The Quiltery

On her way to Blacksburg last weekend for a VCQ meeting, Sue and her friend Kathy stopped at 3 shops for Row By Row.  The first of these was The Quiltery in Fairfield, VA.  What a nice shop!

Just off I81 in the Shenandoah Valley, the shop is housed in a building that was originally an 1820 log cabin with an 1840 addition that was formerly the Fairfield General Store.  It makes for a great setting for a quilt shop, as you'll see in the photos.

It has a several rooms, with the room inside the entrance being the largest.

Their sample row was on display in this room - "Home is not a place, it's a feeling."

Antiques are part of the furnishings and several of the floors are painted with geometric designs.

Instead of the typical bolts of fabric, their stock is wrapped onto mini bolts. 

Look at this compass and on-point checkerboard.  So much to see in this shop!

The notions room was well stocked.

An enclosed porch was converted to classroom space.  Who wouldn't want to sew with this outdoor view?

Another painted floor.  Fabrics were organized and beautifully displayed. 

Sue purchased this gorgeous digital print fabric, along with the row kit and license plate.  We loved this shop and would be happy to go back for another visit!

Lizzy Stitch

Another trip to the airport for Elizabeth to drop her sister off meant another chance to squeeze in a visit to a quilt shop.  This time she tried out “Lizzy Stitch” in Concord, New Hampshire. 

Two summers ago we had visited there when their very popular row was flip flops.  This year, the row is two chipmunks in their underground burrow.  It includes some hand stitching on the applique parts. 

While there Elizabeth also bought a kit for last year’s row which was Geese, Ducks, and a Frog. 

The license plate has the humorous statement “SEAM RIPPER BFF”.  Sometimes we can all relate to that!

Lizzie Stitch is conveniently located off the Interstate and offers a class every Wednesday evening, even in the summer months when most stores in NH stop offering classes.

The Quilt Patch in Bedford, NH

Elizabeth’s family had a wedding this past Saturday in New Hampshire.  Sadly, Sue’s husband wasn’t well enough from his accident for the two of them to travel up and they were genuinely missed.  Since Elizabeth has been busy with all the preparations ever since she arrived in June, she hasn’t set up the garage studio or even plugged in a sewing machine.  That is quite different from our normal summer routine, especially with Sue not able to be here and with Barbara now gone.  Perhaps, the wedding was a good diversion from what had become a relaxing and creative routine and now next summer we can move on to a new schedule of creativity?

Shopping has even been put on the back burner, but yesterday when Elizabeth took her husband to the airport she snuck in a quick trip to a quilt shop not too far away.

The Quilt Patch in Bedford New Hampshire is a small store with a lot of inventory.  The clerk was quick to welcome Elizabeth as she walked in and was happy to point out the row hanging on the wall behind the cash register as well as provide the pattern.

As usual, Elizabeth found a few new items to buy.  Who can go to the quilt store without buying something?

Bedford turned out to be one of those small New England towns with the traditional white buildings, such as the imposing large town hall and a quaint library.  If you are ever in southern New Hampshire stop by The Quilt Patch in Bedford.

Z Fabrics in Portland, Maine

Elizabeth had to go to Portland, Maine recently and decided to stop at Z fabrics to check out the store and pick up the pattern for their row, seen below. 

Z Fabrics is in downtown Portland, a city that was bigger than she expected but an easy drive in and out. 

Since it is a downtown city center, shopping there requires parking in a garage and the store, while well marked from the side street (Preble St) is not easy to find.  The street address (477 Congress St) took us to the public library where across the street was the biggest statue I have seen outside of Europe, easily 4-5 stories high.  Fortunately the resource librarian was able to direct us on how to get to the store.  It was not far. 

The shop is small but full of unique fabrics from vendors we do not see at a typical quilt store. Elizabeth bought two fat quarters that appealed to her and a half-yard which she thought might be a compliment to the row from the shop in Tilton, NH (the turtles). 

If you enjoy beading, a bead store is next door and we had great lunch sandwiches at a funky little café called Dutch’s down the street. 

