Sunday Stash: Fabric Shop Tour 2

My summer travels to Michigan allowed me an opportunity to explore several fabric shops. While I am quite excited about the new additions to my collection of fabric, my greatest joy came from spending time with my mom. One day was devoted completely to sharing time with my mom and my aunt. After a late breakfast we headed to JoAnn's. While this is not my favorite choice to purchase quilting fabric, I had a gift card that was burning a hole in my pocket. My mom was looking forward to making some apple coasters that she had bookmarked in one of her many quilting magazines. We loaded up on fat quarters to represent a variety of apples; granny smith, cinnamon apple, candy apple, red delicious. . . additionally we found some fun sale fabrics.  

Will there be pillows in my future? 

 The stripey orange and grey fabrics reminded me of Libs Elliot, whom I follow on Instagram. I imagine those crazy lines chopped up and mixed with solids to create some very busy and possibly dizzying designs. The yellow and white print was also on sale. It is a heavier weight out door fabric that Seark liked for some pillows. At this point mom was already questioning if there was going to be enough room to haul all of my goodies back to Florida. I kept the rest of my hoarding shopping experiences hush hush, I didn't want mom to freak out! 

This is going to become a great mini quilt wall hanging to remind me of my trip!

Next stop was Kean's Store. If you ever find yourself in Mason, Michigan, please stop at Kean's. This store is amazing! It's been around for ages. I used to go with my grandmother on special occasions, and my mom talks about going when she was a child too. The aroma of freshly popped and buttery popcorn greets you at the door, mixed with the sweet fragrances of the candy counter. The store is difficult to describe, as they carry a little bit of everything; fabric, candles, greeting cards, home decor, toys, school supplies, and seasonal items. Here I could not help dipping my toes into the Row by Row experience. (If you've not heard of this, you can read about it here.) The folks at Kean's designed a row that was the perfect quilty souvenir for my trip to Michigan. They chose great traditional blocks that remind me of summers in the mitten state and complemented them with spectacular fabric in an outdoorsy camping forest nature theme. I can't wait to create this row, but first I have to get the instructions which I accidentally left as a bookmark in one of the many quilting magazines that I found myself reading at my parents house!  

Mom is cutting fabric for apple coasters.

 I really enjoyed working on a project with my mom. While we didn't finish the coasters, we made a really great start, and now my mom has another project to add to her stash of works in progress. Somewhere during this vacation I came to the realization that my life is full of memories and more recently (read since I moved to Florida) those memories haven't included my family as much as I would like. I will cherish half made apple coasters and add that memory to a file that is growing at a much slower pace than it once did.

The magazine said we could make them in one day. A two week vacation and they are still a WIP.

You can read more about the beginning of my Fabric Shop Tour adventures here. I'm linking up with Molli Sparkles and his Sunday Stash. If you haven't already, check out his No Value Does Not Equal Free post! Wowza! Gorgeous quilt, and thought provoking read.