Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Quilting In The USA - Columbus, OH Part 2

I'm back in Columbus, Ohio this week (Week 7!) I am proud to say that there is an exit strategy in place and I should be done here by the end of the month. I am pretty pumped. I have a couple trips to Missouri planned for later this month and next. I have never been to Missouri and am excited to cross another state off my list, I am also excited to locate some shops in the Kansas City, MO, and St. Joseph, MO area.

Last night I went to two more Columbus quilt shops. I think I have exhausted the available quilt resources in Columbus but if i have missed any let me know. I have also added a quilt shop map to the blog so you can see where I have been if you want to check them out yourself.

The first shop I visited yesterday was Sew To Speak in Clintonville. If you look at the map you will see that Clintonville is in the North central part of Columbus. It is a cute suburb with lots of boutique shops, restaurants and such. A place where a girl like me could lose track of time and money. I had read many reviews about this shop and was scared/fascinated at the prospect. The general opinion of this shop in everything I read was that they have the cutest designer fabrics that are hard to find anywhere else, also that you are going to pay dearly for them. I headed out expecting to look at all the store had to offer but leave empty handed as I am cheap cheap cheap. Initially I missed this shop, twice, and had to keep turning around to find it. The signage is not the best on this place. The store itself is small but does have a lot of less common designers as well as some old favorites. The prices i found to be fair for quilt shop fabrics. Moda and Robert Kaufmann were starting at $9 and $10 a yard. They did have some local designers and imports that were significantly more (up to $21.50 a yard). Some of these higher priced fabrics do make their way to the 20% discount rack. I did end up grabbing some 1/8 yard chunks of fabric for my on going 6 point star project and I found some more owl cuties. I am not sure if these will go with my current owlets but I haven't seen these before and am willing to risk it. I like to call them "how now brown owl".
Owls In Retro - Robert Kaufmann - Suzanne Ultman
Overall I would say that Sew To Speak is worth a look. The prices were pretty fair, they do have some designers you just won't see elsewhere, the store is on the small side and you have to be looking for it. They have reasonably priced fat quarters ($2.75) and some of the most unique notions that I have never seen in a quilt shop before (leather squirrel zipper pulls!!!). If you are looking to take a class they have a pretty wide variety from kids to adults, skirts to quilts. They also sell oilcloth and patterns for some oil cloth projects.

From Sew to Speak I continued down the street to The Glass Thimble. I have been in Columbus for some time and haven't been to this shop yet. Their website did not inspire me to hop in my car and head over there. I gave in last night since they were open until 8pm and it was only 2 miles from the other shop I had planned on visiting. The store itself is not hard to find, finding the entrance is another story. The store front is on N High Street but the entrance and parking is in the rear which can only be reached by turning on East North Broadway Street and then turning onto Broadway Place which is a one way street. Once you find the parking lot there is plenty of parking to go around. The shop itself appears to be two houses that have been conjoined by a pass through. As a result the store is somewhat of a maze. It seems to go on forever and there is a lot to take in. The fabric selection is pretty good, fat quarters are $3.19 and fat eights are $1.69. This store has many many patterns and most of them have a quilt top example made and displayed in the store. Who ever is doing the quilting for this store has an amazing eye for color and is a very adept quilter. The displays are amazing. The Glass Thimble also offers classes and a long arm service. Overall a very nice shop, worth the maze to get in there.

Where is your favorite quilt shop????


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