Woke up in Roseburg and decided to check out where Grandma Dee's Fabric Quilts Stitchery Inc. was before breakfast. Figured we'd find someplace close to eat and then go to the shop. Even though it was to open at 10, the shop door was open at 0915! Better yet, they let us peek in. What a wonderful organized shop. All the fabrics are laid out from light to dark in their colour. They happened to have a display of dolls through the store. Some wonderful ones. She had a few of elinor peace bailey's and has elinor coming to teach shortly. Next stop in Roseburg was Calico Junction, this shop has an amazing amount of samples on display. Their quilts and stuffed dolls are great. Found a cute pattern for a crow, rooster, hen and turkey. Unfortunately they didn't have any in the shop, but will send me one in the mail. Next stop was in Ashland and the shop called Quiltz. Large shop with some great fabrics, saw a cute set of pens that had wooden kitchen implements [spoon, fork, etc] for the handles. Got a list of the shops participating in their September shop hop. Drove down to Yreka and stopped in at Wooden Spools, very nice owner working in the shop, knows her stock very well. Also in town is Woods'n'Threads, smaller but also a nice selection. Drove over to Mount Shasta, in 1999 when we drove through this area I wasn't aware of the quilt shop here. There were also some amazing forest fires burning in the area that prevented access to Yosemite from the west so we headed east from Sacramento [farther south]. Sew Unique is in a house with a great organization to the rooms. She is starting a banner of the month. So far she's done geraniums for June, fire crackers for July, sunflowers for August and about to do apples for September. Their website is
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down the road is Weston's Quilting and Craft Centre. She has not onlyquilting, but beading, knitting and other craft supplies. Another nicelittle shop. Next we headed off the I-5 and went down to McCloud to find Custom Quilts. Beautiful scenery along the way. She's located in a nice shop and was busy marking a log cabin quilt to be machine quilted. Found a pretty Bali Batik in a colour wave I don't usually go in. Back and down to Redding California where we found a room for the night and then went exploring. Found Sew What! Nice and cool in there. Mom bought me a Mary Engelbreit sewing basket that was on sale for 40% off! It's going to be a present for either Christmas or my birthday. Next we found Sew Simple, they were having a small panic attack realizing the boss was away and they weren't sure if the staff working the next day had keys to open the shop! Great selection of flannels. Just down the street is The Posie Patch. They had some great fall samples, one I liked had a selection of fall leaves. She also had done a 4 seasons Art to Heart hanging I want to do, she still has Summer, but inspires me to get mine done this winter. Found a restaurant called Ruby Tuesdays for dinner and from our waiter found out where a mall was. We wanted to do some air conditioned walking. Oh my gosh, Penny's was having a 75% off purses, I got 4! Just let's say I saved over $95 on my bill. Mom bought two for herself. The next day we drove down to Red Bluff to check out In Stitches, very nice lady owns the shop was very helpful. In fact she recommended a couple of Antique shops to check out. Next we went off along SR32 to Chico, and checked out Honey Run Quilters. I think it was a mother and daughter running the shop. Got a scrap bag of Bali Batiks for about $1.75, with some very large scraps, perfect for appliqué. The daughter made a recommendation of some Antique shops and explained how to get to Paradise! Ended up in a Sally Ann Thrift shop where mom spotted a Hawkeye Picnic Basket with the tray in mint condition, in fact they even had the box! A great find for $35! Also found an old broken star quilt done in solids. Not sure of the fabrics, could be poly/cotton blends, but the colours appealed to me. The star has a yellow centre and then radiates out into orange, navy, red, purple, green, navy, pink, blue, orange, yellow. The background is blue and then had green borders with a green and blue isosceles triangle border. The backing is muslin and is quilted in black. It has Arch Quilts Hawkeye NY on the label. Couldn't pass it up, probably not that old, but looks like it could be. I think it has a poly batt in it. Back to the car and headed off to Paradise. Debbie's Quilt Shop has only been opened for a year. Some of her fabrics at regular price were very inexpensive. Found one for $4.35/yard! Back to I-5 and off to Willows, unfortunately the shop closed at 4 and we got there just before 5. Decided to bypas the shop in Colusa and head down to Sacramento. Mom found a place in a book, turned out to be close to the state fair but they were booked. Stayed at a Doubletree in just across from the Arden Mall. Wow, what a lot of scenery we saw today! Next stop Auburn and Macato's Orchard!
-- Sandi in New Westminster B.C.