I first heard of the Shop Hop when I went into a local quilt store last year and they offered me free fabric. Free! I had no idea why I was being given fabric gratis but for a moment was living a fantasy world of door prizes every time I went fabric shopping. Something along the lines of, "You came to our quilt shop today and that's amazing, you're amazing! What good taste you have, here is a free thimble/ruler/fat quarter." Then the nice lady explained that it was the last day of the Shop Hop. A group of quilt shops in the state band together, get a theme and have a small party at each shop with specials. This year's theme:
Isn't that such a great logo? I don't know who made it but you can click
here for the Shop Hop's blog. Classic TV shows like
Gilligan's Island,
Mash,
Happy Days,
Dallas the
Love Boat and more. Two that I really liked were
The Corn Wagon Quilt Co.'s "I Love Lucy" and
Quilts Etc.'s "Cheers". The Corn Wagon Quilt Co. hand labeled water bottles with the
Vitameatavegamin labels. They probably did hundreds and gave them out for free with brownies and cute Lucy keychain charms. Which, of course, I can't find to take a picture of. But I do have one of the free block pattern they gave out. (Apologies for the photo quality as I was snapping these with my camera phone.)
Then Quilt Etc. had the Cheers theme. Outside they had red solo cups hanging from the front roof and a cheers sign out front. When you get in the door there's a table with a super lady who asks your name, makes you a Cheers name tag as she said, "Because here everyone knows your name!" They even had a bar set up in their back room where they gave away free soft drinks and pretzels or nachos.
When you got near the bar they'd look at your name tag, call you by name and ask what you'd like. Just as if you were a regular, "Hey Norm!" style. It made it so easy to meet other folks. You already knew their name and that they love fabric as much as you do! I'd call out to people coming in the door with their names and every one was smiles and giggles, relaxed and happy. They even had a water pong game set up:
All of the shops had specials going on like this:
Quilts Etc. not only had the sale and free block pattern but a whole other pattern too! What generous and wonderful folks fabric lovers are.
It felt like my own special quilt retreat for the weekend. Some beautiful new fabrics came home with me. I even found new combinations of them that I may not have thought of if I hadn't seen them piled on top of each other at the cutting tables. I resisted The Ghastlies once again. I know if I got one little bitty piece I'd have to get all of it. Obsessed much. Thanks for sticking around for the long ramble and fuzzy photos, maybe next time you'll go Shop Hopping too! Cheers
I'm sure we all do. Much to my surprise and delight I did win! I was lucky enough to pick four patterns for children's clothes from Little Lizard King. Just last year I tried my hand at sewing children's clothes. I decided that those tiny little set-in full sleeves are beasts. None of the patterns I picked have them, yay! I picked Millie's Market Dress, Baby Doll Twirl, Cargo Pants and the Double Layer Bow Tie. It was hard to choose between the bow tie and the Small Fry Neck Tie because little boys in bow and regular ties are just so stinkin' cute. I got patterns for girls and boys. I think I'll try my hand at the Baby Doll Twirl first although the Cargo Pants would be really cute in the Going Coastal madras print-kind of like the one Proximo is wearing in the above picture. As soon as I get those patterns started I'll photograph and post them up. I'm still so happy I won and that they were so generous to me. Pretty much I'm happy as a pig in mud! Except I don't have any pictures of that. I only have pictures of clean pigs (from the county fair):
Happy sewing and pigs to you!
