Holiday shopping
 

I live in the UK and I am making my first trip to US in June. I will be in Portsmouth NH for 3 weeks. Are there any fabric/quilting shops or exhibitions I should visit?

You should plan a trip to a Marden's Surplus & Salvage or Marden's Discount stores in Maine - they have 14 locations in the state including several in southern Maine (Sanford, Portland) and I believe most of those stores carry quilting cottons at very reasonable prices. It is my "go to" store for clothes, shoes and of course, fabric when I head home to Maine for the summer.

Hope you have good weather when you arrive. There appears to be 3 quilt shops within the vicinity:
https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q...NH+quilt+shops

The New England Quilt Museum in Lowell, Massachusetts. It's just about 51 miles from Portsmouth. They are at 18 Shattuck Street in Lowell.

NEQUILTMUSEUM.ORG

Hope you can make it.

Keepsake Quilting is in New Hampshire. I've never been to their shop, but enjoy their catalogs.

I was fortunate to travel to NH and visit Keepsake Quilting. It definitely is a place one needs to stop at. Every turn was amazing with fabrics, patterns, notions....so on and so forth. I would go again!

Not sure how far you want to venture, but the Vermont Quilt Festival is the end of June in Burlington Vt. It is a wonderful show with lots of vendors! PM me if you decide to go. I am!
We have friends in Portsmouth, NH and when we last visited, every shop she had looked up, was closed. This seems to be common with Quilt shops. We always call before we venture off our route when traveling now.

The fabrics in Mardens are less than half the price in quilt shops and most of them are good quality. They come from store closings and overstock. The nearest is Biddeford, Maine -- not far from Portsmouth.

Keepsake is well worth the rive and the scenery is great going thru small villages. The selection is overwhelming-- and the prices are not cheap.

Welcome -- I hope your holiday is perfect. I had many walking holidays in the UK visiting quilters

Mim

So far I agree with everything said so far. Mardens in Sanford Maine is a wonderful place to shop and not too far. Of all the Mardens, I like the Sanford Shop the best.
http://www.mardens.com/index.php/stores

There is also a wonderful little Quilt Store, Kathys, right in Sanford as well.
http://www.kathiesquiltshoppe.com/

Keepsake is a must - it is about 60 miles NW from Portsmouth It is what I would refer to as an overload in quilt shopping but lots of fun! Their annual tent sale is June 3rd & 4th
http://www.keepsakequilting.com/retail-store
That is an experience that can not be described if you are there early in June.

One other quilt shop which is a bit away from Portsmouth but if time permits is Quilted Threads in Henniker NH - aprox 70 mi west(about 1.5 hour away) but it is my favorite place to shop (also the closest to me-lol).
http://quiltedthreads.com/

NE Quilt Museum in Lowell Ma is also a worthy stop - also not a difficult drive(a straight shot down 95 to 495).

I hope you have a WONDERFUL visit!

Thank you everyone for your replies. I will pass all of this information on to my son (it is him I am going to visit) and he will probably organise some trips out to these places. My daughter in law will be pleased as well as she has just started quilting. I will let you know how I get on when I get back home in July.