Sunday, June 23, 2013

Shop Hop 2013

The annual Western Washington Shop Hop began on Wednesday, June 19th, but with very little fanfare on my part.  I'm sure that hundreds--or maybe thousands--of quilters flocked to the stores across western Washington to collect patterns and fabric schnibbles to create the commemorative blocks, but I was unavailable that day and did not have plans to go anywhere, especially considering the pain level I was still experiencing.  I opted, instead, to visit the chiropractor, who used some staple-gun-like device to loosen the knots in my rib cage.

The fabric collection this year is really striking, the colors are vibrant, and I'm really looking forward to making these blocks!  This collection is the bunch I got for Tara who was unable to do much of the hop.  I realized later that I forgot to get some pink and yellow for myself.  I'll have to go back to one of the local places and pick up a couple yards.

On Thursday morning, however, Cammie & I met up with Sharon, Linda and Miss O for a little Shop Hopping fun.  We started in Mount Vernon at the quilt shop there, then traveled across Hwy 20 and down Whidbey Island to Oak Harbor and Freeland.  We then got on the Mukilteo ferry and wandered down to Bothell and then up to Everett for a quick stop there.  We wound up the trip with stops in Smokey Point, Arlington, and Stanwood.  Lucky #8!  After driving about 150 miles, and dropping them off at their car, we headed back home.  No shop-hopping on Friday, but we aren't going for the Full Monty--all 52 shops--so there wasn't any pressure to try to get all of them.

Linda drove down Saturday morning with her husband, who was on his way to check on his elderly father further South, and we packed up in the car with Cammie.  We started in Bellevue and worked our way down to Kent, where we found this very creatively installed toilet.  It wins the There-I-Fixed-It award for the year...because taking the toilet back and getting a narrower unit would be too much trouble.  We then swung South to Puyallup, where we got turned around more than once due to street fairs and one-way streets; then to Tacoma where two more shops are located.  Then over to Olympia and South down I-5 for several more shops on our way to our Southern-most point, Vancouver.

One shop in Longview had a lot of Civil War fabrics and had this quilt on display by the front door.  I love this simple arrangement of fabrics and it inspires me to get some squares cut and put together into a quilt like this.  I don't know if I have a big piece of pink like this, but I might have something that I can use.

We called Heide and made arrangements to meet for dinner, which was a delightful meal with just the four of us, although I missed the opportunity to see her two younger girls.  We also wandered through the local TJ Maxx where I discovered four Sounders hats that were in danger of Timber poisoning, so I felt obligated to purchase two of them.  To add to my joy, the hats are official gear and were being sold for 50% off the retail price.  Winter hats--just in time for summer!  But the soccer season runs from March to October, so we will get some use out of them in a few months.


We hit the road again and got slowed down by a multi-car accident in Tacoma.  The warning signs overhead said we should move to the left lane as the right three lanes were blocked.  We did as the sign suggested and as we got closer, we got stuck in that lane, not moving, about 12 blocks away from the accident.  Other cars were racing up the other three lanes, cutting ahead of us, which meant we weren't moving *anywhere*.  After not moving for more than 15 minutes, I left that lane and merged three lanes over to exit at 85th St. as so many other cars were doing.  We spent the next five minutes or so driving the city streets and merging back onto the freeway, rather than sitting for hours in the traffic jam. Little did we know that about a mile later, we would arrive at another multi-car accident moments after the fire truck arrived and pulled behind the crashed vehicles in the far-left lane.  We carefully maneuvered around the fire truck and continued on our way.  We finally arrived home at 12:30 a.m. and after a quick bath, fell asleep quickly.

The next morning, I told Cammie that she wasn't going to come with me today--not that I don't love her and enjoy her company--but it was a day for me and Linda to do a bit of hopping and get the last 9 shops on our passport stamped so we could turn them in.  She ended up going to a movie with her Dad and had a blast.



We were going to start in Ballard, but we missed the exit, so we decided to start at Pike Place Market's store, and were lucky enough to find a spot in a 30 minute loading zone.  We were there for about two minutes and arrived just as the shop opened.  We thought we were an hour late, but forgot that the hop started at 10 a.m. on Sunday, not 9.

We then zipped down to the ferry docks and got in line for the 10:30 ferry to Bainbridge Island, which was unloading as we pulled up, and we were able to board the half-full ferry.  I took this picture as we were pulling away from the docks, which includes the new tourist attraction...a ferris wheel.  "Ooooo....ahhhh...."



I took another picture of the skyline as we pulled further away.  Note how grey everything is.  The only splash of color is the paint on the cruise ship.  It drizzled on us most of the day, but not a steady rain.  Just a spitting now and again.


I found a line of fabric at a Tacoma store that originates from Denmark.  I thought this fabric was very pretty, and I got a giggle out of the name written on the side.  I took this picture for my friend, Johann, and sent it to him.  I think we can safely say that this fabric has his name written all over it.

The final pile of loot looked like this.  Not really impressive, but there are some fabrics to finish the blocks, a small collection of Japanese fabrics (about 7) for a charm swap next month and a big chunk of Japanese fabric to put onto the back of Emma's quilt.  Or maybe it'll be a "just can't cut it" quilt to be made later.  There are also a couple of finishing kits (in the bags) and all the patterns handed out (in the big zip lock).  Not pictured is a 2-pack of rotary blades that I need for my dull cutters.  I took photocopies of all the patterns, which I will send to Tara for her to complete later, and she went to the five shops in her area for me, which she will send down to me.



It's been a long weekend and I'm a bit behind on sleep...so off I go!

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