Hi everyone, Well, I did it! I made it solo to all of the 22 shops in both the south and north divisions of the So Calif Quilters Run. Now all I have to do is wait for the drawings :-)
First, I have to admit I was a little lax in starting the second part of the run--because I waited to the last minute to tie all the previous ribbons on my purse and assemble the pin, I didn't leave until almost 8:30 am. The late start, plus 2 SigAlerts (massive traffic tie-ups, for the non-Los Angeles readers), made for a late finish!
I made a new shopping list--several textured fabrics for a paper pieced/appliqué house block, the one missing background fabric for my mom's memory quilt, and some notions--in addition to 4 lights/neutrals for our someday log cabin bed quilt.
I started out caught in the first SigAlert and the Fabric Patch in Montclair ended up being 30 minutes further away than planned. I guess others must have been stuck in the same mess, because there was a long line to check in, something I hadn't seen before. But they had a wonderful selection of quilt themed mystery books to browse as we stood in line. Plus it gave me time to chat with the other runners. The store itself was really well stocked and had one of the best selections of Christmas fabrics I've seen. And I got 2 of my textured fabrics needed--a good start.
Next I got stopped in the second SigAlert on the way to A Quilters Dream in San Gabriel. I had poked my head in there once after a visit to the San Gabriel Bead Co next door center so I knew it to be a small neighborhood place. It was decorated very nicely--probably the cutest store on the run.
Then up the street to Bearly Stitchin in Pasadena-wow! I wish I lived closer because I would love to buy my next sewing machine there--they had a wonderful selection and the store was very spacious and light-filled. The fabric was impressive too--great neutrals, holiday and Halloween fabrics, cat themes, flannels, etc. I'll definitely go back there--and I'm even on their mailing list now:-). I ended up getting a basting glue stick, something I've had problems finding locally. They also had the most extensive refreshments--hot dogs, watermelon, lemonade and ice tea!
Next was Quilt + Things in Montrose, a quaint little town with a cute downtown area with lots of shops to walk to. Unfortunately, I forgot to put more money in the parking meter, so I only had 18 minutes to browse--and got another textured fabric on my list. I was really impressed by the vast collection of Southwestern themed fabrics--this is the ONLY place I've ever seen with such a selection. They also had a good number of textured fabrics.
Then came the most fun of this run--Q is for Quilts in Burbank. Their theme was the circus and everyone was dressed up in clown's costumes! Bags of peanuts were being thrown, horns blown and we all had a good time. They had a lot of fabric, including an impressive amount of black and white material and neutrals. I'll definitely go back there again!
Loving Stitches, a small neighborhood shop in Santa Clarita was next--I tried hard to find some FQs, since they were on sale for $1.75. Driving there, I was finally able to see the mountains with building thunderclouds--the other shops had been on the "smoggy side" so visibility was poor.
I had a beautiful drive to and from The Quilt Station in Simi Valley-the county there is classic California with rolling golden hills dotted with the green native oaks. It's nice to see open space, not all houses and freeways?. The shop itself is another small neighborhood one, but it had a much broader selection than most of its class.
Then I hit The Quilters' Studio in Newbury Park, where the owner is a former engineer who after being laid off, decided to follow her passions and started a quilting shop. It had a nice selection of broadcloth in every color under the sun. But what was most notable were the sample quilts hanging--many of them were what I think of as "art quilts" rather than the traditional ones usually taught in classes. I picked up a schedule and found that these samples were taught as beginning art quilting classes for people who wanted something different. The one that caught my eye was "Torn and Woven"--the use of color shadings was awesome. I wished I lived closer to take her classes!
I made one detour to the Creative Castle just down the road to pick up some sterling silver magnetic clasps. They have excellent jewelry classes with recognized visiting artists teaching techniques. Somehow I have to figure out how to take classes at both places, especially since the Creative Castle is right next to Baskin Robbins (where I had an early "dinner").
I slowly made my way to the Quilt Emporium, another small neighborhood store in Woodland Hills, before heading through the Santa Monica Mountains down to the ocean--by then, I had it with freeways! Finally there was cool air and no smog and the Pacific was so soothing to look at.
Eventually I made it to the last shop, Luella's Quilt Basket in Redondo Beach, where I managed to get the last textured fabric (yay!) and some variegated cotton thread. The store is one of 3 local ones in my area and although it recently moved to larger quarters, it's still basically a small neighborhood shop (with great classes and good prices on Vikings!)
And then it was home-around 8pm, tired, hot, having driven almost 250 miles in about 11 ½ hours. I still need the one background fabric (an no longer made material that I've only seen once, on Ebay), 3 notions which I'll probably end up getting online and all of my light/neutrals. The free gifts were more modest this time: 2 packages of needles, a passport holder, fly swatter, 2 fat 8ths, patterns for a mini satchel and a flower pot pillow, coaster, fat quarter, a stress squeezer, plus lots of coupons and chances at some instore drawings.
Thinking about the run, this part was very different than the other--on the minus side, I crammed in way too many stores for one day so I couldn't spend as much time as I liked shopping. In fact, I didn't even attempt to look for the neutrals. Because of "Friday get-away" traffic that worsened as the day went on, there was the constant pressure to move on before the freeways got even more grid-locked. Plus, most of the stores on this run (with a few notable exceptions) didn't have the nice gifts and/or refreshments as the other run.
On the plus side, games and themes were a lot more fun-and I've found several places where I plan to be a regular shopper :-) debbe