8/5/12

Quilt Shop Stash Report

Since I visited a quilt shop while I was in California and also purchased some fabric, it seems like a good way to kill two birds with one blog post.  Not that I'm into killing birds, you understand.  And now that I think of it, why would anyone want to kill two birds?  Something to ponder.



Actually, I only pondered it for one second before Googling it.  Here is the origin of the idiom:

In the Greek Mythology tale of Daedalus and Icarus, Daedalus is held captive by King Minos on Crete in a high tower. All he is able to see are high walls around him and large birds overhead awaiting his and his son, Icarus' demise. Daedalus devises a plan to throw stones at the birds in the hope of fashioning artificial wings to enable the pair to fly home. He finds, with his stone through a clever throwing motion, that he is able to strike one bird with the ricochet hitting a second bird, thus killing two birds with one stone. The rest is history.
Just keeping you filled up with useless information . . . yep.  It's my life's work.  I am truly dedicated.

But I digress.  What else is new?

So, the quilt shop.  When I went down to see my friend Lisa in California, she texted me asking if I wanted to do any shopping before making the drive to her house.  I was actually still on the airplane while doing this.  Isn't modern life grand?  How did we live without the internet?  And, honestly, how did I ever get through graduate school without it.  Hm. Wonder if I can do a search for that:  "How did I get through graduate school without the internet?" No response.  Hm.  (See my useless information above.)  Anyhoooo . . .

So the quilt shop (again).  This time I'm not kidding.  So after receiving the text from Lisa, I texted her that I would always be up for a quilt shop.  So Lisa, having forgotten her purse, ID, money, etc., at home did the next logical thing:  She went to Home Depot where she could use the restroom, buy coffee, get a hotdog, and use their free wi-fi!  I mean, who knew???


Home Depot, you rock!

And she found the Busy Bee Quilt Shop in Calimesa, California.  What fun!


The Busy Bee Quilt Shop is located in a sort of mini-mall shopping area with good signage, making it easy to find, and plenty of free parking.

As you can see it is ram packed with great fabric.  They had pretty much something for everybody with novelty prints, some pretty batiks, a good supply of calicos and civil war fabrics and much more.  There were beautiful quilts lining the walls.  They had a schedule of classes with examples of the items you would be making and plenty of choices for BOM's.  I didn't notice a classroom, but then I wasn't looking very closely.  I'm assuming they have one with the array of class offerings.

The shop was bright and cheery and easy to navigate.  The woman working there was very friendly and helpful without hovering (which drives me crazy).


All in all, I enjoyed this shop, and I would definitely go back if I found myself in the area.  As it is, I found these two fabrics for my stash.  Because I definitely need more fabric for my stash.  Doesn't everyone?


I just love polka dots, especially when I can find white polka dots on color rather than vice versa.  I had some white on red polka dots in my stash but used them up.  These aren't exactly the same, but close enough.  The other is a black fabric with shimmery silvery stuff. I thought it could be used for lots of things, but wouldn't it make a pretty starry sky?  It's a little hard to photograph, and this image doesn't do it justice.

So I would rate this quilt shop four rotary cutters out of five rotary cutters.  The only problem I had with it was that it was stifling hot and stuffy inside.  I would have stayed longer, but even with the warm weather, outside was more pleasant.  At least there was air circulating.  Maybe if I had visited in the winter, it would have gotten my highest five out of five rotary cutters rating.  (And that would definitely be something to include on their website, don't you think?  I can see it now:  Rated five rotary cutters out of five on Cat Patches!  Something to strive for.  Just sayin')

So now that I've confessed my sinful ways, I'll tell you my stash report:


Fabric Used:  3/4 yards
Fabric Used in 2012: 110 1/2 yards

Fabric Purchased:  3 yards
Total Fabric Purchased in 2012:  80 3/4 yards

Net Used in 2012:  29 3/4 yards


8 comments:

Judee said...

Yup, that's (one of) my fave shops! I learned all I know about making bags there. I love their batiks. I am surprised about the warmth. Maybe they had power problems. Thanks also for the info about the two birds. I was losing sleep over that one:)

Teresa in Music City said...

Wow - four out of five rotary cutters! I'm sure they are duly impressed by your high rating! :*) Love the fabrics you bought. I can see that black being used for a lot of things, but you're right that it is perfect for a night sky. And I love dots too! I'm definitely looking forward to the Dots on Dots Blog Hop!

Charlene S said...

A coveted award indeed!

Denise :) said...

Barbara! That black and silver looks like it's from my favorite line...Michael Miller's Fairy Frost!!! I adore that stuff. Even it's not, it sure is pretty!! :)

Silvinha said...

That a paradise .....

Snoodles said...

Gorgeous shop.....how did you restrain yourself? :) I guess the thought of fessing up in your stash report made you toe the line, huh?
Maybe some day I will live somewhere near a LQS...of course, that will be the start of a huge drain on my budget!

KatieQ said...

Home Depot with WIFI! Time for me to move to California. I'm also crazy for polka dots. That looks like a wonderful quilt shop. I'm sure they will be proud to know they scored 4 rotary cutters. The picture of Smitty on your sidebar never fails to make me smile.

Liz said...

Don't you love it when you're buying fabric, and someone asks "what are you making?" and the answer is... don't know yet, mainly I'm just buying fabric! It happens to me more than I would like to say... cute fabric, seems like a nice shop! :)