I have taken two trips recently with my best friend from high school (32 years ago!!whew!) and I downloaded the quilt shop locator app on my ipad. Then I put all of them in my GPS in my car where it sorted them closest to furthest from me and I went to ALL of them. I had a very good time. The fabric in most quilt shops nationwide is basically the same but the reason I visit them is to see things done in different colorways and to see each owners take on all the new patterns and how they use them. I love seeing other peoples talents and creativity in this wonderful hobby we have.
I visited one shop whose main focus was needleturn applique two weekends ago in Wichita, Ks and was enthralled. I never dreamed I'd do have the skills for applique, but I bought a book, some needles and freezer paper and have made four beautiful blocks from the book already. I am getting better with every stitch and am so glad I visited that shop.