Quilt Shop: Primitive Gatherings, Murrieta, California

My thanks go to my friend, Crew at Cabin Central, who gave me the heads up about the Primitive Gatherings Quilt shop about a half an hour away. We stopped on our way to the Oceanside Pier yesterday, and what a lot of fun! You can find its web presence right here. It's an easy shop to find, located in an industrial park, easy on and off the freeway with plenty of room to park Mike's pig of a truck...always appreciated. Approaching the storefront, it looks like this:

Step inside the front door, and this is what you see:

To my right was the cash register with some very cute displays, including the doll quilts you see hanging there on the counter.

On the countertop were these little baskets, filled with some cute little knick knacks. "Cute" might be the word of the day for this shop.

This was almost to cute to pass up, but I did...like I need something else like this.

My friend "Unknown" recently asked me if I'd been to Temecula Quilt Co., and I'm sorry, Unknown, but you are no-reply, which is why I never answer your questions. In this case, I wanted to say, "Why, yes! Yes, I have!" and this shop reminded me so much of that one. You can find a link from my visit to Temecula Quilt Co., right here. Check it out and see if you don't agree. Both shops specialize in reproduction fabrics, wools, flannels, and tiny prints for making quilts from teeny, tiny quilt blocks.

Check this out...half-inch half square triangles. Some people are masochists, if you ask me.

There were similar quilts...and large ones...hanging all around. The blocks in this next one were about one-inch squares, if memory serves. I liked what they'd done with the stars.

And then there were just lots of fabrics like these...mostly tiny prints, since that's what one needs for these kinds of quilts.

There was a nice array of colors.

Toward the back of the store was a classroom.

Hanging overhead in the classroom was this quilt. I really liked this quilt...it won an honorable mention at a Road to California show.

This block in the lower right especially caught my eye...see if you can guess why. It's either the cat or the red bird.

If the pattern for this had been within reach, it would have gone into my shopping cart for sure. In this case, shopping cart = my hot little hands. Turning directly around, these were the only novelty prints I saw in the whole store. I was on the hunt for something with a colorful stripe, and none of these were going to fit the bill. No worries, I found something...you'll see in a minute.

I wish I'd had some of this when I finished off my Bunny Garden embroidery.

And there was shelf after shelf of these kinds of tiny prints in all colors.

There was a nice supply of neutrals and "word" prints.

Up by the front window were some brighter colors.

And a small selection of yummy polka dots.

I fell in love with this pattern. It was available pattern only, and also in a kit. After walking past it three times, I could resist no more, and I picked up the pattern. The quilt shown here is done in wool, but I'll make it using scraps from my stash. It says, "A happy home is the key to a happy life." I would add to that..."and cats."

There were lots of wool projects available. I've never done a project with wool, although I have a small wool Spotty Cat kit I've dragged all over the country with me. I have yet to make it, although I've had it for years. (Hopefully, the moths haven't had their way with it.) I bought it when I attended a quilt show back in Oregon. We'd only just brought Smitty home to live with us, and it made me think of him. So, all of that to say that a lot of these wool patterns appealed to me, but I figured I should try the one I already have to see if I like working with wool before getting something else. Either way, these all caught my eye. It was hard to walk away, but I was being sensible for a change. (Some might say, "centsible." Did you see what I did there?) So take a look at this one:

Those circles were about the size of the old way of minting silver dollars, if you're old enough to remember them. (And if you're not old enough to remember the old style silver dollars, then please shut-up.)

Speaking of old, I knew you vintage sewing machine people would want to see these beauties.

This store really had the cutest displays. Seeing the buttons in a quart-sized mason jar made me want to switch mine into a vintage jar back home. Right now they're stored in a McCann's Irish Oatmeal tin where I can't see them. Often, I'm seeing these vintage mason jars at Goodwill, so I might go on a hunt for one. In fact, there's a Goodwill right across the street from me here...hmmmmmm.

Here's another star quilt I really liked. The blocks were about the size of a Moda charm pack, but I liked the star in the center.

Here's the pattern. It was tempting, but I can probably figure this out on my own.

Of course there was a nice supply of notions.

Here's a little "penny mat" project that was hard to pass by. (See Spotty Cat kit above.)

This is the pattern for that. Most everything in this store could also be purchased as a kit, and you can shop online if you see something you like.

There were lots of little framed "words of wisdom" projects sitting around. The whole store kind of gave you that warm fuzzy feeling.

And look at these sheep...be still my beating heart!

This quilt was large...at least full-sized, and maybe larger...made from impossibly small pieces.

Since I couldn't find a nice rainbow stripe to finish off my Tiny Tuesday project, I settled on this one, and I think it's going to be very cute. I'd like to cut a narrow stop border from this fabric.

It also has some sweet sayings at the selvage edge, and I can probably think of a way to incorporate these into the quilt too.

 

I haven't thought this through completely, but give me a few days, and I'll have it figured out. I purchased enough fabric for the border and the binding, and there should also be plenty for the quilt back.

For my regional print, I really could have selected anything, but this one seemed to capture the feel of the store for me. I believe it was available in other colors as well. This one was an already-cut fat quarter.

So I really enjoyed my time at this shop, and bonus! It's close enough to Temecula Quilt Co., that it would be easy to visit both shops in the same day. Check it out if you find yourself in this part of Southern California.