October 5, 2010

Day 2: Lisle to Rockford

Our first full morning together, we checked out of our hotel so we could be at the first quilt store, The Quilt Basket, when it opened at 10:00.   It was a cute little store with a lot of variety and the owner couldn't have been nicer.


IMG_0474 Next, we went to Pieceful Hearts in Lisle.  This beautiful James River Blues quilt stopped us in our tracks the moment we entered the front door.  We each grabbed a kit (can you say "sew along?")   Pieceful Hearts was a wonderful store with something for everybody - reproduction fabrics, modern fabrics, batiks, flannels, lots of samples on the wall and kits made up.   They were having a lively quilt class in their beautifully set-up classroom.  The entire store was wall to wall eye candy.




NottinghamOur next stop brought us to Docia, The Quilt Merchant - the first place we were accused of being Carrie Nelson stalkers.   Who?   Us?   It seems that Carrie had been there before we arrived and was spreading vicious rumours about the 3 of us!


Docia's shop was fabulous - I'd done some online business with them in the past, but seeing the shop in person was a special treat.  Docia and her family couldn't have been nicer, the store and fabrics were incredible, and we had the pleasure of meeting her very talented daughter-in-law Beth, as well.  Beth designed this awesome Nottingham Star quilt that was just inside the front door.  What a stunning quilt.   We all bought the pattern for this one, too.


She had also just received the new Jo Morton line, Annandale, and though it wasn't even out on the floor yet, Docia allowed me to purchase some of the large red floral from that line (swoon!)




Qgskit Our next stop was Quilter's General Store, who was sponsoring the class we were taking on Saturday.  The shop was beautifully arranged with room after room of fabulous kits, displays and fabrics.  One of my favorite finds was this kit displayed behind the cash register.


Our final stop of the day was at Acorn Quilts.  I had searched every store we'd stopped at that day in search of orange wool for a Halloween wallhanging I'm planning.   I found the perfect orange wool at Acorn Quilts!  They had the most amazing selection of wool of any of the shops we'd visited, or the ones I've seen in Washington.


Greys I was also intrigued by this tiny beautiful grey and black quilt and bought some of their fabulous selection of grey fabrics to plan something like this on a larger scale.


Acorn The very sweet gal that helped us took our photo next to their beautiful wool quilt.   Amazing, isn't it?


Towelbunny We ended our day with dinner and returned to our hotel room.   Nicole and I had this adorable bunny made out of towels in our bathroom.   We were able to preserve Towel Bunny both days we were there - he was much too cute to use!



13 comments:

  1. Towel Bunny!! I loved Towel Bunny!!
    What an absolutely perfect day we had.

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  2. Thanks for sharing all the quilts! I love the blue and brown ones. I have never seen a towel bunny.....too cute!

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  3. OMG what incredible quilts! I would have flipped in all of those shops...I love Docia's shop, was there when my son and family lived in Chicago...made me hyperventilate. Love Beth's star quilt! I am also flipping over the 9 patch surrounded by the churn dash quilt from Quilter's General Store. Thank you for taking us along on the trip!

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  4. Excellent quilts to display on all fronts!!! I love them all. You have excellent taste. I find I'm also intrigued by the tiny beautiful grey and black quilt. Brilliant, isn't it?

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  5. Beautiful pics. I especially love that wool quilt and the towel bunny!

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  6. I like each one of the quilts you show today. I have to stop looking or I will be buying!

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  7. I want to go back to Illinois for more shopping!

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  8. Oh my -- you were right in my backyard ladies -- and you missed a couple of wonderful quilt shops in the process :0) All of them within easy jaunts from where you are. Though, now that you have me thinking of Pieceful Hearts -- need to remember what I did with the gift card I got from there :0).

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  9. I love that gray and black quilt! It is gorgeous! What fun to visit quilt stores in other parts of the country.

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  10. Thoroughly enjoying all the news and pictures as they filter through from your trip. Looking forward to seeing your finished projects also. Cheers

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  11. I never used the word "stalkers" ~ that must have been Kathy. :)
    I love the Carriage Wheels quilt ~ the one with the nine-patch/churn dash blocks ~ by Carol Hopkins. She's one of the nicest ladies around too.
    I'm so glad you had fun at all the shops. :)

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  12. And it would have been Kathy that was in the shop on Friday when you were to Acorn Quilts. :)

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  13. I love the brown and blue star quilt. Thanks for sharing - I am going to have to get that one on my list now too! It has been so much fun to read about your trip.
    Thanks for sharing!

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