The 2007 Vermont Shop Hop

This past weekend was the second weekend of the Vermont Shop Hop. Thing Two and I went to 4 of the shops on the Thursday before St. Patricks day, but had to cut our trip short because of the impending snowstorm, so Friday/Sat/Sun this weekend we finished our trip to the remaining 10 shops on the list. We drove around the state of Vermont to places we had never been before, we spent way too much money, we ate too much junk food and we wasted a bunch of time waiting for AAA and a locksmith to help us with a minor bit of car trouble, but we had a LOT of fun.

At each shop on the Shop Hop, we got a pattern to make the "Seasons of Vermont" quilt, pictured here in the version made by the ladies at The Thread Connection in Middlebury Vermont:


The shops in the hop were a mixed bag: several I had been to before, many I've never even heard of. Some were definitely worth the trip, others not so much so. Of course being the obsessed quilter that I am, anytime I'm in any of these towns, I'd go back to any of the shops!

I was particularly impressed with a couple of them:

The Quilted Lily in Johnson, Vermont is in a really cute little town and has a lot of more modern/contemporary fabrics. Instead of displaying the fat quarters all folded up, the fat quarter displays there had each fat quarter hanging on separate little clip...really great for those BIG prints, you could see the pattern without having to unfold it and mess up the display.

Country Treasures in Chester is a great shop...she has more fabric than most any other shop I've been in in a long time. This shop was not new to me, it has been a favorite of mine for a long time. I'm looking forward to going there in May for a weekend retreat/class with one of my local quiting groups. We'll be sewing at the shop all weekend and staying at the Inn next door. More on that later.

Also, I can't say enough about the fabulous ladies working at Sew Many Treasures in Williston (they don't have a website for me to share with you). We had a little bit of car trouble while we were there...I had to call AAA who couldn't help me because we needed a locksmith (no I didn't lock my keys in the car, the ignition system locked up because of the security system or something). Between when I realized I had a problem and the locksmith finally arrived, Thing Two and I spent 5 hours at this particular quilt shop: in the shop, in the car, in the parking lot, back in the store, etc etc. Thing Two, being 4 years old was a bit hyperactive and unhappy about being in one place. The ladies at this shop made sure we were comfortable, had something to eat and drink, a place to sit etc. And of course because we were there so long, I kept looking around the store and buying more and more things. LOL.

Now if I can just win myself one of the great prizes for completing the journey to all 14 shops I'll be thrilled! The big prizes are: 1. a featherweight 2. a $20 gift certificate to each of the 14 stores, 3. and 4. gift baskets of goodies and fabrics and lastly, 5. a free class, free admission and some goodies from the Vermont Quilt Festival.