I adore shopping for new fabrics and I can't drive past a quilt shop. However, I'm hanging up my traveling shoes for future shop hops. The Greater Atlanta Shop Hop is held each spring and is/was this weekend. DD and I set out early in the day, hoping to cover at least six of the shops on the tour. (There were 11 in all.) We would make the other five the next day. By six PM we had accomplished our goal. We headed for home and reviewed our day.
DD pointed out that she had seen at least one store sample on display the year before. I noted there weren't as many (none) of the fabric samples given away in previous years.
We both were surprised that one shop was selling cookies and light refreshment. Another shop, one of the most distant, hardly seemed welcoming at all.
I realize the economy is strained so I can understand the restraints, but then it also seems to me that the full tank of gasoline (at $3.49 a gallon) would have paid for the items I bought.
Of all the shops we visited, only one stands out. It's been our favorite for a couple of years. I don't go there often because of the distance, but think I will manage to go there a few times a year and save the hassle of the hop.
We're blessed to have so many local shops (3 within twelve miles of my home and another a short few miles more.) I'm able to find anything I want locally and will just limit my shopping to these stores. Although the grand prize drawing for visiting each shop is valuable, and each shop has a drawing for a gift basket, I'm afraid this jaunt will be my last one. It just isn't woth it.