If you know a quilter I’ll bet she cannot travel through a town, where there is a quilt shop, without stopping. Quilters love fabric and will go to great lengths to find quilt shops and pickup fabric they have fallen in love with – don’t ask them what they are making because will answer “I don’t know but I’ll think of something.”
If someone told you they were going “Shop Hopping” you may think they are going from store to store looking for various items on their household list. However, to a quilter it means HIT THE QUILT SHOPS!!!---BARGAINS!!!---CONTESTS!!!---and PRIZES!!!
It also stirs up their creative juices and sends them in a frenzy of planning a day of pure bliss. Friends get together and drive allover the country side to quilt shops, stop for lunch, check out the area and have lots of fun and laughter on the way. Shop Hops are organized events put on by a group of shops as was done for the First Annual Quilting On the Yellowhead, held June 10 – 17, 2006.
Valerie Retzlaff, owner of the Chicken Coop in Mundare an experienced Shop Hop organizer, decided it would be great to get the country quilt shops together and form a shop Hop for the out of town people as well as for people from other towns and cities. Since there were a lot of quilt shops on the Yellowhead, and it is a great highway to travel, it made sense to keep it on the Yellowhead. The following five shops were contacted and agreed to participate.
The Chicken Coop, Mundare. AB
Cotton Pick’n Quilt &Gift Shoppe, Vegreville, AB
Village Treasures, Mannville, AB
Extraordinary Extras, Vermilion, AB
Quilter’s Cupboard, Llloyminster, AB
The shop owners put their heads together and organized the First Annual Quilting on The Yellowhead. Participants purchased a collector’s “Quilting on the Yellowhead” pin. They received a passport to be stamped at each store, a challenge fabric and a tote bag. There were prizes galore, a Grand Prize of $500.00 in gift certificates, daily draws at each store, fat quarter game and five chances to win a $25.00 gift certificate at the Traveling Quilt Show; that will feature all entries completed from the fabric challenge with winners to be announced the end of April 2007.
As the date rolled near each shop owner was very anxious, some shops sold lots of pins while others not so many. It was very hard to know if it would be a success or not. No need to worry, the turn out was fantastic, people as far West as Hinton and East into Saskatchewan participated plus people North and South of the Yellowhead Highway. There were groups in mini vans, husbands and wives as well as ladies on their own, they were all ages from grandmothers to babies 3.5 months old and all were having fun.
Approximately 227 people played the game.
