Phoenix Shop Hop Day Two

This is a picture heavy post!
Another long day for the Quilting Divas, touring the quilt shops on the south east side of town. This week I took more pics, though at one point I mislaid my phone [down beside the seat in Jacki's car] and had to be mildly harrassed about it the remainder of the day, LOL, thx. Kathy.

Group pic. left to right Jacki, BJ, me, Lauren and Angela, AKA Andee!
Three Dudes store which is way bigger than last year was the starting place at 9:30 am.
 They have a wonderful selection of CW replica fabrics [ I would love a piece of each and they have hundreds] Lauren, Andee and I each came away with intense fabric envy.............

though Lauren indulged hers most! Very friendly people here and snacks and water for shoppers!

Here too Andee showed off her Misty Mountain Morning ready for binding.

This is the multi-use tool Three Dudes demoed, Andee bought one so I am interested to see how she likes it, it seemed too fiddly.

Here's a close-up, though you can barely see the clear plastic tool aligned with the lower edge of the triangle.

Quick stop next door for bagel break, here's where I thought I mislaid my iPhone!

Next stop Quilter's Ranch....where each of us purchased these binding clips. I do hope they work as well as touted because they will save time and effort pinning bindings. I will report back!

Then to Zoe's, where they were talking up this odd looking purple tool.................

Hmm, doesn't look too helpful, anyone ever tried it? Another of those "too-fussy" notions for me.

This striped fabric seemed a likely contender to bind the Ugly Quilt Fabric wall hanging although I was somewhat reluctant to buy fabric here because Zoe's tears rather cuts the yardage. I have rarely come across this practice and IMHO it is wasteful due to excessive raveling, but this half yard should be enough for bias binding- may have to use every inch!

Then, after negotiating our way among all the street vendors at Chandler Square, we visited the Cutting Edge............

  where they were promoting the Arrowhead quilt book, a fast, easy quilt that most of us have already made and I have made twice! Mine were both made with multi scrappy batiks, and I really liked the versions they showed using only two fabrics, you can see how you get secondary designs.

It was tempting to buy this cute apron kit for a friend..... but I resisted!

 Our group of "cut-ups" [ no pun intended] were unable to resist a photo op with this exotic looking emu/ostrich? that resides outside the Cutting Edge store!
Our lunch stop was at Pita Jungle where everyone had a revitalizing meal, I ordered my favorite Seared Ahi Tuna with hummus, a bit spicy and very yummy.

Scrapbooking ETC was a new store for all of us, formerly devoted to crafts, the ETC part houses a wide selection of more modern fabrics in bright, cheerful designs and colors as well as hand made jewelry and "dust catchers!"

An adorable frame with an initial in pink buttons, I think I want to make one one for my sewing studio, I have lots of old buttons I could use!

Kathy said she can make a similar frame with her scroll saw, she is apparently a pretty handy helper!

Fabric flowers seem to be one of the "crafts de jour" and each of us has purchased at least one template, all different. This was the design I wanted from the first week's shop hop but it was sold out. Fortunately ETC had them and 50c less, LOL.

Also on display this adorable quilt pattern -I thought that minus the frilly bits it would make a cute grandmother's quilt,  each apple bearing the name of one grandchild.

Last shop for the day and the furthest out, Quilter's Oasis is not a large store but still manages to stock respectable numbers and styles of quilt fabric, including CW repros.

This was their featured ruler, and I must admit it appealed to me sufficiently to order one, since they

were sold out at 2pm! 

Apart from providing the ability for rotary cutting all these sizes of circles, there are other uses for this tool - I have a hard time justifying a tool that performs only one task!
My ruler won't arrive for a couple of weeks but I am not in a rush and once it comes I will do a blog post on it and perhaps finally challenge myself to make a quilt using circles!

Meanwhile here is a peek at just a few things this ruler can do.

Also, on their sale rack I found this pretty batik, and a yard came home with me to help replenish some  of what I have used the past month or so.

 It was on sale,  for goodness sake!

For a slightly different view of this day's events, check out Andee's blog here.
Our fearless chauffeur Jacki in her gas friendly KIA brought us safely back to my house around 6pm, weary but in good spirits. My back was very sore - but in one month that should get fixed!
As I had hoped I found that our youngest DS had also arrived home safely after one month absence in MA. at BU Medical Center completing his final hospital clerkship for his MD.

We missed him as did his little boy!