Pennsylvania Row by Row.....have you done it?
 

Wow what a great time I am having with 4 of my quilting buddies as we participate in this shop hop. Whoever came up with this idea was a genius. I know it has been a lot of fun and has allowed us to see shops we never knew about. If you are not familiar with this I can explain.
Participating shops all across Pa, and New York also, made up a pattern representing their shop pertaining to the theme of "Fairs and 'Festivals". You go to each shop, collect their pattern, or kit if you prefer, and then once you have 8 rows done totally into a finished quilt you take it back to your local shop. If you were the first to finish one, and used that shops block, you receive a stack of fat quarters and maybe something special from that shop. You have until the end of December to finish your quilt and get that prize. Tons of shops already have winners. Check them out by going onto Facebook and searching Pennsylvania Row by Row. They are already making plans for 2014 and I heard today that Ohio, New Jersey and Maryland are joining in the fun next year. It is awesome fun. It ends Sept 2nd so we are almost done. We did quite a few shops and were really happy with the whole process.

NY/PA Row by Row
 

Janet Lutz of Calico Gals in Syracuse NY designed the first Row by Row for NY shops. This year, PA was added. It has been a great way to learn of new shops, visit shops during your vacation trips you may not have found and collect the unique, one of a kind patterns from each shop.

I just found out about the Country Roads Shop Hop covering mostly central-west PA (Johnstown, Somerset Ebensburg, Mt. Pleasant, Bedford, Uniontown (all PA), and Grantsville, MD. It started Aug 15. I am not sure how it works but I wish I had known about it sooner since I will be leaving this area in 2 weeks and am short on time for Hopping.

I have been participating in the Row by Row shop hop and it has been great! I hope OH does it next year as well because I live about 30 minutes from the OH border!

Wish I had known!!! The first 3 towns are very familiar to me. Didn't know Somerset had a quilt shop. Was in that area at that time. WWWAAAAAHHHH!!

Actually most are closed on the 2nd so today is the pretty much the last day. I made my quilt and turned it in at Mary's in Bedford a few weeks ago. It was a lot of fun!!

You just have to get the rest of your patterns today and you have until Dec 31 to turn in a quilt as long as shops still have prizes.

BTW - the Country Roads Shop Hop doesn't start until Oct 23 thry Oct 26. August 15th was when you could purchase the passport. Maybe you can come back for it?

sounds like great fun

I met Janet today, believe it or not. We were on our way back from our camping trip in Canada and stopped at the shop. I haven't been there before and in talking with the girls, Janet mentioned the row by row and introduced herself. What a great shop that is. The welcome feeling I got in being there was much appreciated. I got some ideas on doing a bus trip with our guild to shops in the area, so all in all it was a great visit. Heard a little teeny tiny bit about next years shop hop. Can't wait to see what the final plans are. For those of you who have not been to this shop, do yourself a favor a make a visit.