Shop Hop Details

As mentioned in a previous post, last week I participated in the Mountain Quilt Quest Shop Hop, which is a shop hop held by several quilt shops throughout West Virginia. It ran from Wed. to Sat. with each shop having extended hours for the duration of the shop hop. Each shop has a block that when put together makes an entire quilt. They all have a quilt (or several) made using the fabric and blocks from all the different shops. Most also sell kits so you can make your own version of theirs.


This year, the fabric was made especially by a WV artist, Tina Richardson, for the Shop Hop. It incorporated 18 different things representing WV, including important landmarks, state animals and things like that.

Something else that I had planned to do was to buy two Batik fat quarters from each shop and use them to make another quilt. At first I figured to just make a nine patch quilt, then decided to make the Turning Twenty Again quilt instead. The first shop I went to was Quilts by Phyllis in Hurricane. Phyllis' shop is a large, open shop with a very large selection of fabric, notions, and several long arm machines. While there, I found out that the friend I had planned to bring along was unable to come and decided to go on to the rest of the western stores that day instead of waiting until the next day.

I then decided to go to the farthest store and work my way back to the shop in Ceredo and then go on to work. The farthest store on the chain of the western stores was The Quilt Shoppe LLC in Summersville. That store is a smallish store with shelves everywhere. It should feel cluttered, but it doesn't. Instead, there is a sense of wondering what is around the next corner. The owner seems to prefer more older types of styles, such as 30's repros and Civil War fabrics, but there is a good mix of more modern styles as well. I found out while there that the owner is also a knitter and ended up talking to her about Ravelry.


The next shop was Quilts and More in Victor, just outside Hawk's Nest State Park. They had the quilt pattern I liked best. They didn't have the kits already made, which was actually a good thing, because I could not have afforded it that day, but I left my information with the owner and she will call me when it is ready.

The next shop I went to was Sneed's Sewing and Vacuum Shop in Charleston. they don't have much fabric, but they do sell a lot of notion and Bernina sewing machines. I hope to buy a Bernina Aurora 440QE sewing machine. While I was there, I realized that I was not going to be able to visit the shop in Ceredo that day, due to time constraints. In fact, I ended up being a half hour late for work.

So, I went to Sew Many Blessings in Ceredo on Thursday instead. Sew Many Blessings is my own LQS. It is the most convenient, being right on the way to work and the owners, Winona and Heidi, are both members of my quilt guild, the Creative Quilters in Huntington, WV, as well as being lovely ladies. They are both every into breast cancer funding and donations and this was reflected in their quilt. The fabric for the quilt was black and white, so some of the other shops added some red and Phyllis also used yellow fabric, but Winona and Heidi used pink as a accent border.

Then came Friday. I knew that Friday was going to be a long day. My plan was to start in Parkersburg as the northern most shop and travel to Elkins, the southern most store. I knew it was going to be an all day venture and I was right. I left at 7:30 am and got home at 9:30 pm, so, I was on the road for a total of 14 hours, mostly driving between the shops.

The Parkersburg store was the Parkersburg Sewing and Quilting Center. I liked their store, but they had the long -arm machine running the entire time I was there and it made it a bit hard to hear people. Also, their quilt seemed a bit off to me. As said before, most people added red or some other complementary color to their quilts, but Parkersburg added a bright green that didn't go with the black and white very well, IMHO.

While in Parkersburg, I could not resist checking out Market Street Yarn & Craft shop, which is also in Parkersburg. I ended up buying some sock yarn as a souvenir.

The next shop to visit was the Woolen Willow in Williamstown. The Woolen Willow is a very interesting store. It not only sells fabric, but also yarn, rug-hooking and needle-felting designs. It also sold lots of primitive decorations.

I then headed to Pieces of the Past shop. That has to be one of the smallest quilt shops I have ever seen. It is in an old house and consists of three rooms, one with fabric, one with patterns and one with notions and embroidery thread and supplies. If that shop had 100 bolts of fabric, I would be surprised. Still, when I bought my batiks, I found one that ended up being one of my favorites. She didn't have very many pre-cut fat quarters, but said it would be no trouble to but some from the bolts. I selected a pretty ecru batik and a dark blue with electric light blue lines shot though it. I was surprised to see that when opened out, the electric blue lines formed swordfish. When cutting the fabric, I made sure to fussy cut one of the swordfish out.

I then had a 2.5 hour drive to the next shop in Fairmont, called Sew Chic. By the time I got to Fairmont, it was about 1:30 and I was starving. I ended up getting of the interstate and eating at MacDonald's. Since I am trying to lose a little weight, I have avoided MacDonald's recently and usually had a salad when I did eat there. This time I didn't care about my weight or anything but eating as much as I could manage. I ended up getting a #1 combo with a large sweet tea. I figured that I would walk it off in the quilt shops before I was done.

Sew Chic is one of the easiest shops to find. It is a quarter mile off of I-79 and in a large red barn. It is a very orderly shop, with all kinds of different fabrics, Bernina sewing machines and notions. I signed up for their newsletter during my first shop hop in 2007 and still receive it. I doubt that I would ever get the chance to go to it otherwise because it is several hours drive.

