The One We've Been Waiting For!

For the past two years we, the QBees, have wanted to go to Fabric Shack in Waynesville, OH.

We finally made it!  There is no grand sign, just this one on the side of a brick building.  If you didn't have directions, you would pass it by. 


As soon as you walk in the front door, you are greeted with lots of fabric, color and samples.

This front area of the quilt shop holds the huge collection of batiks, civil war prints and most recent collections.  The batting and notions are in the area too.

This little table runner caught our eye. 

It is a quilt as you go and the giant rick rack is adorable.  Ok, it's been a long time since I've bought any patterns and was shocked it was $9.00!!  Gladys bought it anyway :)  It uses a charm pack with additional fabric for the backing.  I am looking forward to borrowing this pattern.


As you walk towards the back of the shop, you go through this little hallway that has all the books sorted by author or book title.
The lady in the black tank top is at the books.  The neutral fabrics are also in the hallway.  I was looking towards the front of the store when I took this photo.

When you step through to the back, this is what you see!!

Fabric and samples everywhere.  The fabric is sorted very nicely and makes looking for specific fabric a breeze.  This room held all the blenders, conversation prints, flannels, christmas & patriotic.  On top of the middle shelves were all the layer cakes, charm packs and jelly rolls. 

Up a few steps and you find more fabrics.....

There is just so much here!  You look and look and look some more.   We were able to find more Pokey Little Pupply fabrics, lots of sale fabric for backings and just fabric we liked.  I think we spent 3 hours in this shop!  Well worth the trip!  The staff was wonderful as well! 

When the big quilt show is held in Cincinnati, Fabric Shack has a huge tent sale.  I'm thinking we need to be there to experience that some day!


We were ready to head home.  We stopped for a quick ice cream treat and headed up the road. 

OH MY!  When we got back out to I-71 the traffic was backed up to the on/off ramp.  Never fear, we pulled into the first gas station, pulled out the map and then asked for directions to go around the jam.
Just a small detour and we back on I-71 headed home.

One more to go! 

Last Quilt Shop

...in Columbus!
Our final quilt shop on Friday was Quilt Beginnings.

This is their Sawmill Road store.  The other shop is located on Broad Street.

Whoever designed these cup holders (probably a man), never gave any thought as to how difficult it made it  to get out of the seat.  Poor Gladys.  Does anyone see a trend here?

Coffee on the floor, coffee on Gladys.  It is a good thing I stock napkins and wipes in the vehicle.  Mess cleand up and ready to shop!

Quilt Beginnings is an authorized Pfaff dealer and have a huge display of machines.

There are samples everywhere and they all have a more modern flair.  The Broad Strret shop is more traditional.

There is an awesome selection of books and patterns!

The tread selection is very appealing! 

Classroom area is well light and roomy.

I thought I had taken more photos, but I'm sure Gladys has some she will share. 
The owner of this shop is Cathy Daum and was featured in last years Quilt Sampler Magazine.
All the employees were so friendly and helpful!  They wanted to join us too! 


Of course, but the time we were done here it was 5:00 p.m. on Friday night.  Can we say heavy traffic?
It took us a while to get through the innerbelt traffic so we could head South on I-71.  There is also a lot of construction going on that makes for bottlenecking traffic.  Once we were past the I-270 outerbelt split we were able to travel at the posted speed limit.

Our hotel for the night was at Jeffersonville, OH. 

There is a huge Tanger Outlet Mall at this exit (which we did not go to). 

Once we checked into our rooms, we needed food!! 

We dined at Werner's Barbeque, a local family owned restaurant.  I had brisket and yum, yum, yum it was good.  Almost as good as the brisket at The Salt Lick in Austin, TX.  There is a funny pictue of  Gladys & Momma Barb but I will let Gladys blog about that!

After dinner we all grabbed our hand work and sat chatting and stitching.

Barbie is working on embroidery.

Momma Barb was working on her Cathedral Windows.

Gladys and I are working on our hexies.

OK girls, it's time for a good nights rest.  We are off again in the morning to continue this adventure!

More Shop Hop!

The third quilt shop we visited was The Glass Thimble on High Street in Columbus, OH

 

They used to have a beautiful awning here.  I wish they would replace it or maybe they should cover it in a quilt instead!

When you walk in, the vaulted ceilings offer a great display area for samples.

Momma Barb is looking over the entranceway at the samples hung there.  Off to the right of Barbie is the second half of the vaulted ceiling with more samples.

There are many areas to this quilt shop.  At one time it was two or three houses and now they are all connected.  Here are photos showing the different rooms, as well as the fabrics & pattens offered.  After coming throught the front door, you turn right going into this room.

There are many nice samples in this section of the shop.  The rest of my photos showing the other rooms weren't very good so I deleted them.  There are 3 more rooms beyond this big room.

Looking strainght through towards the back (which is really the front because you come in through an alley) you find 30 reproduction fabrics, scarlet & grey fabrics and a great selection of civil war prints.  I love the lighting in these two rooms.

There is even a place for hubby to rest and wait until your done shopping!


