For a good time, see if you can visit your local quilt shop! I was able to visit Studio Stitch last week because they are observing strict social distancing and mask guidelines, including limiting the number of people in the shop at a time. It was SO MUCH FUN to get to shop for fabric after being quarantined for 6 months! I appreciate the care the staff are taking to try to keep everyone safe.
I should mention that I also checked the public health report and noted that COVID was trending down in Greensboro before going there.
Here’s the haul from one visit to the shop:
Yes, the gray and white fabrics are metallic! And the fat quarter at the far right just jumped into my basket while my other fabric was being cut. (Not my fault!!)
Which leads me to the OMG part. For the first time, I am joining the One Monthly Goal challenge. I’ve seen several blogging friends doing this for quite some time but haven’t joined up. So, here is my OMG for September:
In September my goal is to make a quilt from these fabrics and write a pattern for that quilt.
These lovelies are from Studio Stitch, too
The pattern will be available through Studio Stitch when I finish it. If you subscribe to their free newsletter (subscription form is about half way down their home page) you will see a picture and information on getting the pattern when the time comes. And of course I’ll show the quilt here when it’s finished!
That’s all the excitement for now. Has anybody else been able to visit a shop in person with precautions in place? Thanks for reading, and stay safe!
Zippy Quilts 
I’m glad you were finally able to get out. Our LQS, which really isn’t a full-blown quilt shop, hasn’t ever closed. So, I’ve been about three times, to pick up necessities (thread, elastic, backing fabric) to help support our local economy. The shop has had the same restrictions you mentioned, including limiting the number of people in the shop at one time. Also, they allow call-aheads, and will deliver your purchase to you in the car. I admire you for setting a goal. I’ve never been able to do that because the weight of the obligation is too heavy. I just go with the flow and make as the mood strikes me. Lately it’s been sewing clothes and hand embroidery.
Glad you can go to your LQS when needed!
Isn’t it weird how fabric just jumps into our baskets? Thank you for introducing me to Studio Stitch. I have only shopped online with them, and it has been a great experience. A trip to Greensboro to visit this shop in person is on my Post Pandemic To-Do list. One of my friends is a former resident of Greensboro, so she has signed on for a future visit. The fabric you chose is fantastic. I especially like the one that jumped into your basket. I have yet to visit any of our local quilt shops in person. My friend went to one of the shops and said she would not return. Even though the shop is taking all necessary precautions, there were people in the store that had no respect for social distancing…and this is a small shop. I definitely miss the joy of being inside a fabric shop, but for now, it is still going to be online shopping for me. Luckily, one of our local stores has been very helpful with online shopping.
I’m happy to say that we saw very few people in Greensboro who were not wearing masks and social distancing. Much better than in the rural area where we now live. I look forward to seeing you in Greensboro when the pandemic settles down. Did I mention my future house is within walking distance of Studio Stitch? 😃
Walking Distance! Wow! Hope to see you soon.
Yay for the metallic fabrics! Speaking of metallics…I waited to no avail for weeks for our JoAnne’s to restock the Schmetz metallic needles I desperately needed for Bright Delight and consistently checked their website and Schmetz’s website only to find them ‘out of stock’ also.
Plus we’ve never had a quilt shop here and driving to Columbia 2.5 hrs away wasn’t appealing in these times.
So, I walked into the hole-in-the-wall scruffy Vac and Sewing machine repair shop down the road in the hopes that they’d stock needles as part of their sewing machine inventory.
Slam dunk!
No fabrics (yet!), but a robust supply of Schmetz needles and a peek into a tiny room they’re beginning to transform into a ‘quality quilt fabric’ corner. Yippeeeee.
You can bet I’ll be taking a fun trip back there to ferret out quilty delights in the near future!
Nice! I’m sure it will be nice to have a real LQS 🙂
According to their newly revised website, they are stocking a large array of Bella Solids…this is good as I discovered my own stash of solids (which I pulled out to begin on your Fiddlesticks scrap pattern) offered a mere 10 different colors – many just different hues of creams! So after Labor Day, this will be my Pandemic Outing – or as The Artist’s Way calls it “An Artist’s Date” which is LONG overdue IMHO!
BTW: Walking distance to LQS is quite the ‘custom’ house location!
🙂
Yes, and the house location was a happy accident. There are almost no lots left close to downtown Greensboro, but our daughter and her husband found this and we jumped on it fast!
Oh what a happy find! I took am struggling to find appropriate needles at the local shop
too
Funny the things which become rare and harder to find during this world-wide Pandemic.
😦
Good luck on your search.
I actually went to my LQS yesterday here in Austin TX, Honeybee Quilt Shop. It’s HUGE and so fantastic. They even have longarms you can rent. I picked up supplies for 2 quilts I have planned: a Hoffman Bali Pop batik “jelly roll” and some yardage. They also had some nice soft elastic for masks, along with sets of 10 nose pieces for $1 that I grabbed. So nice!
I’m so glad you had a successful shopping trip! And it’s fun to hear from someone in Austin. I attended UT-Austin ages ago and loved it!
Wow! Small world! Austin has changed a lot over the last 10 years or so, sadly. It’s not so weird anymore. It is becoming more and more “Dallas-ized.” But at least we still have our QuiltCon!
Anyway – I found your blog thanks to your donation quilt pattern. It’s perfect for all the flannel I have built up in my stash for charity quilts! Thanks!
Great! Send me a picture when you’re done! And yes, it was difficult to recognize Austin when I came to QuiltCon.
Thanks for the nudge — I am planning a trip to my nearest quilt shop (which is 150 km away) this week. I need threads for a project I am working on, but suspect that some stray fabrics may do that jump-into-my-basket trick you mentioned.
OMG sounds like good fun
Woo! Have fun shopping!
Yum! Quilt shop fabric shopping! I haven’t been in a quilt shop since January I think. Your selections are wonderful and I like the fabrics you have pulled together for the OMG. Glad your shopping experience was safe and everyone refrained from running around and hugging each other 🙂
Though I do miss hugging people.
Sometimes I just wanna run around and hug people in the street of course I’d be arrested for that ha ha Ha Ha