Hi,
I recently moved to North Carolina (north of the Raleigh/Durham area) and I have yet to find a friend who wants to fabric shop with me. I love to leave on Saturday morning and drive to a quilt shop an hour or "sew" away, have some lunch out, maybe stop again at another shop on the way home. I also find my car stops at Michael's and JoAnn's with little asssistance. I went to couple of guild meetings, but I just didn't connect and didn't want to seem pushy.
The shops in Raleigh and Wake Forest are great. I've also been to Selma once during the shop hop last year, and would love to go back but it's a long drive by myself. I also heard about Mary Jo's, but it's nearly a 3 hour drive for me, maybe a weekend trip with the hubby sometime on that one.
I'm trying to turn some of my new friends into quilters but none have caught my bug yet! If any of you are in my general area and you're going to be at any of the local shops I'd love to meet you there sometime.
Hope this doesn't sound like one of those personal ads!

Hello and welcome from Ontario. Unfortunately I am nowhere near you, hope you find someone close by to make road trips to your favourite shops.

LOL, happy shopping and good luck finding a quilting buddy. I have one and wonldn't trade her for the world. We sew together, have cookouts tegether, and now the hubbys hunt and are talking about going fishing together.

Sorry about the guild thing, but try again. Before the meeting tell the president that you are looking for a "sponsor". Sometimes it is easy to forget that it is not easy to be a newcomer to a group that is already formed.

Hey, lady! I live SOUTH of Raleigh, and there's nothing here! Closest to me is Cary JoAnn's, and that's 45min away! You'll have to give me the scoop on what's hot!

Welcome!

Darn, you sound like my kind of friend!! :D Would love to join you but I'm a few states away :(

Oh do I wish we were closer! I haven't been on a shop hop but I do have a friend who quilts (much more than me) and we do our own shop hop thing. A whole day of hitting 2 or 3 shops out of our area, then lunch and back home, happy as bugs in a rug and loaded with goodies. Sometimes we head to Indiana, then sometimes we go east. And we're looking forward to going south to Columbus, Ohio.

Yep, you need a quilt-shopping buddy. It's a great time!

Well, maybe SOME day. One of my daughters might be moving to the Raleigh area (she's in CA now). We used to live in Charlotte and love NC. All the cards are mixed up at the moment, but if we get them straightened out and decide to move also, that would be the area of choice for us. So....sometime perhaps. I'll let you know if it happens and we can play!

Hello and welcome from a native NC Tarheel. I now live in So Cal. I wish I was there, I would sure go with you. My niece lives in Raleigh, but she is a singer, not a sewer. LOL.

I have the same problem here. We have moved so much, I have to make new friends, it is hard. I have a couple that will go to quilt shops. But can't find any to travel with me to quilt retreats. My friends can't leave their DH even for a few days. I miss just girl time to hang out at a quilt retreat.

Welcome to the board from Pipe Creek Texas!!!