Here’s a little bit of quilting color to brighten your day.
Free Moda pattern using Moda Bella Solids
Fruits and Veggies Quilt
A peak at my stash from the shop hop.
A Splash of Color!
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Author Archives: edges
Gallery of Shop Hop Raffle Baskets
Kudos to shops who had everything put together in time for shop hoppers to see their baskets. Of the 32 stores, 24 had their baskets made up.
Sew Generously in St. Charles
Julieanne’s Quilt Shop in Roscoe
Quilter’s Heaven in Northbrook
Quilter’s General Store in Rockford.
Uniquely Yours in Orangeville
Phatquarters in Galena
Yellow Creek Quilt designs in Pearl City
Lucky 2B Quilting in Pecatonica. Pattern for basket
It’s For Quilting in Rockford.
Thimbles in Lockport
Roberts Sewing Center in Crest Hill. It’s a quilt pattern, with all the fabric in a kit.
The Quilt Basket in Downers Grove
Quilt Fabrics in Westmont
Quilters Quest in Woodridge
Prairie Stitches Quilt Shoppe in Oswego
Prairie Shop Quilts in Batavia
Material Girl in Crystal Lake
Royal Patchwork in Woodstock
Quilt in Joy in Huntley
Stitches on State in Hampshire
Sewing Concepts – Carpentersville
Quilter’s Haven in Rockford
Sewing Source in Lake Villa
Woodstock Quilts
Sunset Over the Midwest
Peace.
Northern Illinois Quilt Shop Hop Complete!
Whew! 32 shops. 32 small business owners. 32 sets of directions from the GPS.
78 fatquarters purchased, 10 yards of fabric, 5 books, 4 wool packs, 2 boxes of stationery, 2 charm packs, 2 bracelet charms, a bottle of hand lotion, 1 seam ripper and a “purple thang” (which I still cannot find.) Oh, and a pattern, notions and fabric for my mom to make a handbag.
This is enough to keep me busy all winter and beyond.
Special shout out of thanks to my Reluctant Assistant– my 10 year old son– who tolerated and entertained me along most of the way. Don’t worry, he’s getting a quilt made of snack food fabric out of this!
If you are heading out on this hop, remember you have until Aug 30 to complete. No need to rush. Here’s a look at the last 3 shops I visited:
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Quilter’s Destination in Arlington Heights
Very big, bright store with loads of fabric. I wanted to spend more time there, just browsing. They told me that they are featuring more events, so lots of new growth and exciting things happening at this store. They did not have a shop hop basket made up yet.
What I bought: A Kaffe Fasset book, sale fabric.
Reluctant Assistant comment: Not present.
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Quilter’s Heaven in Northbrook
Located in the heart of Northbrook in a wood frame house, this cozy shop had plenty of fabric to choose from. They also do longarm quilting on site. Their shop hop basket was really well put together, (hard to see in the picture, but it’s a nice large basket with fabric, a book and other notions.)
What I bought: More fatquarters.
Reluctant Assistant comment: Not present.
Quilter’s Heaven in Northbrook
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This is a large shop that also sells Janome machines. I had picked up my mom prior to this shop and she found some lovely fall fabric to make a handbag. Everyone was very helpful. Their shop hop basket is not a basket at all. I thought this was rather brilliant. Their raffle item is a bias tape maker from Simplicity. They also have someone who sharpens scissors and travels to area Joann’s Fabrics to sharpen scissors, including the one in Geneva Commons.
What I bought: Some striped fabric and the handbag pattern etc for my mom.
Reluctant Assistant comment: Not present.
Sewing Source in Lake Villa
Region 3 Complete!
Alas, we still have 3 more shops in Region 1 before we complete our Northern Illinois Quilt Shop Hop.
We were able to head out to the Rockford area again yesterday, and frankly, we are getting smarter about these long drives. Now we pack a cooler with lunch and snacks, we chit- chat about the scenery and the history of the area and also about the shops we are visiting.
With 29 stores behind us, we have some solid knowledge about store layout, fabric availability, and to be honest, we have noticed some major differences in shopability (if that’s a word!) When we completely finish, I’ll do a summary blog with general thoughts.
For now, let’s get into yesterday’s trip:
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Quilter’s General Store in Rockford
Set in a farmhouse, the quilts, samples and fabrics are laid out in the style of a very charming tour house. You start in the kitchen, enter the living/dining room area and can even go upstairs into a child’s bedroom. Near the stairs they had a civil war quilt that finally gave me the inspiration to embark on a civil war quilt. Generally speaking, not my style, but the accompanying book by Barbara Brackman included the history of every block. I got pulled in.
