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.
Sewing Cottage: Dresden PlateSewing Cottage: View across the width of the shop
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.
Sewing Cottage: View down right side of the shop
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.
Sewing Cottage: View down the Thread wall
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
Recently a new brick and mortar store opened in a nearby town. I heard about it at a recent BAMQG meeting, but I wasn’t able to visit until last week when SIL and I escaped the family for a couple of hours. I would have really liked to visit a few stores, but this was the only one we were able to visit. It was definitely worth it.
The shop is filled with light and has a variety of fabrics, patterns and notions. The owner was friendly and, clearly, thrilled to see us.
Scruffy Quilts – inside view 2
I thought the inventory was a little sparse, but I know that many new businesses need time to build up their inventory – the old dance of selling allowing the owner to buy more.
Needless to say, I was able to find a few things to satisfy my desire to buy some new fabric. They have a discount on pre-cut fabric. They had a number of FQs, 1/2 yards and yards already cut. I am not sure what the discount was, but any discount is welcome.
In addition to Mettler thread, they also had a rack of Aurifil small spools.
There was a nice selection of batiks and lots of tone-on-tones. There was a little of everything, I think.
You know what else? They use Square for payment, which is awesome! I don’t like it because it is hip and cool, I like it because it is straightforward and easy to use. There is no complexity for the staff and no issues with taking credit cards, etc.
The parking was pretty easy, even on a Saturday afternoon in the middle of Winter Break. The shop is easy to find. We went past and had to do a blocky, which was a little tricky because the neighborhood surrounding the shopping area has a lot of twisty streets. We had to drive a few blocks up before we could head back down the correct street.
The owner said that they have had a web presence for a decade. I wasn’t aware of that site, so I went looking just to see more than their hours and indeed they do sell online. I think it is smart to start a business online before committing to a brick and mortar presence.
I went to pick up two quilts the other week from my longarmer. While there she showed me what she was working on for Quilt Market: Instant Quilts. When I hear ‘easy’ and ‘simple’ related to quilts, I can roll my eyes like the best of a teenager. “Instant” stopped me for a second, but as I was about to roll my eyes, Colleen put up her hand and showed me what she meant.
The quilts look like windows and I love the possibility of windows. These quilts are the ‘Big Block of Special Fabric’ type quilts. These quilts do use special fabrics, but the window type design makes it appear that you are looking into a fabric landscape. I saw some of that Octopus fabric from the Salt Water Collection by Tula Pink that would look fabulous in this design. Modern fabrics are made for these designs. I can also imagine hand dyes being used to wonderful effect. Admit it, you hand dyers (ahem, Sandy), sometimes the fabric is just too delicious to cut up into tiny pieces. 😉
I also think some of the Asian fabrics that are popular would look great in this style. My mind was whirling after we talked and I kept thinking of how many different types of fabric would work using this format.
This will be rolled out at Quilt Market, where Colleen is also presenting a game. She has self published a book about the concept, which should be available on her website Monday or Tuesday for those of you who are unable to visit her booth at PIQF. I have to say that I really like the concept.
I was visiting Grama over the weekend and took a few minutes out of the constant care and cleaning to visit with Susan, have lunch and take a trip to the quilt shop in Northridge. I used to live near Northridge and the place looks so different now. I don’t know if my eyes have different standards for how streets should look or if the streets have really changed or if I never went to this area of Northridge. The area we drove in had lots of concrete, not much green, signs stacked on top of each other right near the sidewalk to announce the businesses in each strip mall. I guess I am not used to seeing the types of strip malls they have here. I don’t know.
Candy’s Quiltworks backdoor
Regardless, Susan came and got me (what a saint) so Mom and Grama could go to Grama’s lunch bunch. She also did all the research and found a pizza place that served GF pizza and a quilt store right down the street. Perfect!
The pizza place was called Pizza Rev and they had GREAT GF standards for handling the ingredients. The only thing I didn’t like was how loud the place was. However, Susan and I could hear each other and we couldn’t really hear the people around us, which was good. I would go there again in a heartbeat.
We chatted quite a bit at lunch. I am interested in Susan’s remodeling project. Of course, she had questions about Grama, we talked about our kids and, of course, quiltmaking!
Much too soon, we had to go to the quilt store. 😉 We could have talked for a long time.
Quilts on the wall
Candy’s Quiltworks is a big shop. In the picture above, you can see that there is one of those rolling doors like auto garages have. The walls were cinder block, which is odd to a girl from earthquake country. I assume it is reinforced, but in an earthquake, I think I would run outside.
