FUN, FRIENDS, FABRIC, AND FOOD

Today was the first day of a three day Quilters' Shop Tour, so myself and two friends decided that we would do the tour, but over two days. All of the shops stamped our passports and gave out a free pattern and offered 20 percent off fabric purchases. Today we did the West region and Saturday we will do the East region and that will complete the whole tour. There are draws for regional prizes for finishing each region and a grand prize draw of $1000.00 worth of coupons for one lucky winner who has their passport stamped from all 9 Quilt shops. We started out at 8:30 am this morning and our first stop was at the "Marsh Store" Quilt shop in Coldstream, ON. Shirley had the store looking amazing! Shirley greeted us with a huge smile when we walked in. We were her first customers of the day. She had lots of refreshments for the shoppers, chocolate Easter eggs, chocolate bars and bottled water.  Shirley has a great assortment of kits and bolts of fabrics, notions, and patterns. We all found a few things to purchase and then headed to Mt. Brydges to our next stop, "Sew Creative".

Mary, myself, Michelle and Shirley at the "Marsh Store" quilt shop in Coldstream,ON.

Shirley standing in front of her sample of the free pattern she did for the Shop Tour.

The refreshment table at the Marsh Store in Coldstream, ON.

When we arrived at "Sew Creative", Joan also greeted us with a smile. She had lots of cookies and juice for the shoppers and her store also looked amazing. Joan confessed that there was over 2000 bolts of fabric. She had something for everyone, also lots of patterns, books, and notions. All of her Pfaff machines are on sale until the end of June also. We all found something to purchase, got our passports stamped and headed to our next stop. We found "Sew Creative" a great place to shop.

Joan Hilhorst at Sew Creative in Mt. Brydges, ON

Sew Creative in Mt. Brydges, ON.

Our next stop was "Quilting Creations" in Strathroy, ON.  We found Sherry to be a very nice lady.  She also had lots of fabrics to choose from and homemade cookies and drinks for the shoppers. Her staff were also very friendly and helpful. We also enjoyed our shopping experience at "Quilting Creations". Lots of patterns and books too.

Sherry from Quilting Creations with the sample of her shop pattern she was handing out to shoppers.

Our next stop was in Arkona, ON. at "Quilts n' Things". Lots of fabrics and homemade cookies for shoppers on the tour. They had a great pattern for Quilters to take home.

Our final stop for the day was in Sarnia at "The Quilt Shoppe". We were greeted with smiles from the friendly staff and had our passports stamped and we were given a free pattern to take home. We were told that all fabrics were $9.99 a metre and then 20 percent off of that. We all thought that was a great deal. They had a great selection of fabrics and kits. We all enjoyed our shopping experience here and found the owner and staff very friendly. There was bottled water, carrots to munch on, apples and donuts for shoppers. We all got some nice fabrics to take home. We also were given a 20 percent off coupon for lunch at  a lovely Tea House down the road, so seeing we were hungry after all of this shopping we decided to give it a try, after all it was lunch time.

The girls at "The Quilt Shoppe" in Sarnia, ON.

Refreshment table at "The Quilt Shoppe" in Sarnia, ON

DeGroots's Garden TeaHouse in Sarnia, ON.

Rustic Seafood Pie with Mandarin Cashew salad

(Michelle and I ordered this for our lunch)

Grilled Vegetable Panini(This was Mary's choice)

The DeGroot's TeaHouse in Sarnia was a fantastic place for lunch. They offered numerous healthy choices on their menu for lunch. Local products are used daily in their restaurant including fresh herbs, and vegetables. The food was delicious and the prices were reasonable. The portions were quite adequate too. We will definitely return. The TeaHouse is situated in a 1906 farmhouse with dining areas on two floors. Service was good, and they were very busy. The staff was very friendly, and made you feel welcome. They had recently received an award for one of their home made soups, but unfortunately the soup was sold out by the time we ordered our meals. We were very happy with our choices. Below are some of the fabrics I purchased on the Quilters' Shop Tour.

Some of my fabric purchases

Some Civil War fabrics

Some fabrics I will be using to make an Autumn Quilt

To sum it up, we had a wonderful time today and we will be doing Part II on Saturday, so check back for another update of the second half of the tour.

~Janet