My husband and I are a bit more than half-way done with completing the entire state on the Quilt Minnesota Shop Hop and we are still smiling and talking to each other. We’ve endured construction and experienced some detours. At one point, my husband had to refer to the map and said, “It’s a little longer. but it’ll get us there. We will survive.” I’m not sure who he was reassuring—me or himself.
If you need to catch up with my travels on the Quilt Minnesota Shop Hop, just click on each title to go to each post. Each day and each shop I feature is so unique, that you won’t want to miss any.
Tu-Na Travels: “All My Bags Are Packed, I’m Ready to Go” to Quilty Destinations Ahead
Tu-Na Travels: Day One: 635 Miles, 8 Shops, Blew the Budget Already
Tu-Na Travels: Day Two on the MN Quilt Shop Hop: 507 Miles, 10 Shops, Made a New Budget
Tu-Na Travels: Day Three on the MN Quilt Shop Hop: 152 Miles, 5 Stores, Forget the Budget
Tu-Na Travels: Day Four on the MN Quilt Shop Hop: 258 Miles, 8 Shops, Car is Filling Up
We finished up the Metro area today and are heading north. This section incentive is a drawing for lots of prizes including a sewing machine. I’ll let you know if one of us is lucky and gets a new machine. I’ll need another one in order to sew up all the new fabric I’ve been buying.
My top shop on the hop for today is Quarry Quilts & Yarns in Sandstone, MN. The shop is in its third year of business and its second year on the shop hop. They have 9 part-time employees. Click here to view their website for more info and pics.
Have you ever felt that sometimes things are just meant to be? According to Toni, the owner of Quarry Quilts & Yarns, this shop was meant to be here at this particular address. Toni started making quilts just prior to 1980. She wanted to sell her quilts and opened an on-line shop on Etsy but she needed a name. She chose the name Quarry Quilts because the town of Sandstone is known for its quarries. The stone has been sent and used all over the country including buildings in Washington DC.
After a short time, she wanted to start a brick and mortar store in town. When this building came up for sale and she saw the name of the street, the decision was made. Serendipitous for sure, Quarry Quilts should be located on Quarry Place.
Toni’s advice for beginning quilters is to “take a beginning quilting class and learn about seam allowances and pressing.” She also states that beginner quilters need to know what good fabric is and where to buy it.
Toni’s advice for anyone interested in setting up an on-line store or a brick and mortar store is to do a lot of research first: know what futures are, the type of fabrics the quilters in the area want, suppliers and companies you will be ordering from, and most importantly where to locate your store. Toni says, “You can’t stock just what you want. You need a variety.” She emphasizes that you need to have good customer service, lots of samples on the walls, and most importantly, “It’s location, location, location.”
Toni also has an Innova longarm quilting machine which she uses to quilt for others. She boasts a one-week or less turn-around time. So if you need quilting done quickly, check with Toni and tell her that Tu-Na sent you.
We spent the night at a small, but very clean, motel in Barnum and ate at The Lazy Bear.
What I Learned Today:
- Taking the longer way will be OK.
- Good internet connections are invaluable.
- Poor internet connections make this modern life difficult.
- Don’t apologize for my mistakes in my quilts. (Learned this while listening to American Patchwork and Quilting’s podcast today.)
Question: Do you point out your quilting mistakes or apologize for them?
Linking with Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts. (Button on the sidebar)
and Leanne at She Can Quilt for Scraptastic Tuesday (Button on the sidebar)
and Connie at Freemotion by the River for Linky Tuesday.
I may have to quit reading your blog because you cannot imagine how jealous I am of you and your new fabric haul. I want some of that mosquito fabric with the little trailers so bad. Argh, I’m turning green again. And to answer your question I am a terrible critic of my own quilts. I see every flaw and measure my work against every other quilt I see. Mine never measure up.
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Look for a couple of posts after I get home about all of my loot. I’m just running out of space in the car! Some of the shops still have that mosquito fabric left. Go to the Quilt Minnesota Shop Hop website to get a list of the stores. Wahkon is a good guess to call first. Many of the stores ship.
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The shops look amazing…I would have had to come home by now because I would be out of money!
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That is a problem! I told my husband that I don’t want any diamonds but would take fabric instead. Works for him, he said.
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Would that be Cheryl on AP&Q? I have to listen to that today when I’m sewing. I love her. These are great posts, as I’ve mentioned, and I just love your writing style “still smiling and talking to each other” (you’ve got yourself a keeper there!). Paul is in Bemidji! We’ve driven through on #2 many a time on our way to and fro from southern ON to AB. Love US2. 🙂
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It was a recorded podcast from sometime in March or April. Linda was filling in for Pat Sloan. I heard Babe the Blue Ox had been blown over in the storm the night before.
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I visit Sandstone for the first time this year. I loved this quilt shop. And they had chocolate candy , coffee, and water for a treat for tired shoppers.
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Chocolate is always good! It usually doesn’t leave the shop or I sneakily take two; one to eat now and one for the road.
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Thanks for sharing your journey to the neat quilt stores! I’ve noted a few that I hope to visit the next time we visit Bob’s mom in Minnesota!
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It’s been a journey of a lifetime because once the credit card bill comes I may have to go on a fabric diet! But who knows in a year my husband probably will have forgotten about those bills and I’ll convince him to go again. I hope you make it to some of those shops.
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