When you travel do you go to quilt shops?

I went to Oklahoma a few years ago and found some nice quilt shops. It is fun when you are traveling to visit other shops.

With the internet now we can map out the shops on the way to visit.

I'm doing exactly that this weekend in CA!!

awesome, have fun

I always get online and find shops in the areas I will be in. Also hit random ones when we see them. DH even will get off the super highways is he sees a sign for one. And of course I have to buy something!!!

Always always always!!!!!!

That's usually better than wherever we are going!

Always. Went to Phoenix in Feb. & found 3 great shops.

Absolutely! Arrived at my son's in NC (with my MIL), told DDIL "we have to go to the quilt shop tonight they are having a sale." LOL

Always!! Went with husband on a business trip to longmont Colorado in February. There was a handful of shops not far from each other. One shop was Hancock's. I loved it! I met the best ladies there!

In June/July we will go to the Lancaster area to spend 4 days shopping in quilt shops and other places we have come to love over the years. Originally we started out tagging along with a friend and her husband. Then we added another couple-she doesn't sew, she knits-but they love to come along. She has been hanging out with us for so long now that she gets right in there and helps us select our fabrics. We reward her for her patience by taking her to a nice yarn store. Three years ago we lost the first husband. Our dear friend still goes with us. Our favorite stores there are Burkholders, Sauders and Weavers. There are a couple of others but the names escape me at this time. We used to go there in Oct too, but when gas became so expensive we decided to go to the Amish area around Sugarcreek Ohio.(It's only 2 hours from home where Lancaster is 4 hours away) We have not found as many quilt shops there and the prices are not nearly as good as in Lancaster. We do have one favorite store-Miller's Dry Goods. I usually leave about $100 in that store. Leave a lot more $$$ in the others. Looking forward to this year. I can really think about quilting now that I retired in July. Our husbands just sit/stand around and wait to carry our packages and tell them where to take us next. We have trained them well and they never try to hurry us along. I have not found any quilt shop near the area where we take our yearly family summer vacation. Maybe I'll research that a bit this year. It's kind of hard to get away since we take our daughter and grandkids on that trip.

Why else would you travel????? LOL
Yes, I do. We're planning a trip to Texas and I told my husband to be prepared to make stops because I was mapping it according to the fabric shops along the way. We could get there in one HARD day of traveling but I told him to plan at least three days of traveling to and from. We're both retired and DD will be out of school so there's no time frame to have to be back.

Don't your hubbies figit and complain when you explore quilt/fabric shops?

Of course. But your point is???? LOL


He does if I spend too much time but I really try to keep it to about 20 to 30 minutes. Sometimes he goes in to and sits.

Actually mine encourages me to buy fabric, but most of the time he is just "egging" me on to see what my reaction will be. But he had his hobby and I have mine and we both support each other's hobbies. :)

I always check out the quilt shops when we travel. This new thing with charging extra for luggage when flying may cause me to modify my habits. I guess I will just have to find shops that will ship my purchases for me. My husband just booked a cruise to New England and the islands off the east coast of Canada. I will need to do my research on shops in that vicinity.

I met a woman from Australia about a year ago in a quilt shop in Urbana, Illinois. She said that fabric here is so much cheaper than fabric in Australia. Her friend that she was here visiting is letting her leave her clothing here and when she travels home her cases will be filled only with fabric. Next year when she comes back she's bringing empty(her clothes are already here) collapsable suitcases in a carryon so that she can fill them with fabric. I thought it was an excellent idea.

Not only when I travel for vacation but also when I travel for work. My favorite LQS is a half hour down the road and when I have to go there for work I always stop in. When I have road trips for work I will look and see where the quilt shops are before I decide how I am gonna get there or how I am gonna get home. Last month I had one of those days. I had a three hour drive to court at 9:30 am so I left home at 6:30 and said there is no way I am gonna rush back when court was done at 12:30 so I could be in the office for an hour and a half. I just about had my eight hours in already :) So I shopped my way home and hit three quilt shops. It made the long drive bearable and at the first shop I changed out of my suit and heels into comfy clothes :)

Isn't the internet great??? Just a few years ago we'd have missed all these shops but now we can just go online and get a list in order to plan our trips. My sister keeps a list of Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois shops in her car. Sometimes it takes her two days to make the 7-8 hour trip from her house to mine.

Actually if mine goes he searches for the ugliest fabric in the store and makes me buy a yard of it for making him go.

I always hit the local quilt stores when I travel, both for work and pleasure. If I think there are a bunch and I will be buying a lot, I research the nearest post office and drop in to send my fabric home by mail. It is so much easier than stuffing it in my suitcase and it's like a surprise gift when it shows up.

