Spring Bus Trip- Part One

I have just returned from a three day quilt shop hop with my friend Bev T.! We visited eight shops in four states. I’ll tell you a little about the shops and a few of my purchases.  

On Day One we left the quilt shop in the Twin Cities area and headed to Nebraska. Just south of Winnebago, Iowa it started to snow! Large, wet, heavy flakes that covered the grass and the windshield on the bus. 

The first shop was Country Traditions in Fremont, Nebraska. They had set up little cutouts outside that you could stand behind to be photographed as the “queen of fabric” but it was wet and nasty out and we all had shopping to do, so no one stopped for that particular photo op.

The store itself was large and had many bolts of fabric. I didn’t buy much here because I thought their prices were a little high. I found a ruler I had on my shopping list but I thought it was expensive, so passed it up. (I did find it the next day at another shop and bought it for $10 less than this shop was selling it for!) Everyone in the shop was very friendly and they had a nice assortment of new techniques on display and were very willing to demonstrate them. They also had Koala cabinets, Accu Quilt Go! products and a large selection of machine embroidery. 

Before we got back on the bus, the little coffee shop bakery across the street offered us free coffee.

The next stop was The Quilted Moose in Gretna, Nebraska. The owner was very pleasant as were all of the ladies working in the shop. I must admit I spent a little more here than I should have. I picked up some yardage with cross stitch sampler designs. I’ll use it to make project keepers to store my doilies with no creases. I also picked up Marsha McCloskey’s second book of feathered stars which includes this warning on the front cover: Really hard blocks that take a long time to make. So this is a heads up to not look for me to finish that quilt any time soon!

If you like Moda fabrics and find yourself in the area, you will want to make this a stop. I think they had just about any line of Moda you could imagine.

Next on the agenda was Plattsmouth, Nebraska. We ate in a cozy little restaurant/soda shop that stayed open just for us. After dinner we walked down the muddy street to the last shop of the evening. Seams to Be was also a large shop. They had several classic children’s books done up in fabric. You buy the panels and then cut them apart and sew them up to create a softcover book for your favorite little one. I didn’t buy any of  this but I did go home with a cute pair of thimble earrings that are just perfect to wear to quilting and stitching retreats. 

The shop had a variety of fabrics from batiks to Civil War prints to 30s reproductions to novelty prints. One of the ladies was very happy to find some Mary Engelbreit fabric at this shop. Even Mark, our bus driver, made a purchase and left the shop with a yard and a half of moose fabric.

That was enough shopping for the day so we got back on the bus and drove to Omaha to get all rested up and ready for another full day of shopping.

On Day Two of our three day adventure we were up bright and early for breakfast at the hotel and then a quick drive to the first shop of the day, The Country Sampler. This shop was my favorite. They had a wide variety of fabrics and many samples on display. They had wool for penny rugs, needlepoint featuring quilts, punch needle, embroidery and a variety of gift shop items like candles and soapstone coasters with quilting themes printed on them. 

 

Probably the busiest section of the shop was the sweatshirt display. Our bus was having trouble with the heater and we nearly froze on the first day, so many of us picked up sweatshirts. I bought a light green shirt without banding that says, “I’d rather be quilting.”

This is where I found (and purchased) the previously mentioned ruler. It is a Lazy Girls template for making flying geese and a variety of other pieces that involve triangles. This method of making flying geese involves next to no waste fabric and is really quite easy. There is a good demo online of the ways to use this ruler.

In addition to the ruler and sweatshirt, a book by Terri Degenkolb of Whimsicals called Tangled Up in Thread made it into my shopping bag. The book features fun sewing/quilting themed projects.

As delightful as this shop was, we had more shops to conquer so we were soon back on the bus and on the road to Missouri! 

This is where I'll end for today. More later!