There are a quite a few wonderful shops that I would consider “local”, but three really stand out.
The first is Quilted Threads in Henniker, NH.
http://wwwquiltedthreads.com Gollytwo mentioned this shop briefly, but I’d like to add some comments. Becky Weber, the owner, believes in community building and making opportunities for people to share their talents and interests. She comes up with all sorts of innovative events with that goal in mind. Every two years she holds a Longarm Quilters Fair where the longarmers set up tables with brochures, samples, contact info, all that sort of thing. You can go from table to table asking questions, looking at the quilters work, seeing sample patterns, and getting a feel for which quilter you’d like to maybe work with.
She also recently had a two hour lecture called “We are Not the Quilt Police” by a certified quilt show judge. It was all about what judges look for, how to improve your work to better please them, and all sorts of great tips. The house was packed! The staff is great and their selection of batiks is totally awesome!! The store was recently remodeled and has almost doubled in size. Becky will be displaying my 2009 Hoffman Challenge quilt after it returns home later this year.
The second shop is The Quilting Corner in Tilton, NH.
http://www.quiltingcornernh.com Irene Haley is the owner. This shop is only a few years old, but has lots of events and classes, trunk shows and shop hops. The shop is fairly small, but very friendly and eager to make you happy. Irene’s taste in fabrics is very similar to mine (small prints, calm colors, colonial tones, and cool colored batiks), so I always find a lot of treasures there. She lives in the same tiny town as me.
The third local shop deserving of gold stars is, of course, Keepsake Quilting in Center Harbor, NH.
http://www.keepsakequilting.com Whether you deal with them in person or online, there is nothing they wouldn’t do to make sure you have a good experience. They actually have a No Quibble return policy where you can get a credit or a refund on any item for any reason at any time. That simply cannot be beat! Unable to find a specific fabric I wanted one day, four clerks helped me look for 20 minutes until they found it. They are all quilters and they truly love what they do. It shows and I always leave there smiling.