grammatjr

You may remember (http://www.quiltingboard.com/main-f1...a-t230532.html) that I was going to a conference in Minneapolis and wondered if there might be a quilt shop close to my hotel.
Well, thank you all for your suggestions. But, I want to shout out a special thanks to Connie. She is a member here on the QB, who not only told me about some shops – but offered to take me!
Neither of us had ever met someone on the internet, and got into a car with them before. But, we checked each other out on the QB and exchanged pics, and decided God was putting us together.
As soon as we saw each other, I thought “there she is – my new best friend”! And I think I was right – we were so compatible, and just laughed and talked constantly. We actually had so much fun Monday night, that she came back on Tuesday and we went shopping again!
Well, we first went to Mill End Textiles (Connie, jump in here if I get something wrong). I had taken some scraps from a quilt I am making for my youngest nephew who is at Bible College. There will be 8 stars, in blue and purple fabrics, which have an ocean theme (the Bible College is in Florida).
The center of each star will be a cyanotype photo printing of people at our church, praying for him while he is at college. So, these are a deep blue color. I needed some setting fabric to finish off the top.
Mill End Textiles was such a fun shop! And the prices were fantastic! We laid out a few bolts, then put my scraps on them to be sure of style coordination and enough color contrast.
I sure appreciated another opinion and Connie found this beautiful bolt that seemed just perfect when we laid the scraps on them. So, I was able to get enough fabric to finish the top, and the yardage was not the usual $17 or so for that batik, but was only $7.
We wandered up and down the aisled, fingering the beautiful fabrics, and remarking on what projects they would be good for. We chatted with another customer and tried to help her find a fabric to make something for her hubby.
All the while, we were laughing and having a great time! Not only was there great fabric, but they had books, patterns and notions too.
Next we went to the Quilt Cove. Talk about visual overload! Wow! I think every square inch of their walls had samples. The quilts were gorgeous, and using fabrics that I wouldn’t have thought of using for those style patterns. They had quilts, bags, placemats, embroidery, etc, etc, etc all over the walls.
A paper piecing class was in session while we were there, and so some of the things we had to see from afar. They had some miniature ornaments on a Christmas tree, whose pieces finished about ½’ maybe ¼”! They were amazing.
Well, as we got ready to go, we fingered through the patterns, and they had many which were just printed on laminated postcards, so were quite inexpensive.
Connie ended up with 2 patterns that should work great for her scrappy quilts using fabrics that she got from her mother-in-law. I found a pattern that also takes lots of different fabrics. So, now I had a souvenir of my trip. Well, make that ANOTHER souvenir – Connie had given me a gift when she first picked me up – a beautiful Butterfly pin in one of my favorite colors – orange. It was made from a couple zippers – so creative! She had made it with a group that does some charity projects. Connie does so many charity things – I had to admire her dedication and passion!
The next night we went to Mall of America (where I picked up some gifts for the grandkids at Dollar Tree, and took pics of Lego Land). We also toured IKEA (I thought it was just a furniture store – but gracious, it was so very much more – we even ate supper there).
So, despite our initial leeriness about going out with a total stranger, we both had a great time and promised to write once in awhile.
The only BAD thing about it, was that I forgot to pack the fabric which I had printed for her. I love doing Cyanoptype, and had printed some flower/butterfly pieces for her as a thank you for taking me out, and completely missed putting them into my suitcase! Uggh! So, Connie will be getting an envelope from me soon.

Dina

What a great thing!! Good quilt stores, good fabric, and a new friend!! Perfect!!

Dina

Maggie_Sue

Oh, how great is that??? Doesn't get any better!!!

liking quilting

What a wonderful story. Thank's for sharing.

charsuewilson

Sounds like a great trip. I've been all those places except Quilt Cove. Maybe that should be on my agenda for my next trip. But I'm usually on the east side of St. Paul.

Prism99

Glad you had such a wonderful experience! I had not heart of Quilt Cove; might need to check it out. I just got a flyer in the mail that said all of the Mill End stores are going out of business.

QuiltnNan

glad you had such a good time. that was my old neighborhood before i moved to NY this summer. i really miss mill end textiles... i even used to work there

Cybrarian

Thanks for sharing- always great to make a new friend with a common bond!

MaryMo

Great story and great time in Minneapolis! Everybody should have that much fun when they go visiting. Thank you for sharing.

PurplePassion

Sounds like you had a lot of fun. I got that card on Mill End stores too. I went in to a panic! But then had to rationalize --I have plenty. I wonder what will happen to all the fabric now if they aren't taking it?