Day: April 20, 2017

Turkey Tracks:  April 20, 2017

April is Maine Quilting Shop Hop Month

For two years now, Mary Bishop and I have spent some pleasant days “shop hopping” Maine quilt shops.

Today we finished what we are going to do for this year, having acquired the ten necessary shops to send in our ticket for the drawing.  (Last year I won a prize.)

Today we went west to Mystic Maine Quilts in Chelsea (on the Kennebec River just south of Augusta) and to Whippersnappers in Hallowell, where we also had a marvelous lunch at Slate’s.

It’s fun to visit quilt shops because each one is totally different from any other, and it is fun to see their projects, their fabric collections, etc., to maybe get something needed/desired on sale, and to visit with owners/staffs for a bit.  We always learn something in the process.

Each shop makes a “Shop Hop” quilt from the same set of fabrics, and it is delightful to see all the creativity in these quilts.  It is hard to choose which one is the best when it comes time to vote.  This year was no exception.

Outside Mystic Maine Quilts, these quilt blocks were new:

I bought a cone of 50-wt. RA thread for piecing in “eggshell” color.  It’s 3000 yards!  Looking forward to trying it out.  The color has some grey in it, so it might be really versatile.  We were also gifted with the pattern for their Shop Hop Quilt, which we both loved.

My 5-inch bin of blocks is overflowing, so I came home with this little book, found at Whippersnappers, where the patterns are for 5-inch blocks.

What a pleasant day!