SHOP HOPPING

This week I went on a shop hop in the Salem OR area.  My friend and I went to a few shops but didn't make it to all the shops in the hop.  

Besides the shop in our home town (Boersma's), our favorite shop is Grandma's Attic in Dallas, OR.  The scrap bin was full of great pieces of fabric and you can stuff a plastic bag full for $4.99 as long as it can close.  Here is my bag.

And here is the contents of the bag spread out.  I stuffed 12 1/2 oz. into it, which makes it a great deal!  As you can see, I got mostly civil war and 30s reproductions.

I couldn't resist purchasing some other yardage and below is what I got.

Just got home from watching the Cubs baseball game and they won!!!  They will be going to the world series next!  Yea, Cubs!!!

SHOP HOP AND FABRIC SHOPPING THOUGHTS

I just finished quilting this UFO, which has been hanging in my closet for several years.  Today I sewed on the binding and moved it into the living room so I can hand sew it to the back while watching TV.

I'm so glad to have this almost finished.  A friend of mine bought me the pattern after she saw me admiring the made up sample in a quilt shop.

I stitched in the ditch first, then quilted feathers in the brown setting triangles.  Once it is totally done I'll take a better picture of the quilting so you can see how I quilted each section.

A friend and I went to 8 shops on the "Snowflakes and Stitches Shop Hop" - 6 of them on Monday.  Below you can see my purchases.  I bought more than I had been planning on buying - surprise, surprise!  I have some projects in mind.

When shopping, I always look for the "scrap bin" that some quilt shops have to see if I can get some scraps that I can use.  I didn't take a picture of them, but Grandma's Attic in Dallas, OR had one and you can fill a plastic bag with as much fabric as you can squeeze in for $4.99.   I debated doing it, but decided to see if there was enough fabric I liked to make it worth while.   I starting wondering how much fabric you actually got for that amount of money.  One of the other shops in the shop hop is our local quilt shop, Boersma's Sewing Center and they have a little chest of drawers with scraps in them - those scraps cost 50⍧ per ounce.  I wondered if that was a better deal than a baggie for $4.99.

So when I got home, I decided to weigh some fabric to see how much one yard weighs.  I weighed 4 fat quarters and they weighed 4 1/4 oz.  One yard of a different fabric weighed 6 oz.  So, I kind of averaged it out and figured that 5 oz. is about what one yard of cotton fabric weighs.  So, I weighed the baggie from Grandma's Attic and it weighed 11 oz.  That means that I got approximately 2 yards of fabric for $4.99.  If I bought $5 worth of scraps from Boersmas, which would be 10 oz, I would get approximately 2 yards.   So, I think that price is pretty good.

Am I the only nutty quilter who loves to dig through the scrap bins?  Please don't tell me that I am!

And, oh, BTW, my friend and I both agreed that the best shops we went to were Boersma's Sewing Center, Greenbaum's Quilted Forest, Grandma's Attic, and The Quilted Hill.

SUNSHINE AND STITCHES SHOP HOP

This first picture isn't very good, but it says "Enjoy Historic Downtown Dallas - Established 1874."  I guess I can't get away from Dallas!  Most people don't even know about Dallas, OR, but that was my first stop on the Shop Hop and it was at Grandma's Attic Quilt Shop.

Dallas OR

Grandma's Attic Quilt Shop

Picture of the give-away block and the table runner they made with it.

I couldn't help taking a bunch of pictures in Grandma's Attic.  It was my kind of shop!  Not that I didn't like the other shops, but this one was just perfect - plus it was my first stop and after this I kind of forgot to take many pictures.

Polk County Courthouse in Dallas, OR

 Next, I drove into Salem and stopped at the Quilted Forest.  This shop was very busy and had lots of interesting and beautiful quilts and fabrics.  But, they were not my type.

Third stop was Quilt'n Stitch in Slayton, OR, east of Salem.  A nice little shop in a small town.

I also went to the Bernina Stretch & Sew Fabrics and The Cotton Patch, both in Keizer, OR and didn't remember to take any pictures.  Sorry about that!

When I returned home I saw that one of my commenters recommended going to the quilt shop in Independence, which I saw was near Dallas, but since the shop wasn't in the shop "hop" I wasn't aware of it until it was too late.  Maybe some other time I can check it out.