Shop Hop report

35 quilters
2 states
5 quilt shops
a couple of detours
lots of summer road road construction
all in . . . 17 hours  

All of my purchases fit into ONE cloth shopping bag!  That's a first for me!

Every shop we visited was friendly and welcoming.  We were given "goodies" at every shop, ranging from bottled water, homemade muffins, locally made chocolates, fat quarters, mug rugs, and sewing notions.  Zoom in to check out the cute wording on that white printed square.

I had a list and fabric swatches so I could look for specific things to finish a variety of projects.  I stayed pretty disciplined - spending less than I have on past shop hop bus trips. Yardage purchases included Christmas fabrics to finish a current holiday project, a dark blue for a border on a nearly finished flimsy, black print needed to finish a WIP,  a pink/white stripe to bind 2 projects, a map themed fabric for a gift I'm making, and some light colored fabrics for a Quilt of Valor project. 

Of course there were impulse buys as well.  What fun would it be if I didn't make any random purchases . . . just because?  Two panels and a charm pack came home with me.  No plan yet for these items, but I'm sure something will come to mind.

I'm always on the lookout for great fat quarters to add to the stash.  They are great for small projects, and for fun additions to Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks.  In one shop I picked up a pack of 5 fat quarters with sports themes from the sale bin.  With the final discount they were $1 each.  I got the Cornhusker (University of Nebraska, Lincoln) fat eighth and a cowboy boot FQ to make 2 more of the suitcase blocks I've been making for a "travel" quilt.  I got my masters degree at UNL many years ago so that seemed appropriate.  There are 2 Halloween prints with cats.  The other FQs choices were just because they caught my eye.  

Our bus left town at 7 am, right on time.  We hit road construction and detours that put us behind schedule.  Our driver was awesome, and the shops were very accommodating with late arrivals.  Our supper stop was at 8:00 pm.  I pulled into my garage at the stroke of midnight.  Long, but very fun day.  So, what shops did we visit?  

*  Sassy Cat (Yankton, SD)

*  I Bee Quiltin (Norfolk, NE)

*  Creative Notions (West Point, NE)

*  Nebraska Quilt Co. (Fremont, NE)

* The Quilt Shop (Wakefield, NE)

What was my favorite stop?  Each one was unique for different reasons.  The shop in Fremont had the best selection of batiks I've ever seen.  I love batiks but didn't purchase any.  Discipline was difficult.  The Norfolk shop had the best goody bag ever.  The Wakefield shop had a huge selection of panels.  The Yankton shop is closer to home so I stop in there a couple times a year.  They always have wonderful patterns and especially fun Christmas and Halloween projects.  The West Point shop had a couple of beautiful fabric lines that I haven't seen anywhere else.  I would recommend visiting all of these quilt shops if you're in northeast Nebraska or southeast South Dakota.