None of the above has anything to do with the shop. Candy’s has over 10,000 bolts of fabric, at least according to one of the clerks. I believe it. Their entire front wall and one side was filled with bolts of batiks. One entire side wall was tone on tone fabrics. The middle was filled with different lines of fabric, mostly together, as well as an aisle of blacks on whites and whites on blacks.
The quilts in the photo above are two of the sample quilts they had hanging. I thought there was a lot more space for samples, but perhaps they were in between hangings? The one with the white background looked like it could be a Jelly Roll quilt. I thought it looked like an updated log cabin version.
Notions wall
This is part of the Notions area. They focused on Creative Grids rulers (saw a Tumbler and a strip maker as well as others), but also had some specialty rulers from Eleanor Burns.
I didn’t see any Fons & Porter rulers, but they have a wide variety of the Marti Michell rotary template sets and rotary rulers such as the 60 degree triangle rulers. I also saw the Clear Angle ruler needed to cut the hexagons in that strip piecing method I used (originally on Little Bluebell’s blog) a few years ago for the Attack of the Hexies quilt.
This is also where they keep their sale fabrics – $5.99/yard. Can you believe how many bolts of sale fabrics they have? I didn’t really do more than glance at them, but it seemed like a lot of novelty prints.
Books and Such
The shop had these racks of books all over the store. I wasn’t in the market for any books today, so I only took a quick look at them. From what I saw, they were a little off the beaten path. It was an interesting mix of books and I think you would find some interesting titles. I think it would have been a little difficult to find a specific book.
There were a wide variety of panel projects hanging all over the store. In the photo with the books you can see some Halloween panels (the one with the pumpkin looks like it has a Halloween bunting as well), a gingerbread house panel. I saw panels from which you could make aprons and other small accessories.
These things are hard to display. I don’t see them in quilt shops up north, so I don’t know if they sell or not. I got one as part of a pack when I bought the fabric to make the Frosted Stars quilt. I thought it was fairly hideous, but I used it for the back anyway. This was a good way to display them as shoppers couldn’t avoid seeing them. The annoying thing was that we had to hold them out of the way for each other so we could see the fabric.
In another area, I saw Aurifil thread, mostly in neutrals. I saw a HUGE selection of DMC floss.
Tone-on-tone wall
TFQ and I have been lamenting the lack of tone-on-tones now that solids have returned with force and bold modern prints are such the rage. I love solids, but sometimes you need a good tone-on-tone to add interest to your fabric selections.
Candy’s has you covered. This is a picture of HALF the wall of tone-on-tones. It looked like they had every tone, shade and hue of tone-on-tone imaginable there. I was very disappointed that I didn’t need to buy some tone-on-tones to fill in for a project.
Near different groups of fabrics, the staff has posted patterns and pamphlets with different ideas for quilts, bags and small accessories as well as baby projects.
You can see a little peek on the top of the bolt shelves of other stuff. The tops of the shelving were stuffed with different things: Jelly Rolls, patterns, kits for handbags (we saw some by Riley Blake that had everything you needed to go home and start sewing a gift.), fat quarter packs, though not a lot, and a multitude of other stuff that I can’t even remember.
Batik wall (front)
I don’t think I have ever seen this many batiks in one place. It was an amazing number of batiks.
I don’t like those kind of shelves, normally, but in this case I think it worked well for two reasons: 1) the aisle was big enough to so I could get far enough back to see the different shades and tones; and 2) there were a lot of bolts of batik fabric.
I was kind of looking for a background for the Russian Rubix. I was thinking of a white with some grey on it. Shockingly, we didn’t find any of those colors. There didn’t seem to be any white batiks at all.
Rows and rows of fabric
I really could have bought a piece of almost every one of these batiks. I am really noticing how they glow in projects near regular quilting cotton.
On top of the shelves, you can see more of the samples and projects.
I have never seen as many novelty fabrics in one place. They had as many junk food fabrics as a person could wish for. I saw some of the RJR food fabrics and was tempted for the other two food quilts I want to make, but refrained.
We saw a ton of baby fabric. Susan noticed the American Jane Punctuation fabric and several other lines from a few years ago. They might be worth calling if you are looking for something out of print.
There was a whole aisle of Asian fabrics.
We really had a short amount of time to visit this store, so I wasn’t able to look in detail at all of the fabric. It will definitely be worth another trip.
Actually I may not have seen this much fabric in one place in California ever. I have seen this much fabric in one place in Lancaster County Pennsylvania.
Patterns and Pink
This is a shot from the restroom across the store to the opposite wall. The back door, where we entered would be to your left if you were in the store.