Quilter’s General Store in Rockford. Civil war blocks.
What I bought: Barbara Brackman’s Civil War book, along with some fabric to work on the blocks. I also found a hand embroidery guide with instructions for all types of hand embroidery stitches.
Reluctant Assistant comment: “An old-fashioned quilt shop.”
Quilter’s General Store in Rockford.
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This shop is set in a little more congested area of Rockford, though only 10 minutes or so from the last shop. There were a number of shoppers in the store, even though it was a quiet Wednesday. This store was busy.
What I bought: Fatquarters
Reluctant Assistant comment: “No comment.”
Quilter’s Haven in Rockford
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This shop has a tiny storefront, so it was easy to miss. It is located in the Edgebrook outdoor mall, 5 or 6 stores to the right of the Egg Harbor but before the Annie’s Popcorn sign. (Some day I’m going to have to analyze the number of quilt shops located near an Egg Harbor…we’ve eaten at 2 so far on this trip, and have passed a number of them along the way…smart marketing!)
The shop is under new ownership – this owner has only been there 1 week. But the shop itself was nicely put together. They do have a lot of reproduction fabrics and some kids/Halloween stuff. No shop hop basket yet.
What I bought: A Civil War book and some stationery.
Reluctant Assistant’s comment: “Don’t ask the barbecuing guys out front where the sewing store is. They don’t know, even though they are practically in front of it.”
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Julieanne’s Quilt Shop in Roscoe
A little tricky to get here. Follow your GPS, but know that they are technically on 251, you just have to pull into the service road to get there. Our GPS took us round and round in a circle just near the place, but we finally had to call.
The shop has many beautiful reproduction fabrics, including Barbara Brackman. But they also have some 17th Century French reproductions. I took note, because I would love to come back soon and take another look. Since I did not have a plan for that fabric, I did not buy it. But once I got home, of course, an idea came to me. They also have some reproduction fabric that gives a portion of the sale to Habitat for Humanity.
What I bought: Reproduction fabric
Reluctant Assistant comment: ” Call for directions!! Or you will be going around Clayton Circle for the rest of your life!”
Julieanne’s Quilt Shop
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Before we headed back, I noticed that just 2 doors down from Julieanne’s Quilt Shop, was a little cross stitch shop called Just One Stitch. I thought, what the heck, we’re all the way out here. So we stepped inside and found some of the most beautiful cross stitch work I have ever seen! Everything in the shop was created by a mother/daughter team who must have worked endlessly on these pieces for most of their lives. Honestly it was lovely, so I am sharing some samples, with their permission, and be sure to stop in when you are in Roscoe. The work is just spectacular.
Just One Stitch in Roscoe
Just One Stitch in Roscoe
Out West and Back
My Reluctant Assistant and I finally headed out on Region 3 of the Northern Illinois Quilt Shop Hop.
For those of you who are unfamiliar, Region 3 spans the greatest distance. It starts in Clare and heads out to Galena, back through Rockford. We totaled over 250 miles on our car yesterday. Ambitiously and unrealistically, we attempted to do the whole region in one day. Alas, some of the stores toward the end close at 4 pm , and we just couldn’t physically get there in time. So we will be making another trip out to the Rockford area very soon.
We both have to admit that even though we spent a lot of time on the road, this trip was very enjoyable. The scenery is lovely as we headed farther west, and we stopped in some towns that I did not really even know existed. I find it somewhat depressing that many small towns just aren’t what they used to be, and many had empty storefronts that were clearly affected by the recent economic downturn, along with many other factors, I suppose. But that will have to wait for another blog post, as the quilt shops all seemed to be thriving and very well-stocked.
My advice: Take your time through these little towns and really experience them. Like us, you don’t have to complete it all in one day, and you’ll get to experience a piece of Americana.
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When you find yourself in the middle of cornfields and think you are hopelessly lost, then you are almost there.
The view from the parking lot at Basketcases.
The store is on a farm, in what looks like a barn. Very charming. The bulk of the product is upstairs, but be sure to look around everywhere. They did not yet have a basket created for the shop hop.
What I bought: Charm pack of Halloween fabric
Reluctant Assistant comment: “Very cozy. They had 2 dogs in the shop!”
