There is an upcoming three day event coming to central IL. I have never been to one before. Tell me your experiences. Also, if you have any advice, glad to hear that too.

I went on one shop hop and really enjoyed it. Each shop had some specials and refreshments. They each had a theme of a different country and offered kits to purchase. I enjoyed some shops more than others, but the day was fun. It's hard to really concentrate at each shop because of a time limit if you want to get to all of them. I didn't buy much, but will go back to 2 or 3 of the shops that I liked best. It can involve a lot of driving-nice to go with a friend or two.

I almost asked this group if it is worth it to go --- thought that might be a dumb question. It is a lot of driving and I don't have a quilting buddy - I may go by myself one day and drag hubby along the other two days.

My dh and I went on one one the Or coast. From Astoria to Ca border. We did it in 3 days. It was fun. He even bought stuff. My dd and I did one this spring, from south Or to Brownsville. It was hard, but fun, and nice to see all the shops. I like to know what the shops are like kindof near by.

Make a detailed list of everything you want to get, and the exact amounts you need for projects. Otherwise you might be so overwhelmed that you spend more than you wanted or see fabric that would be perfect for a project but you won't remember the amount needed.
I figured out the best stradegy for me is to mostly look on shop hops and limit how much I buy. Most of the shops will probably be crowded and when you see others buying so much it's really easy to get carried away. Better to write down what you like at the different shops and you can always mailorder it from them later after you think about it.
Have fun!
Kat

my favorite way to do a shop hop is to take a bus. Some shops rent a bus that you can sign up for. We've paid $45, which included lunch, snacks, drinks, games and cool prizes (fg''s, fat 1/8 bundles, etc).

When you consider the price of gas, it was well worth it and we found that the time allotted at each shop was more than enough for us and quite often we were back on the bus before most of the other ladies. It was so much fun to sit back, relax and let the driver take us to each location.