In the area to the left of that rounder of pink were all of their charm packs. there were piles of Jelly Rolls that were just the beginning of the Jelly Roll Extravaganza (not to leave out Anthropologie strips and Bali Pops) available at Candy’s.
They also had patterns galore in that rack and all over the store.
The store was a bit messy. I think it is hard when there is so much inventory. All in all, though, worth the trip. As I said, I would go there again.
Vital Statistics:
Candy’s Quiltworks
8549 Reseda Blvd
Northridge, California
(818) 349-7397
(between Napa and Chase)
There is no sign in front and the windows are tinted black. We went around and parked in back, but found out that there was a front door later.
Why Should You Care: you might have to travel to Northridge someday. This would be a great shop to visit if you need to get away from a conference or a little too much family for a few minutes.
I have mentioned The Quilting Loft in other posts, but it doesn’t look like I have done a full on review of the shop. I am much more organized now than I used to be (and I have done no sewing to tell you about!), so you get a review of this shop as well as the ones you have already about this week. 😉
TFQ and I walked down to the Quilting Loft, after visiting the Farmer’s Market. TQL has moved to a new space, though is still in Ballard, just across and down the street a bit from its old location.
Quilting Loft, patterns area
The new location is larger and has much more light. They still have that honey colored wood, which seems very popular in Seattle. I wouldn’t use it if I had a shop, but they may have no choice due to built-ins or landlord requirements.
The patterns area is to the right as you walk into the store. It looks very similar to the patterns area at their previous location.
Quilting Loft
To the left of the photo above is little sofa and some modern displays of samples and fabrics.
Quilting Loft
Same view, but you can see a little to the left of this modern area as well.
Quilting Loft
Detail of the quilt you can see in the photo above. The sunlight makes the quilt glow and I like the variety of fabrics.
Quilting Loft, over the front counter
I couldn’t get very good pictures of the front counter, because one of the ladies working kindly allowed me to photograph the shop as long as I didn’t take any photos of her.
Quilting Loft
View from the front counter.
Quilting Loft
The shop has a nice selection of solids.
Quilting Loft
The notions area is at the back of the store. Wonder Clips (one of the world’s best notions!!!) seem to be hard to find in Seattle, but the Quilting Loft had them in the small and large (50) packs.
Quilting Loft
This is a detail of the Spiderweb quilt in the notions photo. They have emphasized the center pieces, which make this quilt look more like a propeller or X. The different coloration may give the pattern a different name as well. There is also a bit of sashing, which changes the look further.
Quilting Loft
The shop makes good use of the top of the fabric shelves. We found a lot of pre-cuts and samples as well as patterns up there.
Quilting Loft
Not only did the shop have quilt patterns, but also patterns for dresses, baby items, accessories, placemats and coasters, etc. They have that Amish Block of the Month that I like so much. I resisted the continuing temptation to buy into the BOM madness. 😉
Amish BOM
The Quilting Loft
Address: 2622 NW Market St, Seattle, WA 98107
Phone:(206) 706-0445
Hours: Monday hours 10:00 am–6:00 pm Website Blog
I had never been to the Columbia City part of Seattle. Apparently, since the light rail went in, this part of Seattle has grown a lot. There is definitely a lot of building and newly constructed dwellings there.
Stash is a nice little shop in a block of what looked like condos that had been taken over by businesses. The parking was difficult but not impossible. There is no lot, just street parking. We found a street spot and walked about 2 blocks to the shop.
The quilt on the left hanging on the rack is one of the quilts from Fast Quilts that I talked about last week.
The main part of the shop is shown in the picture above. They have a nice selection of fabrics, but. volume is not their strength.
The area shown is right next to the picture right above it. This is the checkout counter of the shop. It also served as the cutting table.
They have a section in the back with more fabric, which made the selection quite a respectable size.
It looks like this area could accommodate a small class – perhaps 3-4 people.
We liked this quilt. The alternate block adds interest.
There is a small cafe next door, which has some selected gluten free options. We were gasping so they we kind enough to give us some water.
Stash Quilt Shop
3829 S Edmunds St, Seattle, WA 98118
(206) 535-8179
I spent a few days in Seattle for work. Since TFQ lives in Seattle, and I hadn’t visited for awhile, I stayed at her house.
It was really nice to have a place to spread out, be around fabric and quilts. We also ate together and just hung out. I raided her book stash and began reading Henry’s Sisters.
We weren’t really planning on fabric shopping. Well, at least I wasn’t, but stuff happens. I am glad it did. The two stores we visited were great. Fresh, friendly, different and interesting fabrics.
