Sunday is for Scraps -- and Nebraska Quilt Shop Hop

Today is Brown Bag Surprise at Ruth's Stitchery, so I won't make much progress on my scrappy quilt for this week.

Not only is this my week's scrap quilt, it is this month's UFO.  I drew #10 UFO, and it is another oldie but goodie, a Split Nine Patch I started years and years (and years!) ago.  I started this quilt before I even thought about managing my scraps -- the magazine that has the pattern is dated 2000.

This Split Nine Patch starts with 3" squares of light and dark fabrics, and 3" light-dark half square triangles.

Some of these fabrics are from a P&B Textiles fat quarter bundle I bought when a shop here in the Springs went out of business -- 10+ years ago!  Which just goes to show, fabric doesn't go bad.

Here is the first finished block (made when I started the quilt):

Clearly, I wasn't as precise in my piecing back then.  I will have to see if the new blocks come out the same size, now that I know what 1/4" seams look like.

And now, a review of some of the many shops I visited on the Nebraska Shop Hop 2012. 

I started hopping in Fremont, which is about 30 minutes northwest of Omaha.

I Love Sewing may become my second-favorite shop in the state.  They have an outstanding collection of contemporary fabrics, and really, their staff is the friendliest I met during the entire two days I spent in Nebraska.  I snapped up some International Harvester (tractor) fabric -- because crops are green, tractors are red!

I also visited Sunshine Stitches, whose staff told me where I could find my own elusive "Shop Hop" bag.  Another Omaha shop I visited is The Quilt Studio.  The location seems unlikely (it's right next door to an auto repair shop) but the selection is out of this world!  I would swear they have every fabric in the Kaffe Fassett line, and many many other contemporary fabrics as well.

From Omaha I headed to Plattsmouth and Seams to Be:

 My GPS had a little trouble finding downtown Plattsmouth.  Beatriz (the wife of Ferdinand Magellan, and the name of my GPS) tried to send me down one way alleys and dead end streets.  But I persevered and found quite possibly the largest quilt shop in Nebraska next to Material Girls in Grand Island!  They have a very wide selection and their helpful staff advised me how to get to Lincoln without driving on the Interstate.  Highway 34 is a scenic two lane highway with minimal traffic through beautiful Nebraska farmland -- much better than struggling through construction zones on I-80.

My first stop in Lincoln was a shop that was not part of the shop hop, but which I've wanted to visit since my first trip to Lincoln two years ago.  The Quilted Kitty doesn't have a lot of contemporary fabrics, and I didn't get to meet the kitty, but they have an extensive display of Cat's Meow wooden plaques.  I got the Nebraska plaque and may have started a new collection.

Aaahh -- The Cosmic Cow.  I first discovered my favorite shop in the world two years ago when I visited the International Quilt Study Center and Museum.  I only had time to visit one shop, so I asked the clerk in the museum's gift shop where I should go.  She asked "What kind of quilts do you like to make?," and I replied "I'm really into the modern quilts right now, Kaffe Fassett and Amy Butler."  She instantly answered, "You HAVE to go to The Cosmic Cow."  Who could resist a shop with a name like that?

I had seen a collection of fabrics I loved on someone's blog the night before.  It was Sarah Fielke's "From Little Things," and I thought I'd never find it in a shop.  Imagine my delight when they had the complete collection at The Cosmic Cow!  This trip, they came through for me again when they had the solid grey-green of Malka Dubrawsky's "A Stitch in Color."  Woot woot!!

Tomorrow:  More Nebraska quilt shops and my Brown Bag Surprise quilt. 

Remember to comment to enter my giveaway here!


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