Quilters' Travel Companion

Kay Marberger

I started quilting 8 years ago. From my first quilt, I WAS HOOKED. I live in a small town with no quilt shop, so when I discovered QTC in a quilt shop, I latched onto one and consult it whenever I venture out of the La Grange city limits. I love to look at and feel all the new fabrics; I collect patterns and gadgets like a Grabbit collects pins. My theory is, “Buy it now, because you don’t know if or when you will see it again!” Whenever my husband and I travel for business or pleasure, I take along QTC and we allow time for me to check out the quilt shops along the routes. Often, I make route suggestions which we incorporate into our itinerary. He now asks if there are any quilt shops in destinations where he wants to go. (I think he dangles that question in front of me to encourage me to travel with him. I shamelessly fall for it every time.) I do live within 100-150 miles of a lot of quilt shops and, on good motorcycling days, we will set out on the bike for a “new” or “old favorite shop” culled from QTC. On our last vacation, the statistics read: 950 miles on motorcycle, 12 quilt shops, and 1 quilt show. People laugh and say, “You can’t carry much on a motorcycle.” And I laugh and say. “How much room do 4 fat quarters take up, and they stuff into any available space in my saddlebag!!”

I want to tell you about my latest adventure. I have a friend, Kathy (my husband calls us Lucy & Ethel). She lives in Houston and I live near Boston. So, of course, I recently flew to Houston, we DROVE to Boston and then back to Houston (made perfect sense to us), stopping at antique stores and QUILT SHOPS that I found in the Traveler's Companion! It was so great to have with me. I found wonderful shops that I would never have found otherwise. So, 4300 miles later, I just wanted to say thanks for making your book such a fun and easy to use resource.

        We travel back and forth between Wisconsin and Arizona each year, and choosing different routes is my husband's job. After he decides which way we are going, I get out my recent copy of Quilters' Travel Companion and figure out which shops are near where we are going to be. I especially like the maps at the beginning of each state's shops. Sometimes, with a little nudge, we stray from his route. One of these detours took us to McPherson, Kansas. It was May and quite warm. We travel with two dogs, so my husband said he'd take them for a walk while I was in The Button Hole. If only walks could last for several hours instead of less than one!! What an amazing shop! It truly would take hours to see everything.

        We have stopped in shops in New Mexico, Colorado, South Dakota, Illinois, Indiana, New Hampshire, Ohio, Minnesota, and all over Wisconsin and Arizona. Our favorite, in Arizona, is no longer there. It was in Globe, and even my husband liked to go there as it was 1/3 quilting, 1/3 antiques, and 1/3 hardware and vet supplies!!
We also visited about 15 quilt shops in New Zealand! At one shop, the owner said "You must be the American I heard was coming."

        Quilting has become very important to me, and thanks to QTC I can find a "fix" no matter where I am.

A friend and I recently came back from a trip from Cleveland, Ohio to Bar Harbor, Maine. As our companion along the way, we had a copy of QTC. We noticed that on the inside cover of the book, you ask for stories about readers’ adventures using QTC. We wrote the story that follows for our quilt guild’s newsletter.

Have you even been asked what you would like for gift? A good answer might be “A copy of Quilters’ Travel Companion”. With it in hand, start driving all over the USA stopping at quilt shop after quilt shop.

Dot Dixon and Marty McKinley went on a trip together from Cleveland, Ohio to Bar Harbor, Maine. Along the way they searched for a certain fabric to match an unfinished quilt top of Marty’s. The top has been almost finished for about a year, but it was too narrow. Borders were desperately needed. Marty had already auditioned many possible fabrics, but none were right.

Would Dot and Marty find this illusive fabric? Would they have to settle for a not-quite-right solution? Only the shops in Quilters’ Travel Companion could answer these questions.

Their first search was at Nancy’s Sewing Center in Belfast, Maine. When they showed the shop people the fabric, they said they used to have some of it, but no longer. However, they had a few fat quarters in other colors. Marty snatched them up. She needed aqua or gray. She got tan, dark blue, melon, etc. Maybe the border could be piano key style. Not a good idea, but better than nothing. The best thing was that now she knew the manufacturer and style number.

The phone book yielded their next shop. No luck. But Dot was enchanted by an awesome seagull fabric in a scene with golden highlights. “What are you going to do with that, Dot?” The usual answer from the fabricholic was, “I don’t know. I just have to have it.”