The first shop we visited was the West Seattle Fabric Company, which, funnily enough is located in West Seattle. We did not take the Admiral Way exit and, thus, took the scenic route to get there. Partbof West Seattle is right on the water and eeminds me of Marina Green, though the houses in the two locations are very different.
Simple clean logo.
This is a totally staged shot, but isn’t the table cute? I love it and especially the placement with the pennants in the window behind. I can imagine sittin FB there eating ice cream and looking at my purchases. Too bad there wasn’t an ice cream store next door.
I found a spot to park right in front, but the shop pays for 5 spots in the lot next door so don’t worry about parking.
I also really liked the awning. That is how I recognized the place. I saw it on their website. Definitely a good idea to make the place stand out!
It is a small shop, though not tiny and very cute. It is not cutesy, though. No hearts, rainbows or unicorns. ;-)The owner, Monica, is very friendly, too. We chatted for quite awhile about fabric shops. We got on the subject because I asked if I could take photos for this space and that spurred the conversation.
There are nice samples and, as with Stash, the checkout counter is also the cutting table. Good use of space.
I looked at the hooped fabric on the wall for a long time. Some prints lend themselves to being used as wall art. I am not sure I am fond ifbit though since somehow it reminds me of stapling textiles to canvas and using it as wall art. It was really a good look in my childhood home. I couldn’t tell if the memory woukd overwhelm the good idea. Also, I am not sure about the hoop. It is definitely easy, but I am not sure it looks as polished as I would like in my house. I wonder if I could morph the same idea, but use a frame?
This is taken from the top of the stairs. Sorry it is a little dark. The notions are on the left.
Fresh displays.
Display of new V&Co pre-cuts. That is a great new line, BTW.
Nice display of other pre-cuts. I love the mirror.
Art in the restroom.
This is a great bag. I saw it and thought it would be perfect for my First Lady gifts. It is large enough to out a few other items in. It is also not so large that it takes up tons of fabric. I was thinking of the Anna Maria Horner Multi-tasker tote, but wasn’t convinced.
The difficult part was that they didn’t have a pattern. It was a class and there wasn’t even a pattern sheet. Once I explained that I was from out of town and as much as I would like to take the class, it wasn’t really possible. After that, we had a good time deconstructing the bag. TFQ took some measurements and, after we have a chat, I am sure I can make it. I am really grateful that Monica was nice enough to allow us to deconstruct the bag.
West Seattle Fabric Company
2210 California Ave SW Seattle, WA 98116
(206) 257-1083
I have no business buying fabric. I have a big pile to iron, another big pile to cut and another pile that has not made it to the washing machine yet. Yes, I participate in wine o’clock occasionally, though my #1 stress reliever has come to be buying fabric. Last week was stressful, so I bought fabric. I didn’t buy a lot on my recent trip down south, but I did buy some. It is so nice to buy fabric in person.
Roxanne’s, Carpinteria
We stopped at Birch Fabrics in Paso Robles (aka FabricWorm on the web) on the way down, and Roxanne’s and Quiltin’ Cousins on the way back up. I have talked about Birch before and will write another post about it later to update you on the changes there. I wanted to talk about Roxanne’s first.
Roxanne’s fireplace
Roxanne’s, it turns out, used to the be the Treasure Hunt, which I visited and enjoyed in the past. Roxanne told my mom, who talks to everyone!, that she had a quilt /craft shop in that location for 25 years. After 25 years, she kept the building, but sold the business to someone who owned the Treasure Hunt. Last year the owner of the Treasure Hunt decided that owning a quilt shop was not her idea of a good time, so Roxanne gutted the building, which was completely empty, remodeled, upgraded and re-opened Roxanne’s. They have a large selection of crafting supplies such as yarn and paints, but their biggest offerings seemed to be in quiltmaking. It is a gorgeous building on the inside. I love the wall colors and the decorations.
I don’t know if Roxanne’s was a house at one point. The street seems to have mixed zoning and it kind of looks like a rancher. The inside has been completely redone, as I mentioned, so it is most definitely a shop now.
Roxanne’s cutting counter
One of the reasons to LOVE this shop is the tile mosaic counter front.
California Adventure in Anaheim has an outdoor mosaic like this. I think it was the first one of this creative type that I ever saw and I wanted to do a backsplash like when we remodeled our kitchen in 2007. I wasn’t really up for the amount of work or the cost or the time, though, and let it go. I do want to do a piece like this in a frame as a welcome sign and hang it next to my front door. Something large and impressive.
