Today is Saturday, the day before the last day of the Quilt Run and I’ve decided to not continue.  I’m of mixed mind… Both the hubby and the kids tell me I should go but there are so many things going on in our lives at the moment that I feel like taking the time to go on the run will be so EXHAUSTING.  It will keep me so busy today and tomorrow that by the time Monday rolls around I will not be able to be in the best condition for work.  And next week will be a tough week. It’s the end of the quarter, with a lot of paperwork and urgent things that I need to be at the top of my game next week.  So – I want to sit at home, quilt a little, play a little, relax and get some work done so I’m ahead of the game next week.  DD and I have 12 shops to finish – all in Area 3 and Area 4 so primarily the San Diego regions.  I’ll just turn in what we’ve done to my LQS and call it a day. But because I never posted about day 4 of our Run – here it goes:

First Stop: Quilt Cupboard, Placentia

I feel like I’d been here before.  I think there was a different shop in this location.  There wasn’t a lot of fabric so I feel like they might be new.  The ladies were nice and friendly.  They had a kids korner which I haven’t seen at any other of the quilt shops.  They only gave us one of the run fat quarters even though DD was playing along too.  Not sure why.  All the other shops happily gave us two. There were tables in the front with guild members.  Since I’m not a local I didn’t spend time talking to anyone there but I thought it was a great idea to have them there.

Second Stop: Flying Geese Fabric, Tustin

Everyone was nice and friendly.  DD loved the lemon bars they had.  I remember getting skull fabric for DS from here the last time we went on the run.   This time I found an interesting embroidery hoop that I bought.  I’ll try it out and see if it works better than the cheap stuff I get at the big J store.

Third Stop: Stars and Scraps, Corona

This place was tiny.  They do not participate in the row by row.  They are more traditional and very patrioritc. They had a cool thread display with all the Valdani threads in mason jars.  I wish I thought to take a picture of it.

Fourth Stop: Quilter’s Cocoon, Riverside

There is a lot of stuff on display in this shop.  Again, everyone was really friendly and even DD found some little items to explore while I wandered around.

Fifth Stop: Tops and Bobbins, Hesperia

Final stop and it was really hot and we were tired.  It was 101 degrees in Hesperia and I think we were just done with the whole thing.  We forgot to take down notes of what we saw.  But I remembered seeing elephant fabric.  When I was doing Mathias baby quilt I had a hard time finding the right kind of elephant fabric and had to resort to online shops.  This shop had a bunch of different kinds that I would have loved to include in his quilt.

Happy Quilting Friends!

Loot: Fat Quarters!
6/19/2015

Yesterday was day 2 of the SoCal Quilt Run.  On the way I listened to Hobbies up to Here podcast and was tickled pink when they mentioned me and my blog!  Thank you ladies!  I left work a little early and was able to hit the road with DD at about 1-1:30.  We were able to get to 5 shops before we called it quits and went to dinner at Tutto Fresco Fresh Italian in Orange.  Friday traffic hindered us but we just kept on going.  DD is such a trooper!

First Stop: Quilt n’ Things in Montrose

Quilt ‘n Things
Montrose, CA
6/19/2015

Love this spot!  It looks like a great place to spend a morning or afternoon strolling down the street to visit the various shops.  There’s a tea room a shop or two over and DD and I love going to tea.  We generally go every month or so.  There’s also a cross stitch shop further down near Starbucks.  I haven’t cross stitched in years but I still got the project bins from the years I was doing it.  I plan to get back to that eventually.  There’s going to be a car show on 7/5 that I may just go with the family to.  But about the shop – the people were really nice and I believe this was the shop I purchased the corduroys from at PIQF or the show at Long Beach before the show moved.  I didn’t see any at the shop but I didn’t pay close attention to that as I didn’t remember the corduroy until later. I would definitely come again just to see if they had any more or what other interesting items they may have that I didn’t see.

Second Stop: New Moon Textiles in Pasadena

New Moon Textiles
Pasadena, CA
6/19/2015

The parking is at the back of the shop so we entered from the back and it’s not as cute as a store front.  But this place was huge!  A lot of fabric and I noticed that the quilts on display were more of a modern bent using more solids.  They also have a lot of batiks.  I don’t know if I would call this a modern quilt shop though — just more modern than the other quilt shops we went to yesterday. Again, nice people looking to help us find the passport station.  DD and I were on a mission and I was resolved not to spend money so I tried not to look around too much and get tempted to the dark (but really fun) side. 🙂

Third Stop: The Sew N Sew in Glendora

Sew N Sew
Glendora, CA
6/19/2015

Another cute and charming location that I would go to just to hang out and check out nearby shops. I absolutely loved this shop!  It had rooms after rooms after rooms of all different kinds of fabric.  It will probably take hours (or even days) to get through each room.  They had a bunch of bag making stuff that was larger than other quilt shops I’ve been to.  They had a ton of batiks!  And they had hot dogs and water in the front of the shop.  By this stop, it was really hot and the girl and I were not in the mood to walk around like we were in Montrose.  So we jumped in the car and jetted over to Cypress. 

