When I was in Rochester for all of my doctor appointments last week I made a stop to Pine Needles Quilt and Sew.  I had messaged Connie and suggested we meet.  She was happy to drive my way and shop so we did.  We were good girls, kept our hugs to ourselves, used masks and hand sanitizer.   The shop had good safety precautions in place so we felt comfortable.

Some of you might not know but I know Marsha that owns the shop (and her daughter Suzie).  Years ago my husband Kramer worked for Marsha’s husband and her dad on their farm outside of Chester Iowa.  That was back in 1990.  Marsha was a big time quilter crafter then and continued to be.  It was so surprise to me that she decided to buy the quilt shop in Cresco (and eventually move it to Rochester).

Marsha and I have run into each other off and on through the years and I’ve always appreciated the times that we have.  I always feel like she’s a bit of a kindred spirit…both of us are farm girls with farmer husbands and both of us love crafting.

I don’t get to Rochester often and when I do typically have a giant list of errands.  With covid and no errands to do, I thought stopping at the shop would be perfect.

I got there before the store opened.  I sat in the truck and waited until Connie arrived and the store opened.

The store is well-known as the local Bernina sewing machine dealer.

They also handle Baby Lock machines.  Much of the store is designated for machines.

The store will be moving to a neighboring store in the near future.  I was told the new store will be bigger with a bigger classroom.

The last time I visited I saw this great pineapple block bag.  I ended up getting the pineapple ruler but haven’t used it yet.  Seeing the bag reminded me I need to give the ruler a try.

New in the shop is Halloween.  This big pillow was cute.  I love the pumpkin motif that was quilted into the piece.
Here is the section for the Halloween fabric.  Don’t you just love the softer colors… Continue reading →

A few weeks ago I took a Saturday and went exploring.  I hit the Amish stores near Hazelton Iowa first…Rolls!!…

and the off to Merry’s Stitchins.

Merry’s is a quilt shop in the country just outside of Jessup Iowa.  If you’re even in the area, I highly recommend that you go.  For me it’s only 9 miles for the Amish stores I frequent…and Waterloo and Hobby Lobby is only a few miles after that.

Merry’s Stitches is owned by MERRY!!  Merry is the mom of Julie from Patchabilities.  Julie lives in the neighboring town to me.  Each of these gals is true talent.

My computer is acting up and won’t give me the pictures in order so here are the photos I took in no particular order.

I went as I was on a mission to restock my white based neutrals.  Seriously, when I go to quilt shops, often they only have 10 different ones…NOT MERRY’S STITCHES.  She was LOADED with white based neutrals.  Stop by tomorrow and check out what I bought.  I say I spent most of the fabric budget in one stop would be VERY accurate.

The store is really big.  The ceilings are high so there is lots of space to hang samples…have I told you how much I love samples??

Fabric is sorted to genre.  Kim Deihl fabrics are taking this area.
Julie of Patchabilities has her own space with all her samples.  It’s great that they have many of the hangers for the projects too.

Here are more of Julie’s creations.

This is the Civil Wars…. Continue reading →

Last Saturday Kelli and I went on a “run away” day.  We hadn’t been out on a day with just the two of us with no real plans in a long time.  We started out at my house thinking that we would sew….then we ended up changing plans and decided to go to the Amish south of our house near the Hazelton, Iowa area.  They have lots of shops and we decided to go.

That trip took us to through Oelwein.  While there we decided to stop in at Lou Ann’s Quilt Garden and Retreat.  Lou Ann is hosting the quilt retreat we are doing coming up in the beginning of August.  Kelli and I are planning on going and so is Kayla.  I had heard from Connie that an email had been sent out awhile ago and we never got it so we wanted to make sure we were on the list.

Sadly, Lou Ann wasn’t there so we couldn’t chat but we did talk to one of the gals we love that works there.  She would send out message on to Lou Ann.  I asked and if anyone is interested, there is still room at the retreat.  The more the merrier.  You’ll have to contact Lou Ann for more info.

While I was there I thought I’d snap a few pictures of the pretties that Lou Ann had hanging on the wall.  It’s been a bit since I’ve stopped and true to Lou Ann’s business sense, most of the quilt samples had all changed.

How fun is this??
I love the woven look.

What a pretty star!!  The machine quilting on it is perfect.

Lou Ann has a great style to the shop..a little on the modern side but still very contemporary.

Don’t you LOVE this fabric? Continue reading →