Roxanne’s, Main Floor
If you hadn’t noticed, I love color. Bright colors and lots of them. I don’t like gaudy, but I love putting interesting color combinations together.
First, of all, the blue of the wall color is fabulous. Second, that wall sculpture add so much interest to the room. It reminds me of It’s a Small World in Disneyland, but not in an annoying way. It makes me smile. The rectangular areas under the roofs of the wall sculpture have small areas for quilt samples.
Roxanne’s, Philip Jacobs fabrics
I almost had a seizure when I saw this group of shelving.
Do you know what it is?
Philip Jacobs fabrics.
A whole 3 long shelves of them!
There were some Martha Negleys thrown in as well. I have never seen anything like this before and could have bought all of them. I didn’t, though. I bought cuts from two different yardages that I hadn’t seen before and walked away before I truly lost my mind. I really need to win the lottery so I can A) not work and sew all the time; B) buy whatever fabric I want in whatever quantity I want whenever I want. It may not seem like I restrain myself when buying fabric, but I really do. I could have bought so much more than I did.
Roxanne’s, Pink dot area
Next to the blue wall on one side is a pink wall. I love the combination of the two next to each other.
This is a great store. Definitely stop if you are in Carpinteria. Well worth it!
Ocean Waves Quilt Shop was the last shop we visiting. It was much better in the sun, not so dim, though there were little nooks and crannies that were still a bit dim. The woman who worked there was very efficient and very helpful.
All Washed Up Sparkling Cider Pattern
They had a lot of quilts hanging up. One of the things I saw was a rendition of the All Washed Up Sparkling Cider pattern I used for Sparkle Pink. As I have said, the genius of that pattern is the interesting way it allows large prints to be showcased. This version, however, shows a different way the pattern can be used and has the feel of the fabric in the store.
There was a class going on in the back room. I am not sure what the class was about, but it might have been some type of beginning class. I was pleased to see that there were a relatively large number of people in the shop.
OWQS Fabric & Patterns
The tone of the shop was more Hoffman, smallish prints and florals, which is not to say they didn’t have great fabric. I found a dot I liked and a black on white that I might use for a project brewing in my head. The really nice dot I found was purple. The purple color reminds me of violet, but it is darker. I only got a half yard, but that should be enough for whatever it is I decide to make with it and I have selvedge.
Patterns, Samples & Pre-cuts
They had a lot of stuff there: fabric, patterns, pre-cuts, Aurifil, samples. There is a bag in the last picture (right photo, bottom center) with a curved flap. It is called the Flip Flap bag and they had just sold the last pattern, so I didn’t buy it, but I liked the shape
I also went to Scottie Dog Quilts again. This shop is a white stucco building (kind of an ugly building actually) on the corner of a street, but they don’t have a sign outside anymore, so we drove right past it and had to go around the block. It worked out, because we parked on the side street and were in the correct position to head east (I think) to Ocean Waves Quilt shop for the next stop.
Scottie Dog Right Middle
Scottie Dog has freshened up their look since I was there last. One big difference was that the weather was nicer. Last time, the whole area was fogged over and grey. This trip, the sky was a bright blue and it made everything nicer. Still, the freshening wasn’t all on the part of the weather. Scottie Dog has removed a high set of shelves and moved the cutting counter (I think) and that has made the whole space more open. I didn’t notice that they seemed to have less fabric. They crammed a lot into a relatively small shop.
Right towards Street
S.D. has also embraced modern fabrics in a big way. If you need some Ruby charm packs, they have a few left. They also had one of Moda’s Sophie as well as a bit of the yardage. I bought an old print of Heather Bailey’s called Pop…Flowers?? I don’t remember. Big stylized flowers. I am thinking I will make a bag. I hope to make a bag.
Little Bits Double Wedding Ring
I have to admit that I admire Double Wedding Ring Quilts, but will probably never make. I don’t like the look of some of the quilts made from the rotary cutting templates (curve is not smooth). I had decided to admire them from afar until I saw the Little Bits pattern for a DWR at Scottie Dog. (Nota bene: They don’t have it on their website and were out of stock, otherwise I would link to them). The pieces are small, but I could do some quick piecing and rotary cutting. They also had some bag patterns. I bought a bag pattern called The Potato Chip Bag because you can’t make just one, apparently.
Left Front
One good thing about stopping at quilt stores while traveling is that their restrooms are usually clean. I loved their restroom. It was scarlet, pipes and everything, with a border print of the Mary Englebreit scottie dog.
Left Front Corner
The shop also had different things to entice the shopper: a few shelves of batiks, pre-cut Tumblers in 2 sizes, lots of pre-cuts, especially charm packs. They also had a lot of patterns with samples hanging around the shop.
