Sugar Pine Quilt Shop

I was in a mood on Friday when we left for Grass Valley. DH said he wanted to leave mid-morning so we could avoid some of the Sacramento/ Friday night traffic. We left just before 1pm and sat in traffic. This just added to my ‘mood.’

Two good things came out of this. I worked on the Ends Donation Top while I waited and Saturday I woke up much happier.

Saturday is a big day for NSGW events, so we were up and at ’em on the early side. The dedication started at 10 and by 10:45, we were free to do our own thing until 1 or so. We off loaded our stuff at the hotel then went looking for the quilt shop. Everything was within walking distance of our hotel so we were able to get our steps in as well.

Sugar Pine Quilt Shop, Grass Valley, Calif
Sugar Pine Quilt Shop, Grass Valley, Calif

We found Sugar Pine Quilt Shop fairly easily, especially after I figured out the correct address. Yes, DH came with, so he cramped my style a little bit.

Sugar Pine Quilt Shop, looking towards front door
Sugar Pine Quilt Shop, looking towards front door

Still, the people were friendly and the shop was stuffed with fabric, patterns, fat quarters, tools, notions and everything quilty.

Customers walk up to a patio and walk into the shop through French Doors. To the right, when you walk in, is the cash register/payment station (on the left in the photo – white counter). A bunch of other rooms are off of that room. If you turn left, you can make a U-turn into the room with repros, batting and a lot of books and the cutting counters. If you turn, also to the left, but not as sharply, you go into a room with Kaffe prints, notions and non-kid novelty prints. I saw a lot of Frida Kahlo related prints, Dia de las Muertos prints and Hawaiian shirt prints.

They told me that they try to keep fat quarters of all their fabrics on hand, but if I couldn’t find one, they would be happy to cut one for me. FQs were stuck in between the fabric and the bolt in many cases, which was awkward when I tried to carry a bolt around. They kept flapping around. They didn’t fall out, though, so that was good.

In the main room, aside from the cashier, I saw a good number of Fig Tree prints.

Sugar Pine Quilt Shop, Interior
Sugar Pine Quilt Shop, Interior

Behind the main room were two more rooms connected by a large opening. I couldn’t tell if this building used to be a house and, if so, how the rooms would have been laid out.

The shop mostly had fabrics that wouldn’t fit on shelves in baskets on the floor rather than just on the floor. This kept the bolts corralled, but made them a little hard to look at.

The place was STUFFED with patterns. Everywhere I looked there were patterns. They had a large selection of books, as well, most of which I did not recognize. One of the books I saw was More Layer Cake, Jelly Roll and Charm Quilts by Pam and Nicki Lintott. I have to be sure and tell Frances. I didn’t look at it, sadly, because it was way up high on a shelf and DH was waiting… I’ll find it somewhere else.

Sugar Pine Quilts, Interior
Sugar Pine Quilts, Interior

That blue bag was full of walnuts. Not fabric walnuts, but real walnuts. Don’t ask me why, I didn’t ask and I don’t know. They might have been shelling them to make crushed walnuts for pincushion filling*?

There was a lot going on at this shop in terms of prep for sales. They were cutting kits for pattern packets, sorting patterns, putting away fabrics after cutting FQs. It was busy.

Not a ton of modern fabrics, but enough variety to keep me interested. I had never seen Marcus solids and had a chance to see them at Sugar Pine.

I would recommend a visit to Grass Valley. I took some time to look at the shops in their lively downtown streets. There are a lot of interesting shops that have things I might actually buy. It is a good place to visit in addition to having a quilt shop.

Visit!
Sugar Pine Quilt Shop
452 S Auburn St
Grass Valley, CA 95945
(530) 272-5308

 

 

 

 

 

*Due to potential nut allergies, I use plastic pellets to give some heft to pincushions. I have never seen them at quilt shops, so I buy them at Beverly’s.