Quilt Shops: Double Delight!

Good afternoon, my friends. As I write this, we're in Pendleton, Oregon, at our last stop before home. I've uploaded pictures of today's drive, and I'll tell you about that in tomorrow's post. For now, I want to tell you about the two quilt shops I visited over the past two days. Let's start with the shop in Winnemucca.

Mad Hatter Quilt Shop; Winnemucca, Nevada

I was surprised to find this shop in Winnemucca. It's a small town, and I'm always surprised when a shop can support itself in a small town. Looking at the storefront from across the street, it looked dark. I'd called ahead and I knew it was open. But you can see there's no real signage indicating what it is. Possibly, it's a new kid on the block. Winnemucca is a historic town, and this appeared to be the old town section.

Walking through the front door, it looked like this. The woman manning the counter was busy taking orders for custom machine embroidery, and so I could roam around taking pictures without feeling conspicuous.

Turning to the left from where I was standing, I saw this sign. Either it needs to be mounted outside...or maybe it's one of those sidewalk marquees? Not really sure.

Okay, and then looking up from there, I noted a shelf with fabrics for 20% off. I was on the hunt for something to use to put my bird house embroidered inchies together. When I'm on the hunt for something in particular, anything that doesn't fit the bill fades into the background, and I barely see it.

To the right of that was a display of Kaffe Fasset fabrics. I love these, but I rarely buy them. 

To their right were some solids and tone-on-tones. Also, I like that Stonehenge quilt hanging on the wall.

This was a small shop, but they'd still packed a bunch of stuff in. It was a little crowded, which made it difficult to back up and get a good look at things. 

Turning around from that spot and looking back the other direction, this is what I saw.

They had a good supply of aboriginal prints...I love these, but they didn't fit with my need for birds.

Here, they had some Christmas fabrics out. There were some cardinals there on the right side of the top shelf. I didn't think I wanted anything that specific. I was looking for the middle-of-the road birds...nothing fancy for my little bird neighborhood.

This store sold fabric, almost exclusively. There were a few patterns for sale, but no good selection of threads or notions.

I chose this fabric as my regional print. It made me think of the ghost towns we'd been visiting.

And I decided on a yard of this bird fabric. I'm pretty sure I have fabrics at home I can use, but I liked this one anyway. I might use it...or maybe it'll get used in a different project.

Also, I fell in love with this one. I bought a yard of it. I might find a way to use it in my Blackwork Baskets, but probably not. I have lots of fabrics at home for that one. This one will probably get used in a different way.

And then I bought a yard, plus about a 1/4 yard that was left on the bolt (no extra charge). This actually might go into the Blackwork Baskets quilt. Again, I'll have to see what I have at home. I know I have plenty of choices.

Okay, so that was a nice little surprise of a quilt shop in a small town. It didn't do anything for my stitching emergency, though. There was only one thing to do...head on down the road the next day where I found another quilt shop in Meridian, Idaho.

JK Quilt Shoppe; Meridian, Idaho

And clearly, these two quilt shops were meant to be. Both were about five minutes away from the respective RV parks where we were staying. There were cars parked blocking the storefront, so I just caught the sign as I went in.
 

And, oh, my...this was a busy place when I visited. Always a good sign. And it helps when I'm taking lots of pictures. This is how the store looked when I stepped inside. It was a little messy with stuff stacked all around. It was another store trying to fit into a too-small space.

Turning around from where I stood, I noticed a big long arm machine. This is also someone's long arm business. I liked all the quilts hanging around the store's perimeter.

If you look at the image below, you can see how close the shelves were together. There was barely enough room to pass between the shelves of fabric.

It didn't spoil my enjoyment of the store, however. There was a sort of "alcove" on the left side of the store.

Behind me were shelves of flannels.

Turning to the right...oh my goodness! Look at these ginghams! And plaids beside them! Well. These nearly did me in, but I didn't end up buying any of them.

I was still on the hunt for birds. Continuing my trek through the store, this whole row of solids was along the back wall.

There was a nice supply of patterns. I always check for local artists when I'm in a new quilt shop. I didn't see anything here.

Walking around the back side of the solids, there were more. These were tone-on-tones.

 

And look at these! Aren't these adorable?

Look at this octopus! Oh man...if I had a little one to sew for, I would make this right away.

To the right of those were some batiks.

There were some bird fabrics in this store, but they consisted mainly of flamingos and peacocks, and other more exotic birds.

I looked carefully at this pattern, thinking I might use that with my bird neighborhood. Eventually, I decided against it, but I still might look for this pattern online.

On this wall, there were lots of quilting supplies, floss, and thread. 

Just to the left were all sorts of needles and scissors and other sewing notions.

This quilt was about the size of a placemat. So cute.

I knew you'd want to see this cat Needle Nanny. I have several Needle Nannies, and they come in all different sizes and shapes. If you like these too, you can find them for sale right here.

And since we're in Idaho, this pattern caught my eye. You wouldn't need a pattern to make this since you can just follow the grid on the pattern cover.

There was one hanging on the wall overhead.

 

And I was saved from my stitching emergency! Call off the whaaambulance! I'm saved! They had one other kit I could choose, but I liked this one best. I looked these up online at the Gingiber website. There are other cute ones. Interestingly, I paid less in the quilt shop. I especially like the ones identified as "Humblest Task" and "Dwell in Possibilities."

So I bought that kit, and then I chose the fabric below for my regional print.

There's a story behind this. I've never lived in Idaho, but I feel as if I did. We visited often because many family members did. My maternal grandparents lived about an hour away from Meridian (where this shop is located) in the town of Fruitland. My paternal grandparents had a farm in Melba, Idaho, but eventually retired in Nampa, Idaho, just about five miles from Meridian. Also, I had uncles and aunts living here, and most of my cousins. My mom and dad met and married in Idaho. My uncle, Dick Nelson, was the principal of Borah High School in Boise. And so all of that to say that the truck on this fabric reminds me of a truck my grandfather had. That was enough for me to want to include it in my Shop Hop quilt. 

So, I liked both of these shops. Both were a little in need of some organization, and they were in spaces too small to accommodate their inventory. Still, it was nice to find quilt shops in both small towns, and I found things I liked in both stores.

Okay, so I'm caught up. I'll tell you about today's drive in tomorrow morning's post. By tomorrow at this time, we'll be home. We've had a wonderful trip, and home is sounding good right now. I know the kitties will be happy to get out of the RV.