Cotton Weeds Quilt Shop - Freeport, ME

No matter how tough times are, a little light breaks through. I've worked insane hours lately for our system rollout, and was shipped off to Maine to train our satellite office. Back in Maine after a six year absence - with time off for good behavior!

When not training, I've had a glorious time geocaching, site seeing, and hitting a quilt shop or two with my BFF Lisa. Today's adventure brought me to Cotton Weeds Quilt Shop in beautiful Freeport, Maine!

541 U.S. Route #1, Ste 12, Freeport, Maine 04032  http://www.cottonweeds.com/

 Lisa leading the way!

 Lots of embroidery patterns from Gail Pan Designs, Hatched & Patched, Bareroots, and Bird Brain Designs. Piles and piles of patterns.

  Clean, well-lit, with samples everywhere. On every counter are notions and do-dads. Picked up some Roxanne needles and Redwork (FriXion erasable red gel) pens.

 Samples and fabric collections. Lots of batiks!  

 Tons of bag patterns and shop samples.

And don't forget to go upstairs for classrooms and machine quilting! You can take a class and then rent the machine by the hour. 

Lovely shop with some good friends behind the counter. After spending some hard earn money there, take a quick jaunt up the road to Freeport, Maine. Freeport is the home of L.L. Bean, the Mangy Moose, and many, many outlet stores.

Happy travels!

Elisa

Frugal Quilting Tips, Anyone?

Good morning, my friends!

As some of you may've heard, my part-time job is closing it's doors. Besides the loss of daily interactions with friends & favorite customers, a social community hot spot, enforced exercise up & down the stairs in 4-hour shifts, I'm out some bucks (cash, moolah, greenbacks). My friend Allie has been cheering me up with helpful suggestions to economize my quilting addiction.

Unlike this picture below, I am ready to listen! I thought I'd stop a moment and share a list collected from Allie and other friends; figured in this economy others might have a need, too.

Ugh! Such an awful picture of me! My cohorts in crime are my sister Wikid Kriket and sister-in-law Rockin' Robyn

1. Pretty obvious but worth repeating: use the stash. Plus, make your own jelly rolls - you have the fabric.
2. (My favorite from Allie) Go to the thrift shops to buy flannel sheets for batting and vintage sheets for backing.
3. (From Lisa - who makes every scrap count!) If you are running out of certain fabrics, start making smaller projects (there's only 1 bed in this house - how many queen quilts do I need?)
4. If you need a certain style or color, swap with friends.
5. (Another from Allie) Enter as many giveaways as possible. There's some great stuff out there and it doesn't even cost you a lottery ticket!
6. Look for alternative tool sources (like amazing rotary blades a Harbor Freight Tools).
7. Sometime it's cheaper to buy in quantity. Buying that bolt of interfacing with my 40% off coupon is cheaper than individual trips for each project (also multiple shopping trips = multiple chances at temptation).
8. Don't have to take multiple trips to the library for books with patterns - seems like almost every pattern is free in the blog-o-sphere. Have you been to quilterblogs.com?
9. Wash your fabrics in batches - not when you need it. That water bill will add up!
10. If you do have to go to a fabric store, check their website for coupons (our local shop posts a new coupon monthly). Make sure you are armed with a photo of the fabric/color swatch and exact size to prevent unnecessary spending.

Ok, ladies... What else? I'm trying to stay positive and motivated!

Elisa

Tawas City (or Why I Need A Nap to Survive My Stay-cation!)

FORE!



Yep, that's me!  Yesterday was Day 2 of my stay-cation, and I spent it in the very beautiful coastal town of Tawas City, Michigan on Lake Huron.  In the mighty green dynamo, my rag tag band of family trekked north to enjoy all that is American this holiday weekend:

• great food at Mr. Jack'ss, treats at the Village Chocolatier and ended the day with ice cream at Marion's
• beautiful scenery (and the occasional lightning flash) at Tawas Point and Tawas Point lighthouse

• fabulous shopping downtown and in the quilt shops - more later on that
• geocaching on the rocks and the beaches - see my sister-in-laws blog on THAT adventure! There was blood involved.

