144 miles, 7 1/2 hours later....

...I made it to 5 more shops today! So close! I have one more shop tomorrow. This SHOP HOPPIN' business is HARD WORK!

OK....first stop this morning was in Byrne Sewing Connection. This shop is HUGE and is all about the machines and the classes. If I ever decide to REALLY LEARN how to sew/quilt....this would be a good place to get to know! (hee) Oh...and they had SILK fabrics and patterns for fabulous things...(spendy spendy, tho'!) Bonus points to them for thinking to have mini bottles of water for their guests! (Like JCrew stores. I think everyone should offer these....but not exactly GREEN, I guess). OK...I digress....here is their take on the SHOP HOP quilt:

Next stop was Country Quiltworks....this is one I could have spent HOURS IN. Lots of great fabrics (bonus points for also offering FAT 1/8ths!) and tons of patterns and samples everywhere. They had some Amy Butler that I hadn't seen elsewhere, and Heather Bailey patterns (no fabric tho! Am I destined to NEVER SEE THAT STUFF IN A DANG SHOP?) I scored the LAST strawberry pincushion kit! (lovely felts/wool bits)....but did not splurge for the $12 patterns. Ugh. Remember the good ole days when patterns were 50 or 75 cents? This shop gets bonus points for offering up an extra pattern with their quilt block for the Shop Hoppers. It's for a Christmas Tree made of fabric yo-yo's. Cute. Their quilt was done in black, white, and tans (sorry for the lousy photo...it was much lovlier in person!)

My haul!

They had a FULL ROOM devoted to patterns and books...and in the center was a twin bed with this gorgeous quilt: "I SPY" - all novelty fabrics....and some really lovely pillows. YUMMY fabrics, don't you think? The I SPY quilt is 6" blocks with squares appliqued in the corners somehow....clever clever....I need to look into that pattern!
Yum Yum....scrappy pillows.

Third shop was Granny's Sewing Den. They get bonus points for giving away a piece of fabric to each Shop Hopper! AND...instead of doing a full quilt? They made each block into a PURSE. How clever is THAT? (AND...they are raffling off one of the totes....a dollar a chance. WOOT!) Favorite find there was the retro Santa fabric (like MOM's SANTA MUGS, sisters!)

These purses were really well made. I'd be happy to win ANY of them...I forget which one is being raffled off. Not a fan of the fabric selection...but they looked great all grouped together. Very clever, eh?

My haul from Granny's! The black fabric with the Christmas balls on it was the "free gift." Very nice!

Number 4 stop today was Quilter's Corner....this is a shop I frequent fairly often....and since I was short on time...I dashed in and got my book stamped and zipped out. I wish I had time to linger...looked like they have lots of new bolts since I was there last. They are raffling off their Shop Hop quilt - you get one chance for every 10 dollars you spend! Nice! I saw some really cool retro or comic book strip looking fabrics that have you written ALL OVER THEM, Stella!! Gotta get back there soon to check that out.... here is their quilt:

And my fifth and final stop for the day was in Neward DE at Quilter's Hive. This shop is new to me also...TONS of space - lots of beautiful samples and nice selection of fabrics...I scored another piece of Amy Butler's Belle collection as my final purchase of the day! yippie!

I {heart} you, Amy Butler's Belle Collection, I do!

OK...off to go PLAY with my new toys now!