What’s in my Quilt Shop Hop Bag?

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A few months ago, my mother-in- law, the little mister and I packed a picnic lunch, and hit the road visiting some of the local quilt shops for the Mid Carolina Run Shop Hop. We had an amazing day, perfect weather, and saw so much inspiration at every stop. Even my son seemed to have a good day. The ladies we met just loved him and of course, he ate up the extra attention.

There was food (what excited my 3 year old), door prizes (what excited my mother- in- law and I), and you got a pattern for a quilt block that made up this years shop hop quilt. The block that we got at each shop represent them in the quilt, so it was like you got a piece of the puzzle every where you went.

We are very lucky to have so many wonderful quilt shops in our area! Unfortunately, I don’t always get a chance to visit them much throughout the year, so I took this opportunity to buy a little something at each stop to show my support.

When I got home, I realized I had collect quite a nice shopping bag of stuff. Some things are products I love and some are new to test out. So, I thought it would be fun to share with you my purchases and what I plan to do with them…

1. Creative Grid Ruler (8 1/2 in x 24 1/2 in): This is my favorite brand of rulers. I tried one that a friend had and instantly fell in love. On the bottom of the Creative Grid rulers there are textured spots that keep it still while making important cuts. I have tried other ruler and adding grips to it, but they still slipped and some times would sit uneven if you were cutting close to the edge of the fabric.
2. 5 in 1 Sliding Gage with Nancy Zieman: My son thinks it is fun to bend metal seam gauges in half, leaving them unable to ever be flattened out completely again. With that in mind, I decided to go with something a little more sturdy. I will be using it to hem some jeans for my dad, but there are many more things it can do, like marking button holes, and can be used as a circle compass too.
3. Sulky Printable Sheets: This is a new item I am testing out. I bought this so I can use it to transfer embroidery designs. You print whatever design you would like on the sheets and then it can easily be transfer right onto then fabric. I can wait to show you the embroidery project I have planned.
4. Perle Cotton: Ok, this has become a little bit of an obsession for me, like 1930’s prints. I went so long never seeing them anywhere that now when I do see them, I want them all. They are very versatile and can are used in for hand quilting and embroidery, but really I just think they are so cute!
5. Schmetz Sewing Machine Needles: This is the only brand needles I use. Often if I visit my favorite quilt shop, I will pick some up just to keep a good supply on hand.
6. Bo- Nash Iron Cleaner Sheets: My iron is disgusting! It had a run in with some fusible fleece that definitely left its mark. I have tried several DIY cleaner on methods  my iron with no luck, so I thought it might be a good idea to bring in some help. I plan to do a review on this product later this month.
7. Fat Quarters: I asked the question on Facebook a while ago “What do you do when you see a pretty fabric that you like, but don’t have a project in mind for it?” Well, what I do is buy fat quarters. It isn’t a huge commitment if I don’t have something to do with it right away, and it is a lot easier to store a stash of fat quarters instead of yardage. By buying smaller cuts I get to walk away with more pretty patterns, instead of one print of yardage. There are always plenty of great sewing/ quilting patterns I can use with them. So, I picked up a few Christmas cuts, 1930’s to add to my collection, and a few other prints that I just thought were pretty.

Have you ever been to a quilt shop hop before? What do you think about the items I purchased?

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