Quilt Shops Near And Far

While on vacation, I was fortunate enough to find a quilt shop located in the mountains of Colorado. So while my husband headed to the hardware store to grab a few things we needed, he dropped me off at this wonderful shop.

Oh, what a wonderful little shop this was. This was located in Woodland Park Colorado and I had such a grand time shopping here. I purchased lots of fabrics that I usually don't find any of its kind back home. I wanted the more woodsie --colorado feel prints....and I found several I had to have.

This was one of the prints I purchased that day. I loved how the mountains are nestled in an Aspen grove, with that clear beautiful blue Colorado sky....this, by the way, is just what the beautiful Aspens look like in the fall, and I purchased a couple of yards of this fabric. I almost did not get it because it is a lot brighter than most of anything I usually purchase. If it had not been for the print alone, I would have passed it up.

Little did I know what I'd really end up doing with this fabric and after I got home, realized I should have purchased more. I remembered another print that was a rather unusual coloring of pine cones and quickly regretted not purchasing any of that print as well. I called the lovely lady who runs this quaint little quilt shop and she is sending me more of this fabric plus the pine cone fabric I wanted. I am so excited, it is so nice to run into people far from home that are so willing to help a customer who was just passing through and not a regular or local.

Now...back to the fabrics. I decided I wanted to make a quilt out of this fabric. My plan is to cut about 8-9 inch blocks of this print, and pair it with other fabrics in a 9 patch block. The only problem is, I am not too good at choosing fabrics to match something I already have. In fact, I am terrible at it. But I knew of a local quilt shop that has a wonderful employee who has a knack for that type of thing. I knew I had to see Leo, the quilt teacher from last years quilt class.

I walked into the store and announced to Leo that I had purchased this fabric while on vacation....after a few tsk-tsks and a shame on you look from Leo, he laughed and snatched the fabric from my hands and went dashing through the store. I had to laugh at myself...because I knew he was working his magic!

Here is the collection of fabrics I ended up with....well, Leo ended up with.....I just spent my money!

First, he went to what he calls the "home depot" section in the quilt shop.....What's the matter? Your local quilt shop does not have that section??? Okay, let me explain.

The home depot section is the section where all the wood grains, bark, bricks, stones, rocks, grasses and the like fabrics are housed. He quickly picked this fabric on the right for the outer border of the quilt.....ummm.....notice how it matches the bark on the trees...I'd never come up with that in a million years. Next, came the black for a small inside border next to the white bark fabric, and then the yellow for the larger inside border. Again, I'd never picked these off the shelves on my own.....never.

The blue and the white will make up the nine patches. He kept telling me to pick a blue that matched the blue in the fabric I purchased out of town....I did not see a thing that matched.....well, he just plucked this off the shelf and asked what the heck was wrong with this??? All I could say was, "well, since you put it like that, nothing!" He told me the nine patches made out of the white and blue would take on a cloud-sky effect once paired with the other blocks....we'll see......

No matter, I like what he chose for this quilt. At least I think it looks good on paper....ummm...I mean on the table. I hope when it is cut, pieced and quilted I still feel the same way. I just love it that my local quilt shop has such talented men working there and I know without a doubt if I ask for help, then it is more than help I will get. We have several quilt shops in our city, but all the others have women working there, and well....sorry gals, the men in this one shop are so much better at pairing fabrics in my opinion than the gals at all the others.

How lucky I am to have a local quilt shop run entirely by men who have a great eye for fabric combinations. And how lucky I was to find a quilt shop while on vacation and the ladies there were happy to send more fabric my way.

Now, for all you quilters out there? What is your opinion??? Do you like the color combination? Can you see the finished quilt and do you think it will all work together well? I still think it is a tad brighter than what I am used to, but hopefully it will work in the end.