Quilt Shop: Quilters Inspiration; Grand Junction, Colorado

Let's do some shopping today, my friends. It's the first shop we've visited together this trip. Mike had some business to take care of in Grand Junction, Colorado, and it seemed like a perfect opportunity to take in a quilt shop...this one:

Here's how it looks as you approach the entrance. It was one of the larger stores I've visited.

We'd been traveling many miles, and so I started at the back of the store...you know...where the restrooms were located. Out in the store, the first room I came to was a colorful classroom. While I shopped a woman came in toting a pile of stuff. I had the feeling a class would be starting later.

Continuing on, I passed by this stuff for the Go! cutter. I'm not a Go! person, and so I have now idea what all this stuff is or how it works, but maybe you do.

Continuing along the back wall, there was a nice supply of notions.

And then, this table. All the fabrics here were 25% off. I gave them a passing glance. There was one I might have liked, but then I forgot to go back for it.

Moving on, they had some beautiful solids. 

Some patriotic fabrics.

There were plenty of kits if you're of that persuasion. Isn't this snail quilt cute?

Here there were some pretty landscape prints.

Some yummy stripes and polka dots.

Some southwest and food fabrics.

Rounding the corner, there were some cute sewing themed fabrics. I liked those red tomato pincushion fabrics on the left, but I need more fabric like I need another hole in my head. If I'd had a use for them, maybe, but I couldn't think of anything.

Look at these cute camper fabrics. I've used the one on the right in some quilts in the past. These were tempting, but again...I couldn't think of any projects where I might use them.

I'm always on the hunt for what my regional print will be to include in a Shop Hop quilt. I looked at these for a long time, thinking of the many black-eyed Susans we've seen on this trip. I decided against them, since they're really sunflowers. That one in the middle might have been okay.

Moving on, there was a panel of quilt labels.

And here's something I haven't seen before. These QuilTiles were magnetic, and you could arrange them to form quilt blocks.

I'm not sure why these fabrics were on a table rather than shelved, except possibly the shelves were full.

Hanging from the ceiling in the middle of the store was a row of panels.

There were more panels hanging here.

And more rolled up here.

I liked this cozy rag quilt. Since making a rag quilt a while back, I've been plotting my next one. I don't think I would do it so Christmas-y like this one, but it does look cozy with those snowflakes.

Here, there were Halloween and Christmas fabrics.

I decided on a fat quarter of the fabric below for my regional print. It doesn't photograph well at all. I gave it three tries with two different cameras. The camera wants to focus on the background and blurs the petroglyph subjects. It made me think of the pictographs and petroglyphs we'd seen at Dinosaur National Monument. So, I'm sorry it's such a poor picture, but I think you can get the idea.

There are other quilt shops in Grand Junction, but this one was rated highest on Yelp. It was a large store, spread out, and roomy. I complimented the woman behind the counter on the ample space for really getting a good look at things. She eyed me and then said, "Well, some quilters are getting up in age..." Who're you looking at? I thought. And she continued, "quilters come in with walkers and wheelchairs," and so she kept the aisles wide for everyone. The doors opened automatically too. I hadn't considered the needs of disabled shoppers until that moment, and then I considered some of the shops I've visited where I could barely see anything because of the cramped quarters. And all of that to say that this is a shop worth visiting if you find yourself in Grand Junction. It was an enjoyable visit. 

I'm hoping to visit another quilt shop here in Moab. I've heard that my usual quilt shop "It's Sew Moab" has permanently closed. Google would agree. Instead, there are a couple of new ones...one just down the road...and so I'll try to get in a visit there before we leave Moab.