Michigan Stash Dash

I have been MIA lately and I'm sorry about that. 

 Life continues to be very busy over at my house! 

 I did make the time to go on the Michigan Stash Dash 

with some of the Wednesday night quilters, Shirley and Barb.  

We had an excellent time!  

I tried to restrain myself and did ok, still need to work on it but not too bad overall. 

 We went to 7 shops! 

 I'm going to share what I bought at each shop. 

 Photos of some of the shops are on my Flickr if you want to see them.

We started at the Lake Street Mercantile and that's where we took the bus from.  

They did a really nice job and kept us on time and home early!  

Also the BEST chocolate doughnuts I have ever had!

The first actual stop was The Quilting Season in Saline.  

A small shop but nice. 

 They had homemade cinnamon rolls waiting for us there! 

They also had this amazing rug!

This is what I bought there. 

 A half yard of MSU Spartan fabric that I don't own. 

 Imagine that?

 

The next stop was Bits and Pieces in Wayne.  

This is where I bring my Bernina for her yearly spa visit.  

I stocked up on a few essentials while there and talked with my sewing machine boyfriend, 

Jay, while I was there.  

(He is the person that gives my machine her spa treatment and he is fabulous!!)

Next stop was Quilt-n Friends in Sterling Heights. 

They had a very nice shop, but I didn't buy anything there.

I can't remember which shop came next but I think it was Sew Elegant in Fort Gratiot. 

 (but I could have this one mixed up with the next one, but whatever you get my drift right?)  

This shop has a LOT to choose from, but I restrained myself! 

Just look at that butterfly from Hushabye!! 

 They still had quite a bit of Hushabye left too (see photos in my Flickr).

We stopped at Sew Together in Richmond too and I bought a Frixion red pen and this magazine.  There is a great pattern for those mermaids from Kellie Wulfson in there!

There was quite a bit of time from the second to last and last shop 

so we did some of this while on the way to it.

Mother and daughter, so adorable!

The last stop was my favorite (and I knew it would be).  

The Quilter's Garden in Fenton. 

 If you haven't been here you should go.  

Fabulous shop!  

I found LOTS to love here.

Some peacock fabric for pillowcases for DD1 for Christmas.

This great wreath pattern that I have been looking for for a long time.  

I need to try these, especially the Halloween one!  

And look at that adorable apron! 

 It is just screaming for some vintage modern!

I refrained (just barely) from the pattern for this ironing board cover but will probably buy one later.

I didn't buy these patterns but I was tempted. 

 An owl, frog, pig, cat, dog, raccoon and more.  

Can you see that flip flop in the bottom left of the tree (blue and yellow) so cute! 

 Made from a regular flip flop and they put some kind of base over it and 

used twisted the yellow for the part you slide your foot into.  

I didn't happen to see a pattern for that but we were not the first bus there.  

I may have to track that down, they were really cute!

Then they had this wallhanging.  

It was so cute!!  

Reminded me of the Peanuts gang.  

They were out of the pattern and the kit too. 

 I'm on a list.  

Will see how that goes.

I did buy the newsprint for the hats though.  

How could I resist?

All in all a very successful and fun day!  

Shop hops are such fun aren't they?

More soon!!

~XOP~

North Carolina Shop Hop

I can't believe how far behind I am in still telling you about my trip!  

On Saturday I got to meet Freda and Sara and her son, Ayden.  

These are some seriously nice folks! 

Freda picked me up and we met Sara at Wish Upon a Quilt. 

 I have to say this is a fabulous shop!! 

I have decided that I really need to work on a quilt my DD1 drew and 

so I needed some specific batik fabrics for this.  

Not my usual "go to" fabrics so those were on my list of things to look for and look what I found!  These will be perfect for "Prismata"! 

 (More on him another time)

I did happen to buy just 2 additional fabrics at this shop and these are more my typical style.  Although I don't have a lot of Kaffe,

 I love this feather print and it will blend with some other grays I have on hand.

Next on the travel stop was Bernina World of Sewing.  

Also a very nice shop!

Where I happened to find these beauties. 

 Not that I needed any of them but...

Who can resist some Joel Dewberry and some Curious Nature? 

 Not me that's who!

Next in line was lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. 

 I had never eaten at one and was stunned to see how HUGE the lunch salads were! 

 STUNNED!!!  

I can't imagine a dinner salad.

The one on the left was Freda's and the one on the right was mine 

(Sara helped me finish mine!)

Sara and Ayden's lunch was

amazing too. 

Lettuce wraps and a pepperoni pizza with little tiny pepperonies on it!

Next stop was Elegant Stitches. 

I found some real treasures there like 4 1/4 yards of this OOP print!!!  

(On sale too, isn't that Swell?)

