Quilt Shop: The Enchanted Room

Okay, this post could just as easily be entitled "The Best Laid Plans" because ours have changed as of this morning. We've discovered to our chagrin that there are no campgrounds near Voyageurs National Park that can reliably accommodate our big fifth wheel. The distances between cities and campgrounds are great, and so we're not really up for taking off into the wild blue yonder without some destination reserved at the other end. For now, we're staying at the park where we stayed last night in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota. And that's just fine. We're happy for a break from long days of driving, and this is a nice place.

For today, we need to make a trip to the grocery store, and we may head up to Itasca State Park on the kind recommendation of Diane. Diane tells me that the headwaters of the Mississippi River are located there and that one can step across the river where it is only two feet wide. Now that's something worth seeing, I'd say. But that's not what you want to hear. You want to hear about the quilt shop, don'tcha?

So here's how it looks as you approach. Very inviting, no? Just now I Googled the name of the shop to see if they have a web presence, and they do! I got a kick out of their slogan "Emergency Room for the Soul." After just spending a load of money on new tires, I needed that.

It's located in a historic house, and it is a gift shop as well as a quilt shop. When you enter through the front door, there is a room off to the right with all sorts of gifty items...all ready for Halloween right now. There are more gifty items in the upstairs part of the house.

Continue down the entry way and one comes into the first little room of the quilt shop.

They had a good supply of flannels...a whole room, in fact.

Notions for everything,

plenty of good brand-name thread and embroidery floss (and I needed some),

and rulers for the quilter who loves specialty items.

The quilt shops I've visited so far on this trip have their holiday fabric out, and they had a nice selection here.

They also had a nice selection of regional prints.

There was a nice variety of patterns, including some embroidery patterns from my favorite Crabapple Hill Studio.

I don't know if Crabapple Hill Studio has a brick and mortar store, but if they do, I'd better warn my bank account, because I love, love, love their patterns.

So this store went on and on...I kept walking, and kept seeing more to look at. Quilts hung from the ceiling and it was the kind of store that makes you feel as if you've walked into the Land of Oz.

A small shop in a small town, but there's nothing small about its selection of fabrics. It lined shelves and walls. There was something for everyone here.

The shop owner introduced herself and shook my hand. When I asked if I could take pictures of her shop she gave an enthusiastic yes! And when I told her I wrote a blog, she said "Blog Away!" It's always nice to meet such friendly employees.

She was in the process of helping another customer choose fabrics for a new quilt, and I could tell she was interested in making sure the customer went home with something that would make a quilt she could love.

As usual, I was most interested in the regional prints. Since the train plays such an important part in this area of the world, I ended up getting four yards of this train print. This will make a great backing for the Hobo Quilt I have in process.

As a reminder, this is the quilt I'm talking about. It's on the back burner right now while I finish up some of my oldest projects.

So I absolutely loved this shop. It was well worth the extra time we took to stop in, after getting such a late start on the day. I give it my full five rotary cutters out of five. Definitely stop in if you find yourself on the eastern side of Montana. It would be worth driving out of your way to see it.

And as I've been writing this post, a campground in International Falls contacted us, so it looks like that will be our next stop for tomorrow night and the next night. This is a good thing because we've been trying to find a place all morning and coming up dry. If we can stay in International Falls, then we can spend at least a little time at Voyageurs, before continuing up into Canada for our next stop at Thunder Bay, Ontario. After that, we'll head back into the US and down the lake shore of Lake Superior. For now, that's the plan, but as you can see, things are always subject to change when one is towing a big rig.

*Disclaimer:  Cat Patches accepts no advertising, nor any sponsorships.  The opinions expressed on this blog are based on the personal impressions and perceptions of the author. They are formed  on the basis of one short visit, on one day, and may or may not reflect the experience of others visiting on a different day.  They are no more descriptive than a single snapshot image can be, and nothing written in a review of a quilt shop should be construed as objective fact.  The reviews are strictly the author's subjective opinion and should not be interpreted as anything more.