Quilt Store Shopping in Canada

I visited four quilt stores while on my wonderful trip to Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Calgary.  I don’t often show my purchases of quilting goodies - because I don’t want some people to know just how much fabric I buy .

But I am going to show off this time so I can tell you about these great quilt stores.

Firstly I had a quick stop at Magical Threads Quilt Shop at 25 Bareneed Road in Bay Roberts, Newfoundland.  This store is quite close to where my daughter lives so it is good to know about it – especially if she is going to start sewing now that she has a machine . 

DH was waiting in the car but DD # 2 and SGD (step grand daughter) came in and looked at  the wool yarns – oh yes this store sells wool as well.  I bought this small piece of fabric that I showed previously.  There was only one small basket of fat quarters, there were a couple of women buying scads of fabric and it was all a little overwhelming for me seeing all the luscious fabric.

The second stop was at It's Sew Time in Elmsdale, Nova Scotia.  This shop was small but there were shelves full of fat quarters and I loved some of the fabrics.  DH and DD # 2 came into the store and got into a conversation with the clerk so I had a little bit of time to peruse, but we were on the way to Charlottetown and the day was passing quickly so I didn’t stay for a really long time.

The six fat quarters on the left have a purpose in mind.  The other three were just too pretty to pass up.

Shop number three was in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Quilting B & More.  This was the only shop I got to spend a leisurely time in because it was just a couple of blocks from our hotel and I walked over on my own.  The store clerk was busy showing a couple of women a fantastic looking Bernina and I browsed for about half an hour.  It was a mother and daughter who were looking at the machine.  I heard the daughter say “We had better consult with [the other daughter] because I’m not the one who lives here all the time.”

After they left to “have lunch and think about it” the clerk apologized for being busy for so long.  I told her it was fine and commented on the beautiful machine they were considering.  She said “yes it’s a great machine but I didn’t want to push her too much because she’s 93 years old and who knows how long she’ll get to use it”. 

There was lots of wonderful fabric, but not too many fat quarters.  In the end I found some Anne of Green Gables fabric and some Christmas embellishments that I wanted.

The last shop was My Sewing Room in Calgary, Alberta.  Again, my friend and her 25 year old son were waiting in the truck for me so I didn’t have all the leisure I wanted to peruse.  This shop was huge with every kind of every thing related to quilting.  Only I didn’t find any small purse frames, a mini table topper holder or a book or pattern with different EPP designs, which were things I would have bought.  I did pick up a little collection of goodies though.

A pattern for a sweatshirt jacket, a wool candle mat pattern – I made one of these last Christmas and would love to do another one, a fat eighth pack of silk fabric (I have some pieces already and plan to make a bag with them), a little pack of coloured brads, a D ring and clip for a bag and an on sale piece of Wordplay fabric in grey. 

On Friday I went to our local thrift store looking for some blue wool for the candle mat (they also didn’t have any blue wool in the Calgary store).  I didn’t find a single wool item.  Bah!  But I did find some silk ties to add to my slowly increasing collection.  One of these days I’m going to make a quilt from them, although I have no memory of where the pattern I was going to use is.

Janet