I was able to spend sometime in my home sweet home this weekend and since it was my birthday I took a couple extra days. I got a lot of sewing and shopping done while I was home and have some new shops to add to my growing list as I travel the USA.
The closest shop to my house is actually a Ben Franklin Crafts in Oconomowoc, WI. This Store is located at 1083 Summit Avenue in Oconomowoc, WI. Although this is not a traditional free standing quilt shop it is close to my house and it has a number of things that I enjoy. They have a great selection of fabrics and wool, numerous classes and quilt samples and something I haven't seen elsewhere AccuQuilt rental. They have the machine and a number of dies and you can rent it by the hour to cut your fabric. I haven't taken advantage of this yet but it certainly is a cost effective way to try out or use the machine without the investment of having one of your own. If I was at home more I would definitely take some classes here
Heading toward the south of where I live The Quilt Patch is a store I stumbled upon going to meet my husband for lunch. He apparently drives past this place everyday on his way to work and conveniently forgot to mention its exsistance. This is a smaller store which is part of a house and is only open limited hours. Inside they have packed a lot into a small space. The fat quarters are $2.50 each and they have tons of very well packaged quilt kits. They also have some mystery boxes available for $5.00 each, I am a sucker for mystery anything. I ended up buying one of these boxes and had two generous quarter yards of fabric and a panel as well as a pattern inside. Can't be beat and I love the surprise.
My favorite shop along this route is located in Milton, WI. Loose Threads is not only an awesome shop but it is also in an old schoolhouse which combines my two favorite things. This place is packed to the gills with fabric, room after room of bolts. They also have a selection of discount bolts for $6 a yard and "misfits" which are remnants that are width of fabric and are sold by the length. They have a separate classroom area as well as fairly priced fat quarters ($2.50-$2.60). This is one of the only places I have found that have Sunday hours so if you need a fix on a Sunday this is the place to go.
The final shop we went to was located in Genesse Depot. This address does not want to come up in my GPS. I blame it on the crazy Wisconsin street addresses, the longitude and latitude method should only be used by pilots and sea captains in my opinion. If you can find this place it is a smaller shop with no crazy bargains. Pamella's Place is a Bernina dealer and it is pretty tightly packed. I don't know if I would seek it out again but it was worth a visit at least once.
We tried to hit up a couple other shops in Fort Atkinson and Whitewater but they were closed early on Saturday. I have some more shops headed toward Milwaukee which I will give you the info on the next post and I have a bunch of quilting projects I need to share as well. I hope to catch up this weekend. Happy stitching!
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