Front of Shop
They didn’t have any Aurifil, but they had a good selection of interesting notions and other types of thread. I bought some more True Grips and a swivel D Ring for a future bag.
Driving up the coast to the North Coast is a beautiful drive. It was particularly beautiful on Friday, because the Northern California area was washed by a rain storm on Thursday night. The light was gorgeous and the clouds were gorgeous and it made me glad to be driving up the Coast.
Fat Quail Quilt Shop
Last time we drove up that way, we saw a quilt shop in Laytonville called Fat Quail Quilts. The shop is on the side of 101N and we weren’t able to stop the first time, because we were already past by the time we knew what was happening. This time I planned ahead. Their website was very clear how to find it and we were able to stop.
It is a nice shop. They have a lot of fabric, patterns, notions. A good variety of
One of the things I like to notice when I am in an area is whether or not the color schemes are different from what I am used to seeing.
Fat Quail 30s Fabric
The overall color scheme reminded me of Fall colors. They had a lot of nice fabrics. I, of course, found a few things that I brought home with me. One was a needle threader. I broke mine last week working on the binding for the Stepping Stones.
The shop looked like a former house. It was broken up into 4 rooms plus a bathroom. The front room and the very back room were quite large, which makes me think there was some remodeling done. The layout worked well and the owner had used the various niches to create different displays.
The shop had a section of 1930s fabrics, that I thought was very appealing. There was a book called Frugal to Fancy about vintage patterns done in modern fabrics and the whole display made me want to buy all of the fabrics and the book.
Card Catalog Fat Quarters
Being a librarian, I thought the shop’s storage of fat quarters was GREAT! I loved the use of the card catalog drawers for fat quarters. I thought it was an effective display technique even if it was hard to see the fat quarters. The drawers were labeled and that was great.
I also noticed that the Fat Quail lady had no problem cutting fat quarters. I wanted some reds, but was trying to be frugal, so she happily cut me some fat quarters of the reds. I wanted.
Stonehenge
Sandy from Quilting… for the Rest of Us talks about Stonehenge fabric all the time and I saw a display – a large display of it in this shop. I think this is the first time I have seen it, or, perhaps, it is the first time I have seen a display of it. It is very earthy looking and reminded me of picking out counters when we remodeled our kitchen. A little too beige for me, but interesting prints.
Front Room
The displays were little vignettes of fabrics, books and patterns. There were great samples of bags and other small accessories. I bought a pattern for a fish hot pad holder. I wanted to support the shop and also thought it would make a good gift for Christmas. I am going to make twelve, but will start with one and see how it goes before I commit. I was also thinking it might be a good way to practice machine quilting.
I went to a quilt shop while in Chicago called Quiltology. I got myself there via the El, which was fun, though, I thought it was a bit noisy. I was able to get myself there by reading the shop’s website. They have a nice page detailing how to get to the shop via a variety of modes of transportation.
The shop can be found at:
1221 W Diversey Pkwy
Chicago, IL 60614
Tel: 773-549-6628
Email: info@quiltology.com
You might recognize this shop from the Quilty show. They film the show at this shop. I was shocked when I walked in, because the shop is very small. Much smaller than it looks on TV.
I had to admit that I was disappointed and made a snap judgment that I would escape with my wallet intact.
Oh, how wrong I was.
Colette, the owner, is a delightful person, but also seemed strong and a good business owner. She has filled the shop with a good variety of fabrics. Not only does she have many modern fabrics, there are plenty of solids and dots as well. I was surprised, and delighted, to see that she also had a good collection of batiks and 1930s prints. Quiltology also had a number of Minkee fabrics, which she said she suggested for backs, especially of baby quilts. The modern prints are more of the medium-large prints than the really large prints. I think they are easier to use. I thought the batiks and 1930s prints were a bold choice for a modern quilt shop (my assumption). Though she didn’t say, I think they were added to appeal to different types of quiltmakers and expand the horizons of some of the young mothers that patronize the shop.
Right side of shop
Colette seems to be the type of person who I would invite to be in a mini group. She learned to quilt before me and we have some of the same sensibilities about how quiltmaking should be taught and the problems with learning via pattern rather than by sampler quilt. We also discussed the lack of interest in drafting quilt blocks.
The second photo to the right shows some of the batiks and many of the solids available in the shop. The photo also shows the selection of books and notions. The black and white quilt to the left of the quilt. Colette is using this as a cover for the doorway to the back. You can see a corner of the cutting table, middle left.
