On my recent holidays, first we drove north to Fort St. John, then west to Terrace and Prince Rupert where we took a 15-hour ferry to Vancouver Island through the Inside Passage to visit my brother and sister-in-law in Nanaimo. We overnighted in Rupert because we had to be at the ferry terminal the next morning at 5 am. I didn’t see any quilt shops, but we had a fantastic supper of fish and chips at Breakers Pub.
It was a beautiful ferry ride, but we didn’t stop for quilt shops.
I told my brother and his wife that I had to visit one of Nanaimo’s quilt shops so they got out the phone book and found three. I wasn’t really interested in the first one, but they insisted (while they went and had coffee around the corner). I’m glad they did. The Stitcher's Muse is located downtown. It’s a small shop, dedicated mostly to needlepoint and embroidery, but they had some quilting supplies and some very unique notions and embellishments. I bought some of this yummy batik with a mariner’s patterns (have you noticed the saltwater theme we have going here?) and these buttons in antler, mother of pearl and ceramic.
Next they dropped me at Snip and Stitch and went next door to have a beer. :-) I’d been to this shop before. They have machines for sale, lots of books and patterns, threads and notions, Janome attachments and cute little paper piecing kits. I bought a ladybug kit and an Accufeed quarter-inch foot to thank my friend Judy for taking care of Rusty and Ginger while we were away. As well, I bought The Everything Goes Bag pattern from Among Brenda’s Quilts and a fat quarter. With the bag patterns I’ve been buying, I look for different features that I want to practice. This one had zippers, tabs and a curved pocket. (And a cute picture of a kitty in her logo!) The store also had a sale tent out front and a very nice man at a barbecue who gave us free veggie dogs.
Serge and Sew was next. It’s in a shopping mall, so everyone took off to shop elsewhere while I went into the store. It was probably the best quilt shop of them all – fantastic selection of fabric, patterns and kits, sale fabric, bag and quilt samples, and a really, really nice staff. I looked at everything, but I was so shopped out by then (believe it or not) that I didn’t buy a thing. I thought of going back the following day, but it was Sunday and they weren’t open.
So we drove to Parksville to see the Canadian Open Sand Sculpting competition. On the way there I spotted Sweet Pea Quilting from the highway and felt my shopping urge revive. We enjoyed the sand sculpting and relaxed on the beach for a short spell. What a gorgeous day it was. Then we drove to the quilt shop and they all waited in the car for me. They had a nice selection of fabrics, lots of fat quarters, patterns and kits. I couldn’t resist this paper piece pattern called Cups, Cups, Cups by Karla Alexander – subliminal effect of the sand sculpture, I’m sure. And another bag pattern – Raspberry Ripple by Melly and Me. I love the way those pleats look! This time I bought a kit, thinking it might make my work easier. But when I got home and 
unpacked, I found it only contained the fabric – no hardware and no interfacing. I already have lots of fabric at home, so I didn’t really need to spend an extra $30 for more. Oh well.
So now I have several more projects on my list of things to do this year and my holiday is over. I’m back at work. As we’re almost into September, I need to decide quickly what I’m going to do for Christmas presents and start working on them right away. The pressure is on!
Until next time,
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