Quilt Shop Hopping

I was talking with a friend of mine last week and mentioned that I had a gift certificate to Happiness is Quilting in McKinney, TX and that I was going to get my daughter to take me there on Friday.  That discussion led us to planning for her to pick me up Friday a.m. after her doctors appointment.

Friday morning I got the call that she was on her way to my house.  I gathered up my tote of necessaries and out the door we went.  First stop was Happiness is Quilting where I picked up rotary blades for my 28mm cutter, a cute pair of red embroidery scissors with heart shaped handles and a bobbin holder that attaches to your thread spool.  They have a nice shop.  This was the first time I visited their store.  Previously I had only shopped them at shows.

Next we went to The Quilt Asylum also in McKinney.  I picked up a few patterns and a pair of machinger gloves.  They too have a very nice shop.  It is very spacious.  I had been to their shop before.  I have a piece of Moda fabric that I was trying to find a close cousin to.  The ladies there were so helpful and gathered bolts for us to audition.  Nothing spoke to me.

My friend Linda"s sister lives in town and was celebrating a birthday the next day.  We stopped by and were given a tour of her gorgeous remodeled 1920s home.  I loved every detail.  We went out for a wonderful BBQ lunch too.  It was nice to spend time with these two ladies.  We took her sister home and continued on our journey.

The third stop was another shop in town called Stitched with Love.  This shop caters to the modern quilter.  I really did not know what to expect.  The shop was full of gorgeous fabrics with lots of light.  I found my fabrics cousin there, a FQ and several patterns.  I also picked up two pins.  One says UFO-ologist and the other says Runs with Scissors.  These ladies were also so helpful in locating fabric candidates for me.

When we left here we went to an antique mall in Allen.  The quilt below caught my eye.  It would fit a double bed and was quilted with the baptist fan pattern.  I love bubble gum pink quilts.  It was in beautiful condition and marked down to $65.  What a steal that is.  If I had better storage it would have come home with me.  I'll settle for recreating it in the future.  It is made with a variation of a shaded 4 pach.  Anyone know the block name?

Linda took me home after that shop.  We agreed that we needed to do this again.  I think the next trip should be to the shops in Kaufman, Seagoville and Terrell.  I have not been to any of these shops.  I went to the sew-in at that church and worked on my afghan.  While there I sold two duplicate rulers to a friend.  I decided that I needed to use that money to enhance my neutrals stash. 

Saturday my daughter took me to Pieced Together Studio.  I used the money from the ruler sale to buy several yards of neutrals.  I really want her shop to do well so was happy to spend money with her.