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It’s for Quilting, Etc in Rockford
Located in a wood frame house setting, this is a very inviting place on the outskirts of Rockford. Small rooms inside the building can keep you hunting for hours, but we did not take that long!
What I bought: Several fatquarters and a “purple thang.” But for the life of me, I cannot find the “purple thang.” I’m sure it got shuffled around in the course of the day, and for all I know it is still stuffed in my car somewhere. For now , it is in the Bermuda triangle that was the Region 3 trip.
Reluctant Assistant comment: “So much fabric in this place , it’s almost claustrophobic!”
It’s For Quilting in Rockford.
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Lucky 2B Quilting in Pecatonica
A vibrant little quilt shop in this small town. I got excited about their basket for the shop hop. This is the one I really want to win, so far. Their basket is 3 blocks from one of Edyta Sitar’s Laundry Basket Quilts patterns. The basket includes the patterns and the laceys (laser cut appliques) for the 3 blocks.
Laundry Basket Quilt Pattern – 3 blocks included in Lucky 2B Quilting’s Shop Hop Basket .
Lucky 2B Quilting pattern for basket
What I bought: Cut fabric and a charm pack of batiks
Reluctant Assistant’s comment:
” A normal quilt shop.”
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Yellow Creek Quilt Designs in Pearl City
This quilt shop is partnered with an antique and gift shop called “Sew Many Antiques”. The two owners are sisters, and they have written a number of books. The owner promised to ship me a signed copy of her latest book, which she is also hoping to add to her shop hop basket ( a new shipment of books was due to come in soon.) Also, ask her for directions to Galena. Her route is very direct, and takes you right to 20 and into the heart of Galena. Your GPS will likely take you on a very long ride.
Yellow Creek Quilt designs in Pearl City
What I bought: A couple of quilt charms for a charm bracelet, some hand lotion (they have their own label) and a copy of the owner’s book.
Reluctant Assistant’s comment: “I liked the bank vault in the back room!”
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This is a very tidy store that I have visited once before when they were in a different location. They moved to the main street in Galena and are right in the heart of things now. The store itself has a lot of Bernina accessories, with a large classroom in the back.
What I bought: Some fabric, and a small Bernina measurement guage that I had never seen before.
Reluctant Assistant comment: (Actually, he was totally distracted as I had promised we’d stop at the candy shop in town.)
Phatquarters in Galena
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Galena, of course, should be a day trip in and of itself. The day we were there, it was over 90 degrees, so while it was not raining, it was certainly sweltering. We stopped first at Chocolat where I got my self a bit of chocolate. If you go, try the strawberry rhubarb dark chocolate truffle. Almost worth the 2 hour drive by itself.
Next stop for us was the Candy Kitchen in Galena, an old-fashioned candy shop, complete with kids in front of us paying with nothing but nickels and pennies. My son wandered through here for awhile. Being from the suburbs, I don’t know if he’s ever really seen a penny candy shop like I knew growing up. I think it was a real treat for him.
Candy Kitchen in Galena
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The next stop was Orangeville. My GPS did not recognize the address of this quilt shop, so I called there and the gal working could not give me directions. So I had my GPS get me to the general area of Orangeville and told her I’d call back then.
The route from Galena takes you onto Meeker, and then onto a road called Stagecoach Trail. And it is almost exactly the way it sounds. It’s a two lane highway that swerves and curves its way through very picturesque farm country and is a real delight. The day we drove through, we had clouds moving in and out of the sunlight casting artful shadows over the hilly terrain.
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Once you are in Orangeville, be on the lookout. It’s probably best to call for directions. You literally pull into a side street that turns into a gravel road that leads to the driveway of the quilt shop. The shop is in the basement. Oh, and don’t mind the sign on the street that says Dead End.
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Uniquely Yours Quilt Shop in Orangeville
This quilt shop is in the lower level of what looks to be a home. They have a wide selection of fabric and even some that I have never seen before. They also have a very large selection of patterns and books.
What I bought: I found more of the fall fabric that I have been collecting.
Reluctant Assistant comment: “If you’re looking for fabric, it’s worth the ride, but wow, it’s in the middle of nowhere!”
Uniquely Yours in Orangeville
A Rose is a Rose
The upcoming Software Sampler from Bernina features some of the gradient and blending tools in the V6 Designer Plus software. I needed to create a sample and wanted to spend my time on something I could use…not simply a store sample. So I decided to create a design of roses that would in some way match up to the peonies I needle punched some time ago. I thought maybe I could use up more of the wool and embroider some matching designs.