How could you NOT check out quilt shops when you travel?? Your addiction is not deeply ingrained yet?! My hubby is cooperative. He has a collection of ascots, so he picks out something very bright for me to make an ascot and doesn't give me any grief at all over how long I take or how much I spend. Since I'm still among the unemployed, my spending is extremely conservative - for now! That doesn't stop me from petting fabric!

DH dangles the promise of a quilt store promise in front of me whenever he wants me to go with him and like a moth to the flame - I follow. LOL

I LOVE to explore shops along the way. Every time I leave home, I make sure I research to find shops. I try to find something to buy at each shop. It's interesting to interact with the staff/owners too. Most of the time I'm by myself so I don't have the added pressure of "hurry up", tho' if any of my family is with me, they do complain.

Don't strike me dead, :lol: , but tho' I don't race thru the shops, it doesn't take me all day to check them out.

One shop I'd go to, Hayloft Fabrics in Morgantown, PA, well, that's one place I would spend 2-3 hours in. Hands down my favorite.

LOL, I love it! Then I would make HIM a quilt with all the ugly's :lol:

Yes, sometimes with DH, sometimes without. He is happy to sit in the car.

I did. It's really cool.

You Bet!!! I will try to hit at least a couple of them if I can!!!

Always, always. My carry on bag usually has fabric and not much of anything else on the return trip; I'd hate for all that treasure to get lost in the checked baggage jumble.
DH is usually happy to tag along!

Why didn't I think of that???

Absolutely! Our daughter and son in law drove my car cross country to Los Angeles last year (June) then left for NZ, we flew out, said by to them and then taking a rather southernly route drove cross country back home to PA....we hit 13 quilt shops in 9 states in 10 days! We had a blast! :) I had the Quilters Travel companion book, and each day when we started out DH you insist that I check what LQS were along the route...and then would modify the route if necessary to check out an especially interesting looking shop. Then in October, we flew to NZ to visit the kids, and yep you guessed it! I did manage to find a quilt shop and a Bernina store with a small selection of fabric, and another store with mostly dress material, but a little cotton. The material really is expensive!
Just met some ladies from Denmark while in Lancaster, last time I was there met someone from England buying a finished quilt and having it shipped home.

I always find quilt shops to visit on trips. And my husband, will go out of his way to visit them too, as he has gotten interested in picking out fabric also.

We have visited shops all the way from Maine to Ohio and all the way down the coast to Georgia. I haven't missed a state yet that I have been into a quilt shop.

Also in Texas, Lousiana.

Just have to let dh have his turn at tool shops along the way.

Sometimes I travel just to go to quilt shops. :-P

Only if my DHs in a good mood or I can lose him somewhere.

Not always, but I try! Sometimes by accident because we don't always know exactly where we're going. LOL DH is content to stay in the car and read a newspaper or he'll come in too. We've looked at plenty of old tractors and machinery too. In fact in Sept we're going to the U.P. of Michigan for an antique tractor parade across the bridge. We support each other's hobbies. They make us happy.

Why of course!!! 2 years ago I found some lovely leaf patterned batiks that were made special for VT. for their previous year's shop hop. They are lovely!! It is very difficult to know there are quilt shops in the area and not checking them out....merely impossible actually LOL.

I don't travel much, but I am going to the quilt museum in Lincoln this year. I can't wait.

My dh knows how much I enjoy going to new quilt shops and he will sometimes research what shops are on the way to wherever we are going and make stops for me to shop. He spoils me, really.

When we go to QBL in the summer we usually hit a few shops, too, as well as the vendors at the market they set up. I've got to get some stuff finished up so I can rationalize more buying on our trip! :lol: :thumbup:

Finding new shops is one of the best parts of travel. In the internet age we might forget another source of info --- the good old local yellow pages. First thing I check when I get to my hotel.

My DH and I even scoped out the quilt and fabric shops when we went on our 16 day Alaskan cruise. Checked every stop we made. Only found two and they didn't have very much fabric of any kind. Too expensive to ship up there.

On our cruise to Hawaii, I really lucked out. Went to several quilt shops but they were just like here in FL. Most were in malls and big shopping centers.

We went to the flea market which is huge. They hold it in the football parking lot. There are so many places that make Hawaiian clothes and they have no outlet for their scraps and end of bolts. They cut the leftovers into 4,5 and 6" squares and sell them by the stack. there may be 50 to 60 pieces for $3.50 to $5. I bought plenty and made my first (didn't know it then) scrappy quilt.

I looked for shops on every Island we visited but only found two. Both made custom Hawaiian dresses for Islanders and tourists. Most of the seamstresses sewed on featherweights. My best buy for Hawaiian fabric was in the Singer store in a huge mall. $5.95 a yard and beautiful fabric. A lot of it came from the Philippines and other eastern areas. I filled a whole suitcase to bring home.

Yes, I'm in Virginia Beach on vacation right now and plan on checking out 3 while I am here this weekend!!!

Absolutely. My husband knows that is a requirement. I have found some lovely ones.