Here are Lorraine (r) and Kathy (l), two of the employees of The Glass Thimble.  Lorraine is a master at applique and a great person to chat with.  This was the first time I had met Kathy.  They are great assets to the shop!

I think Momma Barb photo bombed all the pictures in this shop!

An incident?............Why I almost forgot to tell you about that!!! 

We had not been in the shop too long.  Gladys was looking for specific Pokey Little Puppy fabric and Kathy showed her what they had.  Gladys came to me and asked for the keys for the van so she could get her pattern for this quilt.  I reached in my purse and then said, "I locked the keys in the van."  OK, slight panic here!!  Barbie came to our rescue because she has AAA!  Calls were made, shopping continued and by the time we were done shopping, AAA was there!

She was awesome, first try and we were in.  Totally professional and laughing right along with us.
Thank you Ron & Barbie for having AAA.  That membership just paid for itself!

Thank you AAA for sending this sweet angel. 

After all that excitement, it was time for an afternoon coffee.  Lucky for us, there is a Starbucks next door to the quilt shop.  Coffee and scones for all!!  Can you tell which blog we're reading?

See Mrs. DillyDally, you were with us!

QBees Shop Hop Continues!

After we had lunch at Texas Roadhouse in Newark, the next quilt shop was in Columbus so we had about a 40 minute drive.  I had an idea as to where we were going but Gladys let us use her Garmin (who we named "Stella) and she never missed a turn. 

Quilt Trends is located off of SR 161 in Columbus.  I have not been to this shop since they moved to this location. 

When you walk in, you are wowed by the many samples they have on display.

 I love the Zig Zag quilt on the wall!  It was designed by a staff member of Quilt Trends.

We were all amazed by this Christmas Tree that was reversed appliqued.  Lucky for us, the maker of this wallhanging was in the shop and explained the technique. 

Of course, there has to be a quilt made with Scarlet & Grey!  GO BUCKS!!

The arrangement of this shop was very nice.  It was easy to see the samples, patterns, notions & fabrics
They even had work stations so you could try new rulers! 

I loved the colors radiating from this table of fat quarters.

They have a very nice classroom area.  We caught everyone eating lunch.

To the right of this area is a Handi-Quilter quilting machine.  It was being used by a patron while we were there.  The staff here were very friendly and helpful.  One of the staff wanted to join our group.  The more the merrier!


Next stop......The Glass Thimble.....where the incident happened.....to be continued....

345 Miles, 6 Quilt Shops......Priceless

OK, OK I know it has been a long, long time since I blogged, but what can I say, I've been busy!

I really want to post all the wonderful things I have been doing, but I think I will start with the latest and work my way backwards.

This past weekend (July 19th & 20th) a few of us QBees went on a Mini Shop Hop.  It was so much fun to spend time with these ladies.  I cannot remember the last time I laughed so much.    Who went you ask?  Me, Barb Bond (who I will refer to as Barbie), Gladys Ashenfelter & Barb Richards (who I refer to lovingly as Momma Barb).

I was the designated driver and I drove all 345 miles on this adventure.  I love driving so I didn't mind at all.  Gladys even told me what a good driver I was.  There was only one incident...which I will get to later

I thought I would choose quilt shops in Central Ohio, but for the past two years we have been wanting to get to Fabric Shack in Waynesville, OH which is a good 3 hour drive for us.  What better way to make our way there than to hop around and see what other shops are offering. 

I chose shops I thought would offer different styles of quilting and different types of fabric. 

Our first stop was in Newark, OH at Bunny's Sew Fine Fabrics.

We were ready to go!

Momma Barb & Gladys

                                     
                                   Barbie patiently waiting for us!

There are many differnt rooms in this shop which, as you can tell, is a house.  Each room has specific fabrics in it.  This is the front room.

 In front of the picture window is a basket of Jelly Rolls and a pan of buttons.

This cupboard is full of fat quarters and the door made perfect quilt racks.  Many patterns were also in this room.  It was full!

This is Linda, the owner of Bunny's.  She took the kitchen and made it into the cutting area.  There are many samples hanging around this area.

            Yes, she is cutting 'shark' fabric for me!

Down the hallway to the left and then right, is a room full of 1930 reproduction fabrics and the holiday fabrics.

                   This is where I found the sharks!

As you continue down the hallway, there is the bathroom, another room that has a longarm quilting machine and one last room that is the classroom.

As you turn right at the cutting area you find...

                                  Civil War Prints...

                        I caught Barbie by surprise!

Also you find...

        Thimbleberries and all sorts of blenders.....

Many...

                               Books and magazines!

The hallway is also put to good use.

                                  This holds the kits and notions.

Finally.....it's time to pay the piper!!

I am standing near the front door taking this picture.  The check out is in the front room right next to another beautiful sample quilt. 

Linda started us off on the right foot.  She is so friendly and took time with each of us and waited on other customers as well.  Thank You Linda for a great start to our Shop Hop. 


It's time for lunch!  Here we come!

That's what I'm talkin' about!!! 

I will contimue tomorrow with our next stop.....stay tuned!