• and, obviously, putt-putt golf at Hubie's Wondergolf (I tied for first!)



On this voyage was (top) OriginalRager, Wikid Kriket, myself,  Rockin' Robyn, (bottom) Mr. Energy and Little Brother. 
They let us loose on Tawas City and we had clubs! 


If you have the chance to travel to the Tawas area, you must stop at Bayview Calicos in Au Gres on the way.  What a delightful surprise!  It's a little cottage tucked along the highway.  Inside, you'll find many patterns (including Australian embroidery), bolts & bolts of fabrics (black & whites, batiks, Christmas, 30's, patriotic), a good notions wall, kits, many samples (LOVE the series of applique lighthouses), and all the do-dads & trinkets you love discovering on quilt shop shelves!  The owner's daughter gave me the grand tour and was a lot of fun to talk to.  Conveniently, I had plenty of time to explore as my family was focused on the geocache hidden outside!

There's also the Cotton Patch Quilt Shoppe in the heart of Tawas City - wools, kits, and antiques, mostly.

I think one of the most awesome parts of the trip was heading home late at night - as we drove the 3.5 hours back towards Detroit, we saw fireworks display after fireworks display along the highway.  Best seats in the house!

Happy Independence weekend!
Elisa

p.s. This was my favorite day so far this year!  Thanks everyone!

The Village Quilt Shoppe + Milestone

WOW!  Can you believe it?  100th post!  I wasn't sure when I started this in January if I'd have enough to say (my family would dispute this - they're sure I can't be stopped!).  To date, I've had 4,178 visits to my blog - wow!  Thank you to all my new friends and all my old friends who have stuck around :)

Today I wanted to share a little gem tucked away in Lake Orion, MI called The Village Quilt Shoppe.  It's 25 miles north of Detroit and prominently located in Canterbury Village.

Owned by Carolyn Vagts and opened in 2004, this store is as comfortable as the location is quaint.  It contains a variety of everything: Dr. Seuss, Orientals, batiks, reproduction fabrics, novelties, holiday (bought some great patriotic fabrics today!), retros, solids, polka dot, animal prints, silks, wools, Moda, Kauffman, Riley Blake.  Too much to list here!  It's the type of store that is great for starting new projects but also for locating just that one piece of fabric your quilt is missing.  Many of the fabrics I find here I don't see at other stores.

I especially like this store because everyone is so friendly and smiling - and not because they get paid for it!  As I was ogling their book display, I heard from behind me, "good thing about in here is that you're allowed to touch!"  They are also very community minded.  They are collecting handmade doll quilts, Christmas stockings and food donations for Lighthouse of Oakland County.

If you get a chance, stop in!
Elisa

Happy National Quilter's Day!

Spent a fabulous day celebrating at my local quilt shop.  Bits 'n Pieces is a delightful shop in Wayne, Michigan.  Big sunny windows, sample quilts everywhere!  Bright and happy staff.  They're well worth the 1/2-hour drive from my home in Ferndale.  Today they had mutliple classes - so much excitement and so much laughter! 

This shop also has its own line of extraordinary quilt patterns.  My goal is to one day make their Southern Star quilt in Civil War fabrics.  I didn't catch her name but a quilter at the Ann Arbor Quilt Show displayed this version of it last year:

I bought Nancy Halverson's Count On It book along with some fabrics to make the April Bunny X-ing quilt!

Hope you celebrated today in your own way!

