SHOP HOP WITH BETH

Yesterday, I got together with Beth of My Creations.  She is one of the members of the APQ blogging buddies!  What a fun day!  I drove to her house yesterday morning and we left right away in her car to visit some shops.  The first one was Material Girls in Crystal Lake, IL.  Below is a picture of us standing in front of the Civil War department with a scrappy civil war quilt hanging to my left.  Please notice that I am wearing my T-shirt from the Sisters quilt show.

This is a large shop with a huge selection of fabric.  I didn't want to spend all my pennies in the first store, so I just bought a couple small things.  

I saw the 2 table runners on the table next to the sewing machine and decided that I might make a couple of them.  They don't have any batting in them and go together in about 30 minutes.

Our next stop was at Pieceful Gathering Quilt Shop in this old house.  This shop specializes in reproduction fabrics!

I think Beth has been to this shop a lot, because she knew everyone that worked and shopped there!  This quilt is going to be a BOM and I love it!

This is a wool applique BOM that Beth is making.  It's gorgeous!

More civil war quilts and fabrics.  Why do we have to live on a budget?

Next was A Touch of Amish in Barrington, IL.  I saw this quilt store in the Quilt Sampler magazine and have wanted to visit it since then.

Again, Beth seemed to know everyone!  Hmmm, she must shop a lot, don't you think?  I love the log cabin quilt on the right (and the quilt on the left)!

Here's another log cabin with 1/2" finished logs!  A good way to use up those skinny strips.

Last was Quilters Destination in Arlington Heights, IL, where Beth works.  Must be tough to work one day a week in a quilt store, huh?  Very tempting.  This shop has lots of samples and a large variety of fabrics, but not many reproductions.  However, I ended up purchasing more from this shop than any other.  Of course, I hadn't planned to, but they had some fabrics that I really needed.  Here's Beth in front of the store.

I love the Flag medallion quilt in the middle.

This store really packs in the fabric and notions.

They have a large selection of batiks.  The employees were very friendly.  What a fun place to work!

Thanks so much for a wonderful day, Beth!  After the shopping we went back to her house and she showed me her sewing room, her projects, finished tops, etc.  This lady is a prolific quilter aka "quilting machine"!!!!!  I didn't take pictures of her quilts, but you can see lots of them on her blog.  She does beautiful work and has great taste.  I am very inspired to get busy.  I can't wait to get home so I can really hunker down and quilt, quilt, quilt!