Quilt Shop: Sew 'n Sew Fabrics, Fort Bragg, California

This begins my two-day (or so) retrospective about the final days of our trip. I'll back up to the quilt shop in Fort Bragg, and that was quite a surprise. I almost couldn't believe my eyes finding such a nice quilt shop in such a small town.

Whenever we're in a new place, I always check my quilt shop app, usually not expecting to find anything. To Mike, I said, "Hm...I wonder if there's a quilt shop in Fort Bragg." Lo and behold, something came up! "There is!" I shouted, using my most excited voice. (I always use my excited voice to let Mike know how happy I'd be if he'd be a good sport and stop in. He always is. It's an agreement we have....he stops at quilt shops. I do the laundry. It works.)

The first screen on the app shows me a pin on a map. When I clicked on the pin:

"Oh, I said. 'Broken Leg Sports' doesn't sound like the name of a quilt shop." Mike brightened at this thought. (That reminds me, you really should give a read to this hilarious speech, given by the husband of a quilter.) Then, I clicked on the upper left corner "Shops" and came up with a list that included this:

You'll notice it's the same address. Remembering my hardware store/quilt shop combo in Thayne, Wyoming, I wondered if it was something similar, and so I gave them a call. Sure enough! It was a quilt shop...in the flesh...right there in Fort Bragg! I couldn't believe my good fortune, and so we turned the truck around and rushed right over. Walking in the front door, you see this:

To my right was the cutest display of mini quilts.

And this was a very large store with lots of nice fabrics. As I strolled through the bolts, I chatted with the store owner about "Broken Leg Sports". She said it was the former woman tenant who ran a sewing machine shop and also did some machine embroidery. Still, I wondered about the name. Do you suppose she broke her leg at some point and took to sewing as a creative outlet? Just a guess.

Getting back to the fabrics, the first ones I saw were these black and whites. To the right of them was a small shelf of black and whites with one other color. You can see they start there in the lower right side of the image below.

I wandered all through the shop, and there was a lot to see. Definitely something for everybody here.

This next grouping was all flannel, and they also had a good supply of felt on the bolt.

There was a long row of pretty batiks, 

fanciful polka dots,

and fun stripes. You know I loves me a good striped binding.

And while this was really a quilt shop, it also catered to the dressmakers among their customer base.

They had a nice supply of patterns, books, notions, and a big section of sale fabrics.

And sock monkeys! Happy, happy, joy, joy!

At the end of the row of batiks were these that initially looked like homespuns.

As it turns out they were gradient-style batiks, and very pretty. It was hard not to take a bolt of each.

I ended up getting about a yard of this one...I wanted enough to get the full range of color.

And this one...I just liked it...no other reason, although it might make a nice binding for my blue jay quilt...the quilt of a thousand fabrics that isn't even started yet. I want to be sure I'm ready before embarking on that project. Besides, it has spawned plenty of reasons for fabric purchases. Perhaps that is its only purpose in life.

Here's another one that caught my eye. The bright squiggles are metallic gold...so pretty.

At every quilt shop I visited in California, I was looking for some California poppy fabric for my Quilty 365. I'm sure it exists somewhere, but I haven't found it. This one seemed pretty close, and I can cut a section with the smaller yellow flowers. It's similar enough for my purpose. 

I mentioned to the shop owner that I'd been looking for poppy fabrics. She said she'd had a lot of them at one time, but the manufacturers apparently moved on from that. Sigh. Always late to the party...it's the story of my life. One need only look at the dearth of jury summonses I've received to see the truth in that. Maybe now that I've been called it will all change.

So, that shop was quite a find. Definitely stop in if you find yourself in Fort Bragg. Lots of fabrics and a friendly owner.

We made quite a bit of progress putting things back in order yesterday. The trailer is unpacked and put back in its parking space. Most everything is put away inside the house. My piles of sewing crap are all sitting at the top of the stairs, and each time I go down, I grab something else. Today I'll finish putting all of that way. We have a large grocery shop on the agenda today, and then I think things can start to feel more normal.

We've realized we have a couple of families of squirrels out front. We know there's more than one family because they are different breeds. We have the pesky "gray diggers" also known as California gray squirrels:

and these smaller red guys. I believe these are known as American red squirrels.

There are several juveniles and at least one adult of the gray diggers and at least one juvenile and one adult of the red squirrels. Yes, the juveniles are as adorable as kittens. Nevertheless, we're starting to feel mildly outnumbered, and that's never a good thing. They can be very destructive, and they continue to multiply. Smitty and Sadie can only do so much.

We still let Smitty outside under close supervision, and we're hoping he can encourage them to move to the other side of the property. If not, we'll have to trap them. Don't ask what happens to the ones we catch. It's an unfortunate end for them, but we can't have them taking over the place either. 

As for Sadie, she's happy we're back into our morning routine of me reading email and checking in on Facebook while she naps. She's a back sleeper...kind of unusual for a cat...especially one as anxious as she is.

Tomorrow I'll finish off with our trip by telling you about Crescent City and the lighthouse at Battery Point.