Front left of shop
The shop is bright and filled with light. The shelves are white and the wooden floor is a lovely honey color (Kastanianhonig – chestnut honey, specifically).
I would highly recommend visiting this shop if you are in Chicago. You won’t be disappointed.
As I have mentioned before, DH is on the board of a non-profit, which starting now will require more travel on the weekends for us. this past weekend we headed up to Sonoma for a historic building dedication, a commemoration ceremony and the reenactment of the Bear Flag Revolt. After all of that and the drive up there we got lunch. I didn’t get lunch, I brought my own, because of my food issues.
DH knows that one way to get me to go with him on these jaunts when I can is to not complain about visiting local quilt shops. Broadway Quilts in Sonoma was our first excursion. Broadway Quilts is easy to find. It is right off of 116 just as you drive off the freeway. From south it is on the left. On Sundays it is open from 11-3, which I made sure DH knew. We flew past in the morning to get to the dedication, but we saw it, so we knew where it was on our way back out of town.
The boys came in with me even though I, specifically, uninvited them. It was too hot to stay in the car, so I couldn’t really begrudge them wanting to take advantage of the air conditioning.
Broadway Quilts Interior
The store is light and airy and large! I walked in a heard a disembodied voice coming from all around me and welcoming me to the store. I thought I was being visited by God who happened to be a quilt shop owner/worker. 😉
The lady who was working was very nice, genuinely cheerful and nice. She helped me paw through their stash of Aurifil to try and find #2600 for me (no luck) without complaining.
The store has a lot of the latest and greatest fabric. I saw Vintage Modern, Echo, a great selection of tone-on-tones, which I thought no longer existed, and a whole room full of 1930s fabric. I am not an expert on 1930s fabrics, but I do look out for them, because FQs make good gifts for TFQ.
Broadway Quilts Notions
As I mentioned, the store is large and their notions selection was really good. They still have the regular full selection of Dritz, but they also have a lot of Creative Grids rulers, including those with teeth to make half square triangles. I am not sure I have ever seen those in a shop before. They carry a modest selection of Aurifil, project cases, Omnigrid rulers, bag accessories – you name it. A very good selection.
There was a enough space to move around, which was nice. They also share space with a longarm business. The longarm is set up int he back of the store, but it is a separate business. I think that is a good symbiotic relationship.
It looked like they had a small classroom and I saw classes mentioned on their web page, but I didn’t see a class list.
Broadway Quilts Flowering Snowball
One of the samples I saw hanging up was a Flowering Snowball! I felt like such a maverick when I started that quilt a dog’s age ago, but now everyone seems to be making them. This one is nice. I think it was made with Vintage Modern or, perhaps, Ruby.
I liked the store and would go there again. Yes, I bought fabric, but just a little.
To those of you who live in places that require you to jump in the car and drive for 20 minutes every time you want an ice cream, a loaf of bread or some fabric, my idea of a trek probably has you rolling your eyes. I drive about 2 miles a day and then spend the rest of the day’s transportation allotment on a train with some buses and streetcars thrown in for good measure. I also walk a lot.
Today was a bit different as I was heading to C&T Publishing to return a quilt from the Primal Green Show, go to lunch and do some other errands that were out that way. It was a long haul, but a good day in general. Drivers weren’t too idiotic, people did not zoom through the Fastrak lane and then try and swerve to the cash lane at the last minute, the rain didn’t pour down while I was driving or while I was walking around without a hood or umbrella: all in all a good day.
Where the Magic Happens
First stop: C&T Publishing
This unassuming industrial type building, in an industrial neighborhood, hides a lot of colorful goodness! I walked into the building and saw the most beautiful C&T commemorative quilt. I am sorry I didn’t take a picture of it. It was really gorgeous!
I also liked the wall of tear sheets they had opposite the reception desk advertising their current titles. It was a great decoration/advertising idea.
Lisa was kind enough to show me all of the different departments. It was funny to think that I have a mystical, awe inspired idea of working in a quilt publishing house, but the people there were just working. I am sure they enjoy their work, but I am also sure that it is a job to them. She took me out into the warehouse where I saw a lot of palettes covered in industrial strength Saran Wrap! I also got a peek inside the photo shoot studio, which is also in the warehouse. Very interesting!
Slightly damaged
I was allowed to pick out some books from their slightly damaged shelf. I didn’t have much time so I just grabbed books. These look interesting, don’t you think?
We went to lunch and, afterwards, I showed Lisa Kissy Fish, which I had in the trunk.
Talking with Lisa reminded me that I have been wanting to try TAP, so I decided that that would be my excuse to go to Thimble Creek, which is just a mile or so up the road from the C&T headquarters.
