July Shop Hopping & Row by Rowing

I hadn’t really planned to do our regional July Shop Hop, first because of the distance and driving involved to get to 15 shops spread out all over Southwestern Ontario and second because I have sooooo many other projects that I want to finish this quarter that starting a new one would slow down progress on those.  But last week, when I needed to make a quick stop at our local quilt shop, they gave me the free kit for their block and a passport just in case I made it to any of the other shops.

Well… come this weekend, the temperature today was supposed to reach the lower to mid 30s with the heat index in the 40s.  Middle daughter and I decided an afternoon of quilt shop hopping in an air conditioned car might be a good idea after all.

We managed to make it to the last of four shops 10 minutes before closing time.

The finished block in the middle of the photo is the one from my local quilt shop.  The rest are from today’s trip.

I don’t mind admitting that middle block gave me a lot of trouble.  It may look simple but for some reason I was having trouble obtaining the accurate (slight) 1/4″ seam allowance that is essential for getting all those corners to line up.  After several times of ripping seams out, the block did finish at an almost perfect 9 1/2″ square albeit with a few seams that have tiny ripples in them that I’m hoping will even out after quilting and washing.

Since all the shops we went to were also participating in the Row by Row Experience, we picked up the patterns for those too.

If I make any of these, I think they will have to be turned into individual wall hangings because as you can see… none of them really go together.

For my personal taste, a quilt takes far too much time, not to mention money (fabric, thread, etc) to throw a bunch of rows/blocks together with no thought as to how the finished quilt will look.    If I do end up making a Row by Row quilt, I may have to wait until November when the rows from other shops not in my area will be available for mail order.  Then I’ll be able to pick and choose the rows to be included.

On a completely different note… be sure to stop back here on Monday for the weekly Vintage Embroidery Monday & Stitchery Link Party.   Over the next several weeks, I’m going to be sharing some really adorable vintage patterns.

And of course, each Monday there will be lots of inspiration to be found on the blogs who join in the Stitchery Link Party.  If you haven’t had a chance to visit those who linked up this past Monday, I really encourage you to take a few moments and go see what everyone is working on.

I hope you are enjoying a wonderful weekend with much Aloha!

I would be so pleased if you chose to share by clicking on one of the buttons below!