Treasure Valley Shop Hop Day #1

This past weekend was the start of the 10th Annual Treasure Shop Hop.  Last year a friend and I just happened upon the Shop Hop while in a local shop and once we found about it, we were hooked and we visited all of the local shops that didn't require more than a 20 minute drive (because there are also some in Oregon and McCall, ID up to 3 hours away). When we found out that the grand prize for visiting all 16 shops and getting your passport stamped was a $50 gift certificate from each shop (that's $800 in quilt shop money, people!) we knew we'd have to get serious about it this year.

Unfortunately that friend is only 2 weeks away from her due date with her second baby and I think she decided it might not be a good time to drive 3 hours from home in remote areas that we're all unfamiliar with. Though, don't get me wrong, we were prepared - we had talked about a plan for delivering the baby in the car, she was even going to bring sterile scissors for cutting the umbilical cord. We had invited all 12 of the ladies in our local quilt group but most couldn't make the trip, which I think was okay because not really knowing where we were going etc, this gave us a chance to test out the route we were taking and decide if it was the best plan of attack (which, I think it is not). It was kind of a trial run of the entire Shop Hop (which, this year consists of 14 shops) and it was fun, but I think next year we'll be doing things a little differently, as far as driving routes, etc.

Here are a few pictures from our adventures on day #1 - we left about 7:30am and were back at 5pm - lots of miles...I can't remember how many, nearly 300 I think.  I won't explain pictures all in great detail as that may be a bit boring for most of you and I do not want to bore you!

(my traveling companions and good friends Beth and Sara at a rest stop in who knows where)

(stop #1 - Quilts Plus in Halfway, OR)

(Sara at stop #2, Traditions Quilt Shop in Baker City, OR - this was followed by stop #3 at LaDonna's FiberArts, also in Baker City, OR)

(Stop #4 - Charm Shack Quilt Shop in Ontario, OR)

Stop #5 - Marilynn's Pickets and Patchwork in Nyssa, OR

Stop #6 - Cindy's Quilt Shop in Caldwell, ID

It's definitely an experience to visit so many quilt shops, some most have very nice people and others you kind of get the feeling that if you're not a regular, or perhaps fit a certain stereotype, you don't feel as welcome.  Sometimes you go into a shop and wonder how in the world they are still in business.  Some share their space with antiques, coffee shops, and bakeries.  More than one of these 6 shops listed were directly next to a "hole in the wall" type of bar...hmm....

Every shop created and sold kits for a block.  They were all similar in that they used batiks, but other than that I wasn't really impressed with the coordination of the blocks.  Each block is sold for $5 and $2 of that goes to Project Linus.  It's maybe kind of hard to visualize in the picture but these are the blocks from the first 6 shops.  A local blogger has made all of the blocks and posted them on her blog - check it out!  I'm not going to be making all of these blocks.  They are going to be distributed to my quilt group and we'll put them all together for a charity quilt.

  

Maybe, before too long, I'll post about visiting shops #7-14!