1/9/18

Quilt Shop: Suwanee Valley Quilt Shop; Trenton, Florida

My friend Karin urged us to stop off at this quilt shop in Trenton. Her advice was spot-on during our visit, and so we checked it out. We were talking and drove past initially. When we got turned around and headed back into town, it became obvious when we saw the quilt blocks on the side of the building. There's a wealth of information about this shop online right here.


Here's how the store looks from the front. Check out that painted sidewalk in the entry. And, yes, there is a cafe inside.


It has an interesting history in that the quilt shop took over the Coca Cola Bottling Plant after it closed. You can read about it right here.


And, I don't know about you, but I like a quilt shop that gives quilters the respect they're due before you even get in the front door.


Walking in through the front door, the shop looks like this. The cafe is off to the right and left of this image. The quilt shop is through those doors toward the back.


And right away I saw something I liked here among these delicious stripes. I picked it up and carried it around with me throughout my visit. Care to guess which one it is? I'll let you ponder it while I show you around the rest of the shop.


They had fabrics for everyone here. Name a quilting style or color preference, and you would find it here.


This room contained all their Christmas fabric, and it was all 25% off.


In this room, there was a sort of soda fountain, presumably a part of the cafe.


Turning around 180 degrees were these shelves loaded with fabric that was on sale.


Back out in the main part of the shop was this hallway loaded full length on both sides with all kinds of notions.


Here's something I hadn't seen before. These red glasses will help you accurately gauge color value. At around $21 they were a little rich for my blood.


Oh but wait...there was a clip-on style too...still $18. Yes, I know it's possible to do this via computer, but the glasses would make it oh, so simple.


At the end of the hall was a room will stencils, patterns, batting, and stabilizers, among other things.


Back in the Christmas room, they had this display. The store featured lots of panels for Christmas, and pretty much anything else. All the panels were hung for looking, but they were also numbered. If you saw one you liked, you could look for its associated number and find it already cut right here.


This was their Halloween fabric. It too was 25% off.


Organization was this shop's strong suit. It would have been easy to find whatever you were looking for. They had a great supply of fabric for men's quilts.


And pretty much every "genre" was represented, including Australia and Africa.


They had some very pretty Fall fabrics. These too were 25% off.


There was a big supply of Kaffe Fassett fabrics. I love all that color.


Does anybody do polka dots better than Kaffe Fassett?


There was a huge supply of beautiful batiks.


They were arranged by color. Rounding the corner there was another whole wall of them. Look at those yummy colors stacked on top.


I'd been hearing this fellow talking while I strolled through the store. When I approached, he eyed me suspiciously.


He didn't speak again until I turned my back and walked away. Then, he let out with a very loud, "Me-ow!" which made me laugh out loud. I turned back and asked him, "Oh, have we met? Does my reputation precede me?" It was hilarious. I tried to video him doing it again, but he refused to speak while I stood eye to eye with him. He would only talked when I turned and walked away. As it turns out, he has at least three versions of "meow." There was no barking, but I wouldn't doubt barking is in his repertoire.

So while I stood there with the bird, I thought I'd seen the whole shop, but no. Looking off to my right were two more rooms of fabric. A smaller room in the middle had 108-inch bolts.


Beyond that, a whole room of children's fabrics.


And there was a wall of books. I rarely purchase books in a quilt shop, but I like to page through them.


This little nook had cat and dog fabrics, food fabrics, sewing fabrics, and all those miscellaneous novelty fabrics.


By this time, I was on the hunt for my regional fabric. At the right of the image below were their bird fabrics. I was really wanting to find some manatee fabric, but the birds would be a good choice too. I scanned through them, but didn't really find any birds that were representative of our visit here.


Nevertheless, I did find a couple I liked. I got a yard of this one...only because y'all convinced me I'd messed up when I didn't get more of that bird fabric back in South Carolina. You enablers you.


And I got a yard of this one. The lines there in the feathers are metallic gold. It's very pretty.


Neither of those were my preferred regional fabric, however. As I rounded the corner, I noticed a grouping of beach fabrics, and I spent some time looking at those. When I stood up, right on top of the shelves was a single bolt of this. Ha!!! It was exactly what I wanted, and so I picked up a fat quarter of this.


And did you correctly choose my favorite stripe? It caught my eye. It reminded me of a pretty beach awning or one of those fabric chairs. The bolt had just over a yard left, and so I took the whole thing.


And that was my visit. Thanks, Karin, for putting me onto this shop. If you find yourself in Trenton, Florida, you simply must stop in. It was a very fun shop, and if you're looking for something in particular, I'll just bet you can find it here.

19 comments:

Susan C said...

I’ve been to that shop and, like you, was searching for regional fabric. My mother-in-law (a non quilter) was with us and followed me around and exclaimed about every little thing so I was a little distracted. I think I ended up with pelican fabric because we were staying at the beach and I love to watch them fly in formation. As I shopped, we kept hearing some loud talking and meowing and was surprised to find the bird. Glad to hear he’s still there. Thanks for sharing Florida with us, I have lots of good memories of visiting when my in laws were there. I’m looking forward to “visiting”new territory as you continue your journey.