I also found some Laurie Wisburn and the cutest whip stitch piping! 

 Anyone know where this piping is available wholesale??

Then we went to the Whistle Stop.  

I didn't buy anything there but their shop was cute and this pillow was amazing.

Last stop was The Quilter's Nest. 

 I did a little damage here too.

This day was wonderful! 

 I met some new friends IRL which was awesome.

 Freda, thank you from the bottom of my heart for driving me around!!  

You were more than generous.  

Sara, thank you for the beautiful dish towel 

(that is actually too pretty to use and may be made into an apron.)

And Ayden, thank you for th entertainment!

 I wish we lived closer!!!

Aren't blogging friends just the BEST??!! 

 I have a lot more stuff to share, although not too much more from the trip, but quilt related. 

Enough of a tease for everyone?? 

 LOL

~XOP~

Shop Hop Continued

The next place we stopped was Everlasting Stitches in Holt. I had never been there before and was pleasantly surprised by this shop. Isn't it cute?

I bought these wonderful fabrics for that Gourdy's Gang pattern! Don't you think these will be great?? And really, can one have too many dots? I love that pattern for the block envelope too. I'd like to make some of those to store some of my projects in.


Next up on the hop is Wendy's Simple Stitches. I love Wendy's. It's a relatively small shop but they always have a nice selection as well as a great sale room. Yes an entire room!


Look at this beautiful version of Hocuspocusville that Wendy made.

This one is on my short list!! Now for the haul from this shop. A little Wild Thyme and look at those fabulous browns!! YUM, I see some great reindeer on the way.


It was now almost 5pm and the last shop was 30-45 minutes away. So we called them and they were having their first sew in and would be open and they invited us to come on in! So we got in the car and we drove there. Huron River Quilts in Milford. Owned by 2 sisters and they have been in business for only 2 years. It was such a friendly shop with a lot of cute things. Here's Ann one of the owners waiting on us. They had snacks for their sew in but they shared those with us too. How nice are they?? You need to go and visit them.

I really loved this witch pattern, but was buying some more fabric, shocker, I know! Maybe next time.

So of course I had to buy a little more fabric here too. Found some amazing stripe for different basket handles as well as , you guessed it, more reindeer browns. Can you tell I lack brown in my stash??


So then we had just one last stop and it was HOME. Here are the women I rode with and only PTM's and my (1) bag. Yes we had a productive shopping trip. I already have 2 reindeer done, but that will have to wait to be seen later.

I am trying to keep up the posting every day and I need photos for you so you keep coming back, right??

Plymouth Piecemakers Shop Hop

There is so much to tell this may have to go over several posts. I am going to take you to five fabulous shops in Michigan. I had only been to one of them before so it was awesome. We called ahead to let them know we would be coming and every shop had a special for us!

First stop, Quilts at the Marshall House in Marshall Michigan. If you have not gone here you really, really need to. This shop is a hidden treasure for sure. I spent the most at this shop. It is in an old funeral house and the shop is HUGE. Very large selection of batiks and Orientals, lots of great modern fabric too. Then there is their holiday area and color wall. Fantastic.


They had 2 exquisite raffle quilts there too. Of course I had to purchase some tickets.

The workmanship on these quilts was awesome.
Here we are headed out the door with our purchases.

I found a black and white stripe that I thought might work for some basket handles and some Bunny Hill for the back of my Rabbits Prefer embroidery.I found some black and some charcoal for my reindeer and another little project that will work especially well too.

I have decided to incorporate some more gray and orange into my stash so was looking for some good grays and oranges too. I found some great gray here along with a few, I really, liked them but not sure what I will do with them.

PHEW what a haul! The next stop was Turkeyville for lunch. Can you guess what they serve there? Yep, turkey. This was my lunch.

Here is the entire gang (minus me of course since I was taking the photo)

There were 9 of us altogether. After lunch we went to Charlotte Michigan to The Hen House. This shop was a primitive lovers dream! Loads of primitive fabric, patterns, wool and lots of Civil War fabric. The owner and the staff were so very nice to us and extended a great discount to our group too. Thanks, Nancy!

I loved these turkeys and this wall hanging!

The shop was small but mighty! I found a few nice things to buy here. I have a Halloween pattern at home that these fabrics will be perfect for! And look at that pattern that found it's way into my bag too. I also found Perfect Circles. I read about these and thought I would give them a try. You cut a fabric circle, do a running stitch, draw it up and then you can press with the little circle inside and it makes a perfect circle for applique. I will let you know how they work.

Alright, enough fun for now. It is a beautiful day and I want to go and sew while the sun is shining!! Have a wonderful day and we will pick up tomorrow. If you are dying to see more go to my Flickr page and have a look.