shop hop all your troubles away

every year, a group of quilt shops across the wasatch front hosts a "shop hop." thirteen shops
participate each year, decorating to fit a theme. last year, i somehow completely missed it and was really bummed. so this time, we were prepared.

mom, berg and i planned to hit up a few of the shops, this year coordinating around a game theme. berg and i drove home on thursday afternoon, and as we were getting in the car to head back down lehi way for the first shop, mom said, should we just try to go to all the shops? if you go to all 13, stamping your passport at each, you are entered to win some awesome prizes. since i don't technically know how to sew, i was hoping to win the grand prize, a sewing machine. because i know that if i had a sewing machine to call my own, i would actually learn to sew :)

so we embarked on a two day journey toward shop hop domination. even though i don't actually know how to quilt, i decided to buy fabric to make a quilt anyway.

you can't tell super well from the picture, but the color palette started as navy with some accents (orange, coral, green, teal). i noticed early on that i was picking up a lot of floral prints. story of my life! (one of my friends always points out when i am wearing something floral...which turned out to be almost every day. i'm wearing floral jeans as i type this. i just really like flowers, okay?!) anyway, i love all these fabrics, but there are some that i am obsessed with.

and there was one fat quarter that berg picked up early on that i was kicking myself for not getting. luckily, i found it at quilter's haven in bountiful, our last shop hop stop.

i can never resist a good rainbow.

the first day, we went to 10 quilt shops in about 6 hours. it was amazing. we drove from salt lake to lehi all the way down to springville and back again, stopping in orem, draper, midvale, cottonwood heights, sandy, and sugarhouse. favorite shops (meaning most dedicated to theme and/or best food): quilts, quilts, quilts (where's waldo), elaine's quilt block (ticket to ride), corn wagon quilts (monopoly), and pine needles (twister, but mostly just because i really like pine needles). 

the next morning, we met up with connie, dad's aunt, who is a major quilter, and headed up to brigham city. connie was talking to us about the day before, and when we said that we had been collecting fabrics for quilts we wanted to make, she asked how much we sewed. berg and i were both like, um, never now. but we are determined to learn. we played go fish in brigham, had fun at my girlfriend's quilt shoppe in logan, ate some lunch at the historic bluebird cafe, and then headed back down the mountain. after dropping connie off, we finished back home in bountiful. 

it was a very busy two days, but it was a ton of fun. we saw a million cute things that made me want to be the cute crafty homemaker that my mom is. 

and, best thing! i got a call last week saying i had won a prize. sadly, it wasn't the sewing machine. guess i'll have to shell out for that at some point, especially if i want this awesome quilt to get made.

my prize bag: a couple quilt books, some patterns, a bundle of fabric comprised mostly of doctor/nurse prints, some other squares that are kinda cute, and some kleenex. 

plus, the shop hop got me back into embroidery. 

that little flower one in the top right is my own design :) and please pardon the wrinkliness. now i just need to finish these babies with some fabric. anybody willing to teach me how to sew/buy me a sewing machine?