I know, I know, it's August. The bus trip was in June. July was crazy and went waaaaay to fast and I'll leave it at that. So on to all the glorious fabric I picked up at each stop on the bus trip.
The bus left at 6am, one hour north of where I live so to do the math, that means a 4am wake up for this fun filled day. I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat. =)
If you have never been on a quilty bus trip, put it on the bucket list as a must do. My local stitchers club was in charge of this one. They had goodie bags filled with patterns for upcoming projects, candy and just other fun items for the journey. As we traveled to our first shop, we had two rounds of giveaways, these girls are savvy shoppers and several contests for prizes. I won one of the contest, a bundle of mermaid fat quarters. Who's crazy things were super excited?? Mine!!
Here is a picture of my two prizes, I think the other one may have been food, because I can't remember what it was. Did I mention July was crazy??
Our first stop was Caroline's Cottage at 8am in the morning! There the wonderful Shipshewana tourism bureau met us there. Oh My Heavens! The welcome bag that she prepared for us was nothing short of amazing. Coupons, fabric, a Book, our quilt pin was among several of the items in our good bag.
I think I got everything that came in our goodie bag.
Once I got into Caroline's Cottage they had such cute fabric! I was trying to start the day off being good so I only bought this good. But, this being a shop hop store, everyone got a recipe, a pattern and two four inch blocks to sew and turn back into the store for a charity quilt.
Back on the bus, we drove to the Essence House Quilt shop. Here I was getting into the mood of the shop hop and found several fabrics that just had to go home with me.
The next shop was The Pumpkin Vine. It was so close we could have walked from the previous shop, but hey that's what the bus is for. =)
This shop had one of my favorite lines, Hubba Hubba by Me and My Sister. I just love this line! Unfortunately they were out of layer cakes of this line, so I just had to buy some yardage of my favorite prints. They also had the cutest bags too!
I was able to enjoy my packed lunch outside of the bus while I waited for my other shop hoppers to finish shopping. Always a better choice then eating on the bus. Plus I don't have to worry about dropping crumbs. =)
Finally the Quilt Show was next! I am always so inspired seeing "show" quilts. You can catch my opinion of the Show
here.
Of course there were vendors at the show. I just picked up a few things from three different vendors. Ya, know spreading the wealth around. LOL
The final two shops on the shop hop were at the same stopping point. I went to my favorite dealer, Bernina, at the Cotton Corner first. I had already planned on stocking up on my favorite Bernina items.
Last but not least on the shop hop was Yoder's Fabric Store. Their bundles of solid fabric were gorgeous, but out of my price range for this trip. More fabric did make it home with me, so not to worry that I didn't buy anything there. haha
Before we could head to dinner, we headed to the Davis Mercantile building which houses the famous Lolly's. Lolly's is three stores in one. The discounted and minky fabric is in the basement. I could pet the minky fabric all day! They have every color you could want in minky and several patterns too. But I kept myself to just these pretties and goodies. I finally found a layer cake of the Hubba Hubba fabric. YES!
Finally it was time for supper back at the Essence House. So good! Then back on the bus to go home. My bags were full and wallet empty. I did my job of helping the economy grow that day!
So I'm sure some of you were wondering what all that fabric was for. Most of it is for a quilt, I hope to work on at my retreat mid August. Here are the fabrics, missing one yet for the quilt. I want to do a seasonal window attic quilt wall hanging. I hope it turns out like what I have planned in my head.
Thanks for reading!
Just a Mom who Sews