Dutch’s was definitely the highlight of the trip, not only were the sandwiches very good, the wall décor was decisively Maine.

Even the wall paper in the bathroom brought a smile as it seemed a throwback to the time when Elizabeth was a child.

 If you are ever in Portland, Maine, this shop may be worth a stop.

"Rowing" to the Museum

On the way to the quilt museum last weekend, Sue and her friend Kathy did some Row By Row shop hopping.  We managed to stop at 4 shops before heading to the museum, unfortunately Sue forgot to take pictures at the first 3, so the pics are row patterns and license plates instead.  First stop was Oh Sew Persnickety, where Sue stopped in June, but Kathy had not been there and it was on the way, so a quick stop was in order.

From Haymarket we headed to Winchester to visit Scrappy Apple and then nearby Stephens City for Cloth Peddler.

Then we headed to Sew Classic Fabrics just south of Harrisonburg.  We had not been to this shop before and knew it was just off I81, so plugged the address into the GPS.  Upon reaching the address however, there was not a quilt shop in sight.  The driveway took us to the back side of a building with a large parking area, but still no sign of a quilt shop.  Turns out, the building was Shenandoah Heritage Market, and the shop was inside the market.  We didn't have time to explore much of the market, but there was a Hungry Farmer Cafe and at least one antique shop - definitely a place to go back to.  The quilt shop was worth the stop too.

The entrance to the market was over a covered bridge.

Above, the store front inside the market.

Their row and license plate are on display above the entrance.

There were old sewing machines on display.

Above is their row pattern, and 2015 & 2016 license plates.

This old wagon may be loosing its wheels but the flowers are happy!

Current Exhibits at VQM

Over the weekend Sue had an opportunity to visit the Virginia Quilt Museum in Harrisonburg, VA, for the opening of the "Inspired By the National Parks" exhibit and artists reception.  It was a double treat as she has TWO quilts currently on exhibit, the one in the National Parks group and the other in the "Along the Spice Route" exhibit still on display.  How cool is that??  All current exhibits run through September 10.

We started with the Spice Route quilts, since Sue's friend Kathy had not seen that exhibit in person yet.  The gift shop offered this reminder of the exhibit.

Here is Sue with her quilt, Mustard Seed.

Some other views of the display - the "log cabin" room.

And gallery walls; Elizabeth's quilt is in the corner on the left.

Moving on to the main floor, we found the a portion of the parks quilt exhibit in the room that normally houses Civil War quilts and artifacts.

The exhibit covers the walls floor to ceiling, windows too!

There is great impact seeing all these wonderful quilts blanketing the walls.

However it is a bit more challenging to see those near the bottom close up.

Sue's quilt was in this room, the Scarlet Globemallow flowers at the bottom representing Mesa Verde National Park.

The other half of the exhibit was in the upstairs hallway and small exhibit room on the 2nd floor.  The small room had the best lighting.  Of course the lighting in all the galleries is controlled so as not to damage the textiles.

It was a great day for an outing as we did some row by row shop hopping on the way to the museum.  More on that in another post.

Do You Know What These Are?

Both Elizabeth and Sue have a collection of these - do you know what they are?

In fact, Elizabeth started her collection first, and then got Sue started on collecting them as well.  For years we've been seeking them out in antique shops and at quilt shows.  They are getting a little more scarce, but are still out there waiting to be discovered.  They come in a variety of shapes and sizes, are made from different materials, and decorated in a variety of ways.

They can be ornate, with silver handles, or painted cheerful colors.

Some are blown glass, still others are molded plastic.

They can be decorated in a folk art style with flowers as above, or faces as below.

Have you figured it out?  Here's a big hint.

If you can read the advertising on the mushroom shaped one above, they are sock darners!  A relic of the past to be sure (we don't know many, or any, who darn socks any more), but its fascinating to see all the various shapes and designs for such an ordinary household object.

As we asked in the last post, what do you collect?  Tell us in the comments, or send us a picture if you'd like to share.  We look forward to seeing your collections!