Impromtu excursion.....(shop hop)

Spur of the moment (almost) decision to take off on a shop hop is definitely a fun idea.  

Sharon, Nancy and I  decided to run the highways of Michigan and stop at a few (several or as many as we could) quilt shops to get a fix.  Some new and some old to us.

We took two days to do this and I do have to say that I think we finally got "shopped out"!!

We were so excited that my intent on taking pictures of us at each of the shops got forgotten in the beginning.  

Day 1 consisted of ....

Pincushion in Imlay City

Right across the street was the Happy Little Quilt Shop.  They just moved there from another location and they had a different name before, too.  

Then we were on to Bay City where we stopped at 

Stitching at the Bay

Now to be truthful, Nancy doesn't need any fabric.  

Actually none of us NEED any fabric.

It's just hard to resist when you are in such lovely surroundings. 

By now we needed some sustenance and right around the corner from this quilt shop was a great little restaurant called Uptown Grill.  I highly recommend it.  

Also, recommend the waffles that were dipped in french toast batter, had smoked ham and turkey  and some melted cheese on the inside and then a berry sauce on top.  It's a wonder I didn't go into a food coma after this brunch.

 

From here we headed out to Midland, MI where we stopped into one of my favorite stores....

Park Bench Quilts.

I think we all did some damage in this store.

That was it for day one.  We headed off to our hotel and then went out for some drinks.

Day 2.....

We headed over to Mt. Pleasant to   Keepsake Quilts  

On to Miles of Stitches in Merrill. 

Then on to Seven Sisters Quilt Shop in Carson City, MI.

I think this is our new favorite shop.  We loved everything they had in this store. 

Gosh, where's the time going?  We still had a few more shops on our list, but time was running out. 

We did want to make it to one more shop before the end of the day and before deciding if we were going to make this a 3-day shopping excursion. 

That was The Pink Castle in Ann Arbor, MI. 

After finishing up here, there was discussion on whether we wanted to hit the other shops on our list and stay another day to do so; but we were all feeling a little shopped out, a little more broke and starting to get that feeling of "where am I going to put all this new found fabric when I get home?".  

Not everyone is fessing up to all the damage they did, but here's what I came home with and there is not one thing in there that I regret.......yet.

Simple baby quilt .....

Floral fabric to go with the block I recently made.  I think I will make a few more of those blocks and cut big panels of this fabric for inbetween the blocks.

Dots for my Christmas Fig Tree FQ tower that I bought in the past and some brights for a flower quilt that the three of us are going to make 

I love birds; zipper for a makeup bag and some hand made leather labels for those bags.

Then I really stocked up on white/black and some gray neutrals that my stash is sorely lacking in. 

Makes me smile.  

We had a great time; shopping was great and friendships are even better.  

We're already talking about the next shop hop; but maybe we will have to do a sew-in first to use up some of this before we go shopping for more fabric.