A week later - time to go home. Out came the Quilters’ Travel Companion again. 1500 bolts beckoned Dot and Marty in Rockland, Maine. With quilt in hand, Dot and Marty searched the shelves. No luck. They settled for less than desired and took the bolt to the cutting table. Dot asked, “Do you have the fabric in this quilt?” “YES, TWO AND A HALF YARDS OF THE AQUA.” SUCCESS, TREASURE FOUND, HOORAY, WHOOPIE. Marty squealed, did a dance of joy, hugged Dot, and if she could have, she would have turned cartwheels across the length and breath of the shop. Fabric Bonanza was indeed a bonanza.

Our last shop was spotted as Dot and Marty stopped at a traffic light in Freeport, Maine. Dot yelled, “Quilt shop!” Marty turned the car 45 degrees in a split second. She found the perfect sashing for some Sunbonnet Sue “bluework” blocks.

Mission accomplished. Time to go home. Their goals had been met. They had fulfilled their quests, but Quilters’ Travel Companion tempted them once more. Patricia’s in Rochester, New York. 3500 plus bolts. Dot was enchanted with fabric of woodland and riverbank scenes and couldn’t resist buying half yards of each.

A quilter’s passion is never sated. Always another project to expand our skills. Always one more technique to try. Always another horizon. What fun.

My husband and I recently took a driving vacation from our home in Bismarck, ND to Vancouver, BC. My husband patiently waited while I visited at least ten quilt shops during the drive. I have to recommend two of the best quilt shops that I visited.

The first shop was “The Enchanted Room”, in Glendive, MT. The shop has an excellent selection of fabrics in the rooms of a charming historic home, plus additional fabrics in a large addition to the back of the home. My husband waited while chatting with another customer’s husband in rocking chairs on the front porch.

My second recommendation is “Quilters Corner, Etc.” in Deer Lodge, MT. The shop is in a bank built in 1912. The ambiance was wonderful, with huge marble stone through out the building. While shopping, one clerk brought my husband down to the basement to see the large, old safe. The fabric is attractively displayed in the shop with its high ceilings and huge windows.

I’ve lost track of how many times over the years that I have purchased the Quilters’ Travel Companion. Then, too, I ordered the Up-To-Date Newsletters. I’ve read store ads, studied maps for deciding travel routes and many times gone ‘round the block to locate those small store fronts in unfamiliar cities.

I’ve read, with interest and chuckles, the stories of other quilting travelers who recount the pleasure of locating a new quilt store while on their vacation. For me, my life is one continuing vacation of sorts. You see, I am retired and live with my husband in a 38’ Winnebago Adventurer motorhome. This is our home. So when someone asks me where our home is, I smile and reply: “our home is where we park it.”

Yes, you see, we did own a house. In fact, we’ve owned more than one house over the years. But we sold the family home, sold the cars, sold most of the ‘stuff’ and live now in our motorhome. We don’t have much stuff anymore because there isn’t all that much storage room! But I do have room for my sewing machine, my organized box of threads, and of course the fabrics!!

As a full-timer (someone that lives in an RV year-round), I have the luxury of having new neighbors as often as we want to. If the neighbors are too noisy, or have dogs that bark early in the morning, or have parties without inviting us to join them, we have the option to move away from them! At the same time, some of our very best (new) friends are people that we have met while camping along the highways and, more commonly, the bi-ways of this great nation of ours.

There have been many times when we pull into an RV park, expecting to stay only a night or two, and find that there are so many wonderful things to do and places to visit in the area that we extend our stay to a week or more. Like the evening we pulled in to the Elks RV Park in Tillamoook, Oregon. We met the camp host and his wife and after dinner, they came to our site and played the guitar and sang songs outdoors well into the night.

The next day I went into town and explored Jane’s Fabric Patch. This is just the type of shop that I love to find!! It’s small, but very cozy, and the staff is friendly and helpful. They have some wonderful “beachy” and lighthouse fabrics. I’ve made it a point to return to Jane’s anytime we are in Oregon.

Another favorite store that brings me back many times is Anna Lena’s in Long Beach, Washington. They have a great selection of 1930’s reproduction fabrics along with a candy counter and benches for waiting husbands.

I also love to visit every quilt show that I hear about. My first love was photography, so by taking photos at quilt shows and placing the photos into albums, I have a ready supply of ideas and inspirations.