Quilt Shop: Fields Fabrics, Holland, Michigan

Okay, so this is the second quilt shop we visited while in Holland, Michigan. I'll admit this store is even more of a puzzle now than it was when I visited. This is how the store looked from the front. The building was huge, and I couldn't get a picture of the whole thing without putting the camera in "pano" mode.

Stepping inside...holy moly! Looking to the right, it looked like this:

Looking left...I'll admit, I was already overwhelmed.

This next image is taken standing on the other side of the row of fabric in the image above. These were all beautiful batiks. 

Walking toward the left of the store was a whole selection of nautical fabrics. I knew I'd find my regional print here.

Walking on, there were some juvenile prints. And let me just say that the word "some" doesn't capture the volume of fabrics in every category.

At the extreme left were shelves of flannel.

Moving on down that wall, there was a huge selection of solids. It made me wonder if there is an Amish community here.

Standing on the left side of the store and looking across, you can see how big it is, and how much fabric there is.

Here were tons of stripes and plaids.

And tons of food fabrics.

And more flannel in stripes and plaids.

And night sky fabrics.

There was so much fabric, I could have spent an entire day and not seen it all. I gave myself a break by moving toward the back of the store where there was a good supply of books and patterns.

Behind that...tables of fleece.

Behind that, notions galore.

And thread...oh my.

And fun buttons.

I started feeling like I was in a JoAnn when I saw all these home decor fabrics. There was upholstery fabric and vinyl.

It seems all the quilt shops have their Christmas fabric out. Maybe they have it out year-round. I don't usually buy fabrics that are only usable for Christmas quilts. If I'm making a Christmas quilt, it's usually going to be something more of a general winter theme, rather than specifically for Christmas.

But here's where the confusion really set in. Look at the image below. See the fabric just to the right of middle at the top? The one with pinecones. That was one of the first fabrics I purchased when I first learned to quilt, and so I started thinking this store was carrying some very old fabrics. I looked on the selvage edge to see if I could find a year, but there was none.

Later, I came to this fabric, which is one of the fabrics I used in the first quilt I ever made...when I took a quilting class at our local community college in July of 2008.  

Here's my first quilt:

And now I know that fabric is old. So that had me wondering. Does this store take old stock from other stores? Is it sort of like an outlet store for places like JoAnn? No way to know, but I was surprised to see such old fabrics for sale. It might explain why virtually everything in the store was on sale.

Adding to the confusion, when we left Grand Haven yesterday, we passed by yet another Fields Fabrics store. Looking online, I realized this is a chain of stores. I read this on their website:

Field's Fabrics, based in Grand Rapids Michigan, has seven retail store locations throughout the West Michigan area. Field's Fabrics first opened in 1953 as a Dry Goods store. Fabric sold very well and eventually expanded to become all fabrics and notions. Field's Fabrics carries a vast selection in almost every category of fabrics along with many fabric related supplies, many of which are also available worldwide. New fabrics and supplies are constantly being updated both in-store and our online selection.

Okay, so it's not exactly what I thought, but it isn't a quilt shop per se...it's a store for anyone who sews anything. I'll say I didn't see much related to embroidery there...no floss, as an example...but certainly one could find anything else, including patterns for sewing garments.

So what did I come away with? Well, I selected this one for my regional fabric. And I was happy with my choice until I made my way to the register.

Hanging above the register was this panel. There were two small and one large design of the same thing. The smaller ones look to be the right size for use in my Shop Hop quilt. And this panel was custom created for Fields Fabrics.

So, if it's the right size, one of the smaller panels will go into my quilt. If not, I'll use my first choice of the lighthouse fabric. Either way, I'll use the lighthouse fabric for something. 

But look at the things in the panel below. The Mackinac Bridge is there...the two lighthouses from Grand Haven are there...the Holland windmill is there...and some other things we've seen along the way. It's perfect for my quilt.

You could find whatever you want in this store. Prepare to be overwhelmed however. And with 7 stores in Michigan, you Michiganders can probably find one nearby.

Breckenridge, Michigan

It was a relatively short drive to our newest destination. We were delayed when Smitty refused to get out of bed. He was fairly well crashed out on my side for the morning. It's hard to make the bed when it's in this condition.

Sadie had the good sense to nap on the couch, like any other self-respecting cat.

There wasn't much to see along the way, except when we started seeing signs leading toward Saginaw, a certain Simon & Garfunkle song got stuck in my head. My Facebook friends kept me entertained by writing little snippets of the lyrics back and forth to one another. I believe it might have become an earworm of massive proportions, beginning with these words:

It took me four days to hitchhike from Saginaw

I've gone to look for America.

When my Facebook friends starting chiming in with their own lyrics, I began to wonder what I'd started. Possibly we could get enough people with the same earworm to set a new world record and get ourselves into the Guinness book. (I'm always trying to figure out ways to get into the book.)

It seemed we'd left the tree-lined roads behind in favor of the barns. There were lots of barns on yesterday's drive.

I was sad to miss two barns with quilt blocks. 

It was okay...I found some quilt blocks down the road. Reflections are always a problem when the barns are on Mike's side.

These barns had silos right beside them. In other areas, the silos have been a distance from the barns. We can only think this has something to do with cold winters.

They were in various stages of disrepair.

This next one isn't technically a barn, but it did have a quilt block.

And this next one was hung on the side of a furniture store. You have to admire their creativity for putting an easy chair in the middle.

When we reached our final destination, I spent some time working on my slow-stitching, filling my hoop.

We're in a nice park here...nothing fancy, but the Pine River is just across the road from us.

Looking in the other direction, it looks like this:

Behind us is a swimming pond with floating play structures for the kids.

Just across from us is a tall tree with a big bird's nest. With this being next to the river, we think it might be an osprey nest. It appears abandoned this late in the season, however.

Standing near the pond, here's where we're set up. The park has many empty sites, and we love having plenty of room between us and our neighbors.

It's nearly time for breakfast, but I still owe you a quilt shop post. I'll do that before making breakfast. I'm meeting up with my blogging friend Gail today. Gail has a fun day planned for us, and I'm so excited to meet her in the flesh. We started blogging around the same time (I think), and we've shared much in writing over the years. Today will be our first time standing side by side. It's going to be a good day.