Quilt Shop: Orchard's Edge Quilt Shop, Bayfield, Wisconsin

It was just plain good luck that we arrived in Bayfield, Wisconsin, early enough yesterday for me to visit the quilt shop. It was open from noon until 4:00 on a Sunday, and I was in for a treat. Here is their business card.

The store employee told me the story of the name. The shop is owned by a mother and son who do all the long-arm quilting. Originally, their business was home-based. Eventually, it grew enough that they decided to move into this little house in the downtown area. I'm sorry the picture isn't better, but I was shooting directly into the sun, and the storefront was in shadow.

As you walk through the front door, this is what you see:

This is a small shop, and their long-arm machine took up a good portion of the available square footage. There wasn't as much fabric here as I've seen in some of the other stores that I've visited, but what they had was very nice. There was something for everyone's tastes here.

They had a good selection of patterns.

including another new-to-me designer in Bloomin' Minds. You can see their website at that link, where I am informed they are based out of Council Bluffs, Iowa. The website is cute, and worth a peek. It also informs me that most patterns include a recipe of some kind. Cute idea. I didn't purchase any of these at the store, but I want to give that website a more thorough look.

If there had been a pattern for the quilt below, I would have snapped it up. This was hanging above

their shelf of fat quarters. Cute, huh?

They had a good supply of wool for you Woolen Sails people.

There were beautiful batiks and some pretty whimsical fabrics. There was also a good supply of regional prints.

Their books are 20% off all of the time, and I picked up this book. As I said in an earlier post, I'm looking at small quilts these days until I can get some of the larger ones off my WIP list.

And remember the Split Rock Lighthouse pattern I picked up in Beaver Bay?

Well, I was thrilled to find this fabric at the shop here in Bayfield. Won't this make a great back for my lighthouse?

It shows lighthouses from all over the country, including a few from Oregon, and check this out!

Well, I would have purchased it anyway, but seeing the Split Rock lighthouse really sealed the deal. 

So I loved this shop, and I was thrilled to find them open for business. The store employee was very friendly and told me some stories about the area. She wanted me to pass along to you that the best time to visit is in October when the apple festival is going on, and the population of the town swells from about 500 to 50,000. Considered yourself warned, er, informed. I give this shop my highest rating. They had me with their "open" banner, but I loved visiting here. It was cute, warm, friendly, and had everything a quilter needs for a good day of sewing. 

Definitely stop in if you find yourself in Bayfield. And, believe me, Bayfield is worth driving out of your way to see.

*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.