I hadn’t been to their ‘new’ location. They moved at least 3 years ago. There was a theme a few years ago of quilt stores moving to industrial or office park areas, because of less expensive rent. It worked for some stores not for others. I was nervous about going, because I don’t know the area and I was afraid I would have trouble finding it. Sometimes the stores that have moved to these industrial areas have been hard to find. Silly, I know, but there you have it.
I walked in and there was a feeling of comfort and light in a country/shabby chic sort of way. The place wasn’t as large as their last location, but they had a lot of fabric The arrangement by color, mostly, but also by style/type. There was a section of large florals including Kaffe Fassett, Philip Jacobs, etc. There was a section of reproductions (some Civil War?) and the choices were very appealing. I didn’t buy any, but loved some of the colors – some of the pinks and blues, especially. There was also a section of dots,and another with fabric that looked like the forthcoming Malka Dubrowski fabrics. There was a section of wools. They had a small section of notions, quite a lot of thread and a nice selection of specialty rulers, but not many Creative Grids.
Kissy Fish Framing
Third stop: Framing
Kissy Fish is finished – my part at least. The back looked unfinished, because I stitched through to the back. I originally thought I would put an additional back on. As I got near to finishing I decided that I would frame it. It is an art piece and I want it to be considered art.
A few years ago, I had a number of different types of art pieces framed. The frame shop to which my mom took the pieces did a really great job. Unfortunately, that outlet closed. Fortunately, I found that they had a second shop near C&T, so I went there. I was really pleased to find the shop and added it to my list of tasks for yesterday. I was really pleased the the service. The above mats and frame color are what I chose. It will be ready in a few weeks and I’ll let you know if I like the final result.
Whole Foods was right across the street so I was able to get the gluten free pie crusts I need for Thanksgiving and then I headed home. I thought about stopping at The Cotton Patch and getting the TAP, but I decided just to head home. I’ll get it another time.
Finally: I decided to stop by the Young Man’s school and see if I could find him and if he needed a ride. Boy, was I lucky! He was right out front and ready to go.
Thank you for taking the time to quilt my quilt. I really appreciate your assistance, your artistry and your attention to detail.
I want to support your small business, which is one reason I come to you. I want you to be successful and I want to be able to recommend you to my friends. I was a small business owner in the not-too-distant-past, so I know it is hard work and can be thankless at times.
I have very high standards, which I will warn you about in advance. I have even higher standards for charity quilts. I do my best work on these quilts, so the recipients know I care. I expect the same from you. If you feel anxious about meeting those standards, please send me away with my quilt. I want my quilt done well and I don’t want to increase your anxiety level. I will respect you for being honest.
Please remember that this is a collaborative effort and what I say to you in our initial meeting is pertinent to how I want my quilt quilted. I have worked hard on the piecing and want your quilting to fit well with my piecing design. Please do not overshadow my piecing with inappropriate quilting. Please do not try to sell me on your designs. Listen to what I want and tell me if you can’t, or don’t want, to do what I want. My quilt is not your playground to show off the quilting that would be much better suited for a whole cloth quilt.
I will tell you that my backs are always pieced and I don’t always press the seams open, that my quilts are almost never square (though not terribly off), and that I use fusible and raw edge applique’. If you can’t, or don’t want to, deal with any of these peculiarities, please tell me upfront. I’d rather know and find someone else. I will respect you for being honest.
Please act professionally. Do not whine, after the fact, about my unsquare quilts, pieced backs or fusible applique’. If you whine afterwards, I will suspect you are blaming me for your own poor longarming skills and I am not interested in excuses. If you have, or think you might have, a problem with my quilt, please don’t take it on in the first place. I will respect you for being honest.
Please be generous about your competitors. Making snide comments about them does not endear me to you or make me loyal.
Please make sure your machine is in good working order. Please make sure you know how to load the back tightly so there are no pleats. Please clean the oil up so it doesn’t stain my quilt. If you do get a pleat or have a problem, I expect you to rip out the quilting and do it over AND not charge me for the time. Your mistake = your problem.
Please have the quilt done when you say it will be done. If it isn’t done, please call me and we can work out a new time to get the quilt. If I arrive and the quilt is not done and you are not working on it, I won’t be happy. Please be realistic about your commitments. Can you really finish my 5 quilts this week? REALLY?
Finally, if someone else picks up my quilts for me, don’t tell them that you screwed up and are glad they picked up the quilts instead of me since you knew I would be angry. If you think I will be mad, fix the problem. I have a phone and can call you. I can be angry over the phone.