Fourth Stop: Tranquility Quilt Shop in Cypress

Tranquility Quilt Shop
Cypress, CA
6/19/2015

At Tranquility, the shelves seemed kind of sparse as if they were closing or just went through a huge sale.  But they had a finished Moon Glow and I was super excited to see it.  I’m almost done with mine.  The inner top is done and I need to get the border on it.  I’ve been thinking about how I was going to quilt it so I inspected their Moon Glow to see how they quilted.  Lovely and now I’ve got a great idea on how I’m going to quilt mine!  The other quilt I found was a pumpkin or fall quilt.  They had a kit for $200 that I really wanted to buy but stopped myself.  First, I’ve got a whole bin of kits from the last 10 years that I’ve bought and haven’t started that I want to get to at some point.  Second, I do not want to buy anything!  Especially not something $200!

Fifth Stop: Orange Quilt Bee in Orange

Orange Quilt Bee
Orange, CA
6/19/2015

I’ve been to this shop 4 or 5 times and I always find something to buy.  I like to look at their wool selection and their patterns.  I finally caved and bought this pattern:

bought from orange quilt bee
6/19/2015

If this shop was closer to me I’d come here more often and buy a lot more.

Today is day 3 but the boy has his championship baseball game today and then the awards dinner with his team so I will be attending that and catching up on the work I didn’t do while I was out visiting the shops.  Will be back on the run tomorrow for day 4!

Happy Quilting Friends!

So Cal Quilt Run Pin
2015

So the stars did not line up for So Cal Quilt Run and I was not able to hit the road yesterday and do the whole 4 day trip like I wanted to.  I’ve got a work project that is slightly behind schedule which means, I can’t take time off.  Part of me wanted to just forget playing this year since I can’t play 100% but as the day got closer and closer, I thought that was ridiculous and I can at least try to hit some of the areas. Yesterday I left work a little early and was able to hit 3 of the 7 shops in Area 1. In addition, only one of the kids was able to join me since DS is in baseball camp this week and next.

First Stop – My LQS – Quilt Emporium

Quilt Emporium
6/18/2015

This is my favorite shop!  There are other local shops in my area that are actually closer to my house but I trek over to this shop before going to any others.  It’s actually down the street from my office so it’s not too much of a trek if I go after work. 🙂 Anyway, this shop is primarily known for repro prints (civil war, thirties, etc.)  It’s been around for ages – I believe over 30 years now.  I took traditional quilting classes with the previous owner.  Since the new owner took over a few years ago (the previous one retired), more modern fabrics are taking over the shop.  The drawback is that the shop is small and they just don’t have the space for all the fabric.  I don’t mind, though, because a lot of fabric is off the shelves and I see more of it which in turn means I buy more of it. 🙂  In addition, fabric hits the clearance section faster because they are constantly trying to make room for new fabric.  The staff is friendly and helpful.

Second Stop – Cotton and Chocolate Quilt Company in Thousand Oaks

Cotton and Chocolate Quilt Company
6/18/2015

This shop is a lot bigger than my LQS and I’m not sure why I don’t head over here more often.  It’s only 30 minutes away and if my LQS doesn’t have something I need its not too far for me to go.  But I only go here during the quilt runs.  There’s a lot of fabric and the staff during the run is very friendly.  IN addition, they’ve got a chocolate fountain set up in the back.

Cotton and Chocolate
Chocolate Fountain
6/18/2015

When the kids were young I was terrified that they would get chocolate on something and herded them out of the store as soon as I could.  Now that DD is older, we were able to look around, chat, and plan the next part of the trip.

Third Stop – The Quilters Studio in Newbury Park

Quilters Studio
6/18/2015

Fifteen minutes away from Cotton and Chocolate is Quilters Studio.  They are primarily a Bernina dealership. They have fabric and quilty stuff too but not as much as the first two quilt shops.  I bought my Bernina from here.  To be honest, I don’t like this store very much.  I don’t like to be negative about a small business but this is a business and I should let you all know what I really think of a place.  Honestly, if I had known I could have gotten my Bernina from a closer shop I would have gone there.  The fabric selection is small compared to other quilt shops I’ve gone too. But that’s not the issue – the staff is not very friendly and there’s a vibe in the shop that I don’t like.  They’re not overtly rude but I get a negative feeling everytime I come here.  Obviously it might just be me but I’ve gone to a lot of quilt shops especially in California and there are a handful of shops that have a vibe like this one.  If it wasn’t for the run, I wouldn’t come here.

There are 4 more stops in Area 1 and I hope to get off a little early today to hit them.  There is one all the way up in Lancaster and I’m not sure I’ll be able to get there today.  I may save that for Sunday when I can avoid traffic.  But, I really want to get Area 1 done today so I will try to get out early enough to beat the traffic over there and back.

Finally – Loot –

Loot!
6/18/2015

I didn’t buy anything!  Which is great!  Each shop is giving away a fat quarter of Robert Kaufman fabric and with DD and I going, we’re getting two of each!  We get a free pattern and other little goodies like the charms above.

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