I then headed to Morgantown and The Sew Inn, Ltd. I have been on three shop hops now and have never seen more of Morgantown than the route to the shop hop. The Sew Inn is a very large, bright store. They sell Viking sewing and embroidery machines and lots of patterns and notions. They also were selling T-shirts a s souvenirs of the shop hop, but I didn't have the money to get one.

While at The Sew Inn, the long day and all that driving caught up with me. I really didn't want to go on to the last two shops. The shop in Buckhannon was not that far, but the Elkins Sewing Center was 40 miles one way. I decided I had come to far to not finish out the rest of the stores and got going.

The Buckhannon store was in what was in a large house. It was very interesting, wandering through the different rooms to see what the fabric was. The selection was excellent and I wish I had more money so I could have spent more at each shop. I then headed to the last shop, the Elkins Sewing Center. The drive was not as bad as I had thought it was going to be. I think the slump at Morgantown was the after effects of the sweet tea I had at lunch.

The Elkins Sewing Center was fun. I had just arrived and was talking to a few of the ladies helping during the shop hop when a bus tour arrived. After that it was very crazy trying to get around a suddenly very full store. I ended up talking to a few ladies who were from Pennsylvania on the Shop Hop.

After I left Elkins Sewing Center, I decided to head home. I saw a Dollar General a few doors down from the shop and decided I wanted some food to take with me. I bought a coke and a snickers bar and headed off. I was just a few miles out of town when I realized that my camera, which I had had with me all day was not on the passenger side seat where it should have been. I had left it in Elkins! I quickly turned around and hoped I had left it in the shop and not the dollar General. As it turned out, it was in the Dollar General. The cashier had set it aside and I was able to retrieve it. It was the only thing I forgot all day, a fact that I am rather proud of, with my memory! I had by that time been on the road for 12 hours, so I think I can be excused.

Well, that was a good, long post, wasn't it?

Pics and Shop Hopping

OK, so the Internet is working on my computer again, so here are the pics of my most recent projects.

First off, the Demeter Camisole:

Next is my niece's toddler socks:

Then there are my WIPs. First is a Memory Shawl that I am making using the little oddballs of my stash.

Then there are my current pair of socks, basic socks knit 2aat.

The last pic is of the ball band dishcloth that I work on when bored with the socks. It is knit with Sugar and Cream yarn on size 10 needles.

The shop hop I am going on this week is not knitting, however, but quilting. Every year several stores in WV participate in the Mountain State Quilt Quest Shop Hop. This year there are twelve stores participating in the shop hop. I went to four today, will go to one tomorrow and will get the rest on Friday. A friend of mine, Brian, was going to go with me, but he just got a job and has orientation the next few days. More on the shop hop later after I visit the rest of the stores.

Hello

Wow, I didn't realize that I had not posted for almost three months. I really need to work on this thing more. So, time for a quick bit of catchup. My Demeter Camisole is finished and fits great. I would post pictures, but I am not on my computer, so those will have to wait. I ended up having a bit of good luck with out meaning to. The pattern read that after the waist decreasing, you were then supposed to increase one row, then knit six plain rows. For some reason, my brain decided to follow the directions for 5 repeats and then begin to knit the increase row and then knit 10 plain rows. I had just finished the increases when I realized what I had done and decided against frogging. It turns out that if I had follow the pattern the way it was written, it would not have fit in the bust.

The toddler socks are not only finished, but I decided to knit mates for them as well. I gave them to my brother and sister-in-law for my niece, Kira. The designer that published the first taat socks has now developed taat toe-up socks, so there will soon be more toddler socks for my niece.

Last Sunday, I decided to check to see how much money I would be offered for tuition for the 2010-2011 school year. I know better that to list the full amount online, but it will be enough to pay my tuition, rent an apartment and pay off one of my other loans! So, today, I went and spoke to the representative of one of the nicer apartment complexes in the area. They have some very nice one bedroom apartments, an exercise room, laundry on site, allow pets, and offer cable at a greatly reduced rate. Also, I would only have to pay the electric bill, all the other utilities are taken care of. There is off the street parking, and the local bus service runs nearby. So, I will definitely be looking forward to living there come fall.

So, the rest of the day before going to work was checking out some of the local furniture places. I think it is about time to get a new bed and mattress. I have had the same ones for about 10 years now and the the bed is a real pain to put together. I would also like a bigger bed, the one I have is a twin. I saw a very nice queen sized bed for $399.99 at Value City Furniture. I could also get the matching dresser and mirror for $999.99, but am debating that. I thought about also getting a new couch and chair, bu realized that I could easily (and much more cheaply) spruce up the old ones with some slipcovers.

I have decided to make knitting for the Sweater Odyssey much easier by knitting a memory shawl out of the little odd balls that have accumulated in my stash. At last measurement, it was just over 7in long. I am shooting for twenty by the end of the month. I am also working on a new pair of socks for the Great Sock-Off of 2010. I have done much better this year than last. This pair is a pair of basic socks in Paton's Kroy Socks Jacquard, in colorway Fern Rose. Paton's has put out some nice new Jacquard colorways recently.

That is all I can think of for now, so talk at you later.