Unknown said...

Can't believe I guessed the right stripe..... lol.��

Have been quietly reading your blog for about 3 years and always enjoy hearing about your adventures and admiring your sewing prowess.

Happy New Year from Sunny Western Australia.

Vroomans' Quilts said...

What a great shop! I have heard about their quilt barn trail and seen some of the blocks via our own trail folks to share other areas on their web page. Probably these very blocks! Super organization with all the fabrics making each genre shine in their own showcased room. Now those bias stripes would have come home with me.

Vicki said...

It looks amazing. I could live in that shop and die happy.

Charlotte M. said...

That looks like a great shop. I wish I live close enough to go there. Nice fabric choices.

Anne Kirby said...

Makes my lqs look puny lol! Beautiful place, very well-thought out, and so nice that they saved the building. Glad you got your manatee fabric!! On to Alabama?? What a nice time to be in the Gulf!

quiltzyx said...

Another great quilt shop - I like what you picked out & glad that they had the fun Manatee fabric! I saw on f'book the other day one of those manatee mailboxes - but the owner's dressed the manatee according to the time of the year. :)

Junebug613 said...

That place looks amazing. There are two large shops that are within an hour's drive from me, but even they don't look as fun as this shop! Yay, for manatee fabric!

Kate said...

Ooh, I have a suggestion - if you seriously want rose colored glasses. I got these color value sticks at my LQS - practically a bargain at $12 for two! https://www.amazon.com/Cottage-Mills-Color-Evaulator-Filter/dp/B001FQZC8I/ref=pd_sbs_201_2?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B001FQZC8I&pd_rd_r=QS8DNZFVAPECG9MFZH0M&pd_rd_w=LtN0D&pd_rd_wg=I84OK&psc=1&refRID=QS8DNZFVAPECG9MFZH0M
Also, I guessed wrong on the stripe. I'm disappointed in me!

WoolenSails said...

What a wonderful shop and enjoyed seeing the cultural center too.
Love the fabrics you found, will be fun to work with the regional ones, a great memory quilt.

Debbie

Brown Family said...

So far, you have not shown us a bad quilt shop! This one looks very nice and interesting!

Going back to yesterdays post, we learned Old Folks at Home in school. way back when we rode dinosaurs to school. They have removed all of the folk music from schools because of prejudice.

VickiT said...

Wow! What a neat shop. I'd be in big trouble shopping there. It's probably a really good thing it's so far away from my home. LOL As 'cute' (for lack of a better word) as the inside of that building is, especially that awesome brick look in the main area (think you said main area for that pic). It's really a pretty building, especially the front entrance. I'm surprised it sat vacant for so many years. They've sure done a wonderful job creating their little fabric heaven.

Those Sew Red glasses really do work well. Plus, it's nice that you can put them on, leaving both your hands free to hold multiple fabrics up if you want to compare to each other. I was lucky and since I check the daily deal at Missouri Star Quilt Co. I got a pair of those glasses on the daily deal for only $8.88.

piecefulwendy said...

I thought I had picked the stripe you chose, but nope. Shoot. What a great shop, definitely one to put on my list for a stop if we're in the area. I cannot believe you found manatee fabric! How cool is that? I sent your link to my daughter and she was grateful to read it. She and her roommate were planning to go to the manatee park this weekend. I'm still giggling about the bird and his comment. Priceless!

Sandra W said...

I was sure your stripe choice would be third cubbie, third one in!
That was a good fabric store but I didn't see many "designer" fabric. Tula Pink, Cotton and Steel and the like.
The paper quilted pieces were interesting. They wouldn't be too hard with a hard decent paper cutter.

Sandra W said...

And just to let one of your commenters know--there is no such thing as a "bad" quilt shop. Really.

Karen said...

You were in my area, Gainesville. I wondered if your friend would suggest the Trenton shop. The bird's name is Sonny. I have heard him bark in the past when they had a dog. I guessed your stripe.
I have been reading your blog about three years and I guess I have learned your style. That really is a great shop too bad they are selling it. I hope someone buys it and it doesn't just close.

Judy1522 said...

Wow what an amazing shop and yes I did pick out your stripe. You found some really pretty fabrics to buy and the bird story was great.

Dar said...

I've been following along on your travels even though I don't comment very often. This was a great looking quilt shop indeed. Thanks so much for such a detailed stroll through it. I really liked your chosen stripe. I would stop there just to see and hear the bird. I love listening to talking parrots. It's a fun memory of my youth at our Famous St. Louis Zoo bird house. They used to have some great species of talking birds with amazing vocabularies.

Lyndsey said...

Wow what a truly amazing shop. Is there anything quilty you could find there? Love your fabric choices especially the stripe. I'm worn out from catching up with your travels although I remember reading some of the posts I've read tonight. Time for bed and dreams of fabulous quilt shops.