This is not an intimidating thing to do, it just takes the courage to map out a sketch and think through the order of the stitches. For those of you with machine embroidery capabilities, it also takes some software. But the truth is, if you can trace something in pencil, or draw it freehand, you can easily turn it into machine embroidery. All it takes is a little time and practice.
As you can see, I started to test out some colors and blending ideas as well as just the basic shapes. At this point, the sketch does not have to be perfect, the drawing only has to give you a basic idea, although, the more accurate here, the less guess work in the software.
The scan of the artwork is then loaded into the V6 software, and you can simply begin to create the shapes right on top of the image. Once the basic shapes have been digitized, just delete the image from the background.
Digitize section by section, piece by piece, in the order that you want the design to stitch out.
On this design, I was particularly careful about stitch density. Since this design was being created in the jumbo hoop, it had the potential to be very stitch-heavy. I wanted to keep the count down. The way to do this is to go into object properties under the fill tab and make adjustments to the fill stitch size and spacing – on each shape as you digitize. This can be time-consuming, but is so worthwhile. The total stitch count on this design was under 17,000 stitches. Without adjustments, it could have gone up to 30,000 or 40,000 or more.
A good look at the stitch spacing and length. You can see this will not be a dense design.
The test stitch-out was successful. I highly recommend using slow redraw to check the progress of your design as you digitize BEFORE actually stitching. I think I will make a few changes before I do a mirror image of this design for the other side of the peonies (see below.)
Stitching in progress.
Roses and peonies.
Obviously , this quilt is still sorting itself out in my mind. But it’s beginning to come together. Machine embroidery possibilities are endless. It just takes a little time to learn the basics. You can do this too, I assure you – with almost any image. I am clearly not a master digitizer. The only requirement is a willingness to jump in and try things.
Meanwhile, back at the garden…
David Austin rose in the front yard.
Knockout roses by the mailbox.
Peonies and roses
Purple Iris by the bird feeders.
Another purple iris
Already harvesting zucchini at the community garden.
Raspberries on the way.
Region 2 Complete!
Finally made another quick visit to Thimbles in Lockport and that completed our Region 2 portion of the Northern Illinois Quilt Shop Hop. We’ll be moving on the road again soon, but with temperatures shooting up into the 90’s over the next few days, I think we’ll be cautious about how far we head out. We are actually going to try to do Region 3 in one day. That’s a trip out to Galena and Rockford. We’ll see how that goes.
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I enjoyed myself here. The store is a delight – lots of samples and fun fabric, charming to wander and discover. Staff was welcoming and friendly.
What I bought: This fantastic cartoon fabric all about home sewing. They had a sample of it made into a bag and I loved it!
Thimbles in Lockport
On the Road Again
Continuing with our summer road trip to 32 quilt shops as part of the Northern Illinois Quilt Shop Hop, my reluctant assistant and I managed to get in another 2 shops. It would have been 3, but I’ve come to realize that I will likely NEVER remember to double check a store’s hours and days when they are open. For the record, Thimbles in Lockport is not open on Tuesdays.
But here are the other 2 shops we managed to get in:
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Roberts Sewing Center in Crest Hill
With over 7000 bolts of fabric, they bill themselves as “A Quiter’s Paradise”. The store actually looks rather small as you enter, but take a look at the next room! It’s almost a warehouse of fabric! My reluctant assistant took off like a shot to find some fabric he was looking for, and I was overwhelmed.
What I bought: Serger thread, fabric, and a book on hexagons.
Reluctant Assistant comment: “More fabric than you can imagine and some that you can’t!”
Roberts Sewing Center in Crest Hill. It’s a quilt pattern, with all the fabric in a kit.
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Light, airy place with fresh fabric and friendly staff. This is my home base, by the way, so I may be a bit prejudiced. My reluctant assistant feels quite at home here, as do I. This much I know: it would be hard to find owners who are kinder or more eager to help customers. It would be hard to find sales people who are more knowledgeable or better co-workers and friends. Enough from me.
What I bought: On this particular trip, I bought the fabric for a “transparency quilt” for my nephew’s baby-on-the-way.
Reluctant Assistant comment: “The employees are very, very nice.”
Sew Generously in St. Charles