Elisa

Quilt Shop Watch: Lake St Mercantile

**no affiliation**no affiliation**no affiliation**

Warning: this is a rather long post about a fabulous quilt shop in Southern Michigan.  This might not be of interest to those who do not live in Michigan, have no plans to visit Michigan, does not like reading stories about unknown quilt shops or does not know me.  If you are an RV’ing quilter – you might be interested as this shop is near beautiful Kensington Metropark and conveniently located between Lansing, Ann Arbor and Detroit

*post reprinted from a recent email per a friends request*

I recently came back from a wonderful daytrip and really, really had to share!  Now, being a former military wife, I’ve visited a lot of quilt shops around the country – North Carolina, Cape Cod/Boston, Western Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, Michigan, Texas, Ohio, some beautiful ones in Western Missouri, etc…. and some have made me say “WOW”.  I visited one just like that in Michigan! 

Lake St. Mercantile was featured in an issue of Quilt Sampler Magazine with their quilt featured on the cover.  Having a day off and some $$ in my pocket, I decided to go for an adventure.  The shop is a pretty drive about a half hour west of Detroit – very easy to get to via I-696 in a small hamlet of South Lyon. (I liked South Lyon – reminded me greatly of the towns along Route 1 in Maine – all these old buildings converted into business without losing its charm).

Lake St. Mercantile is a 120+ year old bank converted into a quilt shop.  The owner, Cindy Jones, and her husband completely restored the building with brick walls, hardwood floors, and very rustic counters & displays.  This is the old bank vault filled with the loveliest sale fabrics!

When I walked in, I knew my pocketbook was in trouble.  All the fabrics sung to me, and, I must admit, I was wondering if I sold my car if I could afford a cut of every piece of fabric in the place J

These fabrics were “my fabrics” – my favorite colors and fabric lines.  In the entrance were deep, rich colors from fabric lines like Andover, Windham, Thimbleberries, Moda, etc.  Each room had it own theme.  Upstairs was an entire room of Repros & wools, etc.  SO MUCH GORGEOUS STUFF!  And when they stock their shelves, they normally buy everything in a fabric line. 

As I stood there with my mouth watering, I heard a “hello” from the brightly-lit and very inviting backroom/classroom.  Out steps Cindy who greeted me like we’ve been friends forever.  Now, I teach customer service reps, and my first thought is that they could really learn a few things from her.  Not only was she engaging, she was really interested in who you were, where you were from, etc.  It was nice not only being acknowledged (had some problems in that area lately) but also being listened to.  She was such a “people person” – reminded me a lot of my late mother who could talk to anyone and enjoyed the experience! 

I eventually moseyed up to the “repro room” where a super-friendly lady (wish I had caught her name) cut some fat quarters for me while listening to me babble interminably.  (Have you had that problem with fat quarters lately?  I’ve been in a few shops lately that will no longer cut fat quarters for you – how frustrating!)   

One thing I forgot to mention were the sample quilts everywhere – each sample hanging on the wall or draped on the counter suited the fabrics in the immediate area.  Now, I’ve always considered myself pretty good (sorry if I sound arrogant – don’t mean to be) at putting fabrics together, but some of these samples really made me think – hmmm…. Wouldn’t have thought to put THOSE together… looks wonderful…..  It really motivated me to go home and get quilting!

It was really hard to pull my self away from the shop, but I know I’ll definitely be heading back.  Normally when I plan these adventures, I pick a few shops in the area and “make a day of it”, but I decided not to go anywhere else  – knew that my experience there spoiled me!

I did, however, have to stop at the restaurant they recommended in Quilt Sampler: The South Lyon Hotel which was an easy walk around the block.  (Remember if you go to this quilt shop there’s parking behind the building – you don’t have to parallel park out front). 

Now, I’m normally not a fan of eating at hotels because when I fabric shop I’m normally dressed quite casually.  Didn’t have to worry here – this 140-year old hotel was very rustic and very comfortable.  The restaurant was similar to the quilt shop: wood floors, original details, and everything on the wall meant something.  The food was good, inexpensive, quite hot & served by the friendliest little waitress.  I realize now that I’ll need to drag my Dad out to South Lyon – the atmosphere was very reminiscent to the little diners and such in middle Massachusetts.

Thanks for listening and “sharing” my day with me!