The Traveling Quilter

My husband is a real trooper!  

I just have to say that before I write another word.  

He indulges my *need* to stop at quilt shops when we travel.  

I didn't used to keep track of the places we stopped at but I have changed that. 

 I now write down the name and location,

 the website as well as what I liked or didn't like about the shop.  

This will allow me to know if I have already visited a shop, 

or still need to as well as if a return visit is worth the trip.  

I thought I would share with you all the shops we stopped at on our way down to Sarasota 

(just off I-75) and on our way home.  

Keep in mind it matters which day and the time of day you hit these things in your travels.  

This year we left on a Thursday morning.  

Most quilt shops don't open until 10am so that meant at least 3 hours of traveling before the first stop.  Same was true on the way home.  

In previous years, Saturday and Sunday present their own issues and often shops are closed on a random week day so be sure to check the website for each shop you plan to visit!  

Here we go!

 We stopped at Sew Ezy Quilt Shop in Sharonville Ohio.  

It was a cute little shop and I bought some great background fabrics there.  

The one on the top right is sparkly silver dots! 

We stopped at the Fabric Art quilt shop in Lake City Florida.  

The shop exterior is purple!  

We had stopped there before so I knew it was one that I liked.  

I didn't buy any fabric but I did find some really nice varigated embroidery floss here.

Then we were in Florida and The Cotton Patch is really near to my In-laws place.  

I adore this little shop!  

I bought this adorable seahorse pattern there.

And you may recall my saying that Fred the Bassett Hound lives here too.

I found these great "fishy" prints and this amazing fish fabric.  

I bought enough of the fish to use for the back 

of the baby quilt I am making for an amazing special someone.

Next up was Deborah's Quilt Basket in Venice.  I found a few copies of one of my pattern!

I found a few more fabrics for the fishy quilt as well as that great stripe for binding!

Then it was time to head home.  

I had asked my friends on Instagram for suggestions and two shops were mentioned as "must see".  They were completely correct, they were!

The first one was called Pinwheels Quilt Shop located in Valdosta GA.  

BEAUTIFUL shop and super friendly people. 

They had a lot of Elizabeth Hartman patterns and samples which was fun to see. 

 I was able to find some of the Kate Spain North Woods fabrics there that I used for my Christmas stockings last year so I picked up a bit more.

Then we stopped at an amazing shop called A Scarlet Thread, located in McDonough, GA.  

 Wowza, this shop was huge and had so much fabric (much of it modern fabrics).

They also had this adorable vintage sewing machine too.

I picked up a few favorites as well as that cute blue gingham!  

The last stop on the way home was near Cincinati, OH in the city of Waynesville.

The Fabric Shack!!!!

This place is unbelievable.  They now have an anex too.  

This is where I had to restrain myself.  

There were a few things I was actually looking for on this trip and they had BOTH of them!!! 

 I wanted some of the mermaids from Sarah Jane's line and they had those.

The other one is Tabby Road by Tula Pink and OMG they had the entire line!!!  

I bought the tuna cans.

And the cats and the mice in two color ways.

The mouse print on the top in aqua was by FAR my favorite print in the entire line!  

I need some of the cat eye prints but could not afford to buy any more right now (vacation y'all).

So there you have it.  

The quilt shops we stopped at along I-75 on this trip to and from Florida.

I hope you enjoyed traveling with me and stop back again!

~XOP~