looking at them — just a glance.
They had a lot of batting. Laurel, one of the owners, said that when she and her sister, Olive, bought the shop, the previous owners had a longarm. I don’t know if the batting is leftover from that time or if the local quiltmakers just prefer batting on a roll. They no longer have a longarm and I didn’t ask why not.
I was amazed to see the variety of thread this shop had! Yes, they had Aurifil. I just had to buy a spool of my favorite piecing color, #2600.
It was a fun diversion while DH spent time in meetings.
Stop by and visit Laurel and Olive if you’re in the area:
The Sewing Cottage
Address: 11974 California 88, Jackson, CA 95642
Phone: (209) 223-0393
Hours: Friday 10:00 am – 5:00 pm