Thursday, May 3, 2012

Quilting In The USA - Columbus, OH

I travel quite extensively for my job. Monday through Friday I am on the road throughout most of the central United States. I don't get to see my husband or beagles nearly enough. I am on a first name basis with most TSA agents at the Milwaukee airport. However when I travel I seek out local fabric and quilt shops to entertain myself and add to my stash. I have been in Columbus, Ohio now for about 6 weeks......(sigh)
Columbus, Ohio....Looking Snazzy
I have found a couple great quilt shops here in town.

Here are the highlights.....

Red Rooster Quilts- Located in Dublin, Oh (North-West of downtown). This is a great store with a nice selection of quilting fabrics and wool. They offer classes in the back studio which is also where they have a selection of bolts that are 40% off. They have a lot of quilt kits, pre-cuts, patterns, and finished display tops. The are an authorized Janome dealer and have a longarm quilting service. They aren't the cheapest store I have ever been too, the fat quarters are $3.25, which is a little rich for my blood, but I did find the cutest owl print here.
Ten Little Things - Yellow Owls - By Moda
The fabric is Ten Little Things by Moda in yellow. I just want to squeeze that little green owl until his eyes pop out. They have this print in a number of colors. I am proud to say that I bought the green and the yellow. This fabric was the inspiration for my friend Megan's baby quilt. They aren't going to find the gender of the baby until its born and I was looking for a neutral fabric. This is not an easy task if you have ever spent any time looking at children's fabrics. They are all pink or blue!!! I plan on making a version of the quilt below (New Wave Quilt) using this pattern I found at Oh, Fransson!.
New Wave Quilt by Oh, Fransson!
Hopefully my quilt will look half as nice as her's when I'm finished. If you haven't been to Oh, Fransson! stop what you are doing and click the link. I love every one of her quilts more than the last. Her tutorials are very very easy to understand. She does great work and this pattern is available for download from her website for free!. She also has a number of beautiful quilt patterns available for sale on her website.

Back to the task at hand. The next shop I found here in Columbus was Quilt Beginnings, they have two locations to the north or east of the city. I first went to the store to find Quilt Patis templates after watching this video on how to make a six point star. As I mentioned before I travel a whole bunch and my sewing machine stays at home. So i was looking for a project that would be portable and airplane friendly. I started searching and found Quilt Patis which happens to be a product created by someone who lives in Columbus. I took this as a sign and went out to buy said Patis. I found Quilt Beginnings on Quilt Patis website and went to the North side location one day after work.

The North side location does not have the Quilt Patis but they have a lot of other great stuff. Large selection of quilting fabric, sewing machines, many fat quarter bundles, and a classroom in the back. The fat quarter here are $3.00 each which is a little pricey, but they have a selection of $5.00 a yard bolts (minimum cut of 1 yard) and often have fat quarter bundles of 12 for $18.00. So there are some bargains to be found.

The east side location is very close to the Columbus airport, which works out great for me. If I am looking to kill some time before my flight this is where I will be. This store has a different selection of items than the north side store. They do have a bargain area with $5.00 per yard bolts (1 yard minimum) and fat quarter bundles of 12 for $18.00. This location does carry several type of the Quilt Patis templates. I use the 1.5" diamond which come 60 to a pack and are $20.00. At first I thought why spend $20.00 when i could make my own. Then I did some math and figured I didn't want to go through the trouble to make them to save a couple cents each. They are reusable and very handy. I will be posting a tutorial on using the Quilt Patis and showing what I have made with mine.

Hope you have enjoyed this trip through the quilt shops of Columbus. Let me know if you have any other gems I need to check out.

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