It’s been awhile since I’ve blogged because I was out of town for a long weekend. It was grand! It was my family’s annual pilgrimage to Traverse City to site-see, enjoy good food, geocache, and watch the Red Wings at training camp.
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| Playing with my iPhone again |
Not only is Traverse City a geocacher’s paradise (Old Mission Peninsula, with its rolling hills, stunning view of the bays and nature trails, is home to many popular family-friendly caches) but home to some great quilt shops!
Every year I take 1 day off from watching the Red Wings to hit my favorite shops and do the tourist thing. Not far from the 2nd largest pie pan in the world (not to be missed! See the pic at the bottom) is Quilt-n-Bee in Traverse City – it is pure confection. A definite sugar HIGH! It is a clean, bright shop – very well organized – with many fabulous samples on their walls!
Of all the shops I visit regularly in Michigan, I’m always guaranteed to find some amazing redwork patterns right inside the front door (snagged a few of them). Then you pass the table with the latest holiday fabrics (this year I found my red striped "Ready, Set, Snow" fabric for the Sew Happy Sew-along). Continue to head towards the back for reproduction prints (not sure where they order from but it’s always fabric new to me), move along the wall to themed bolts and fat quarters, and then continue onto the fabulous batiks (broke the bank on these batiks last year).
After feeling all the fabrics and chatting with the friendly staff, move onto the notions wall (always the latest and greatest) and then into (what I think of as) the “samples” room. This is always the most dangerous part of the visit for me. Above the mantle, on the table, propped up on the bookcases are completed embroideries, darling wall hangings, framed pictures of patterns completed. More embroidery patterns, baskets of kits, the latest gadgets & books!
See the snowman wall hanging in the upper left corner of this picture? Yep, pattern and kit ended up in my basket. That is one of the world’s greatest mysteries, isn’t it? Why is it that the shop sample is always better than the pattern picture? You’d think designers would just hire shop owners to create the sample for them!
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to spend as much time as I had hoped – had to get back to the family. But my brief respite was like having dessert first…..
Happy Stitching!
Elisa
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| 2nd Largest Pie Pan in the World! |
Oh, I have to get up there soon! I've never been to that shop and now, after reading your post and seeing the pictures, I HAVE to go!
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