Sewtopia-Chicago is over! Three whole days of sewing utopia in downtown Chicago…
Well, it all started with a slow drive in to the city on Thursday morning.
Nearly there!!
Past the lions outside the Art Institute on Michigan Avenue…
I thought we had allowed plenty of time, after all I had coerced Steve to drive me in… but it took almost two hours to go the thirty four miles to the Drake Hotel. Just time to check in, drop my bags and join the crowd for our first experience, a shop hop to three local quilt stores. Can you believe I had never been to any of them ever before?
First up was Quilters Destination in Arlington Heights. Here’s Latifah, hot footing it through the door.
There was coffee and all sorts of goodies waiting for us inside, which was great because I hadn’t had breakfast. Quilters Destination is a large spacious shop with a lovely selection of fabric. I resisted making any purchases but I was amongst the minority. I think the highest spender spent over $200 so I am sure we were worth the trouble we caused to the staff…
Shopping and looking over, we climbed back on the bus and headed southeast towards the city to Second City Quilt Company. It’s just a little store but full of good stuff!
I actually had some fat quarters in my hands but I resisted and put them back on the shelf. I remembered how many solid fat quarters I have at home…
Half of us had been dropped at Second City and the other half went to the Needle Shop, about five blocks away. The plan was to walk between the two and get back on the bus outside Trader Joe’s. So that’s what we did!
The Needle Shop carries a fun eclectic mix of fabrics and trims. I bought something, a yard of ribbon for a project I need to get done in the next week or so. There was just time to buy a sandwich at Trader Joe’s before we caught the bus for our return to the hotel.
The sewing room opened for business at five and the place was soon buzzing with sewists working on projects they had brought from home.
And look who was in the Sewtopia pop up shop…
It’s Deb and Celeste from Quilters Quest! They set up an awesome store which was open for business throughout the weekend.
A good start? I’m off to Pittsburgh tomorrow morning so the story will be continued… I poured water on my camera and although I used my phone I didn’t document the event as fully as I might have. That may be a relief to some people?
Great looking shops! Makes a girl want to travel.
Sandy, you wouldn’t have to travel far!!
Those were some great shops! I wasn’t the highest spender but I found some beautiful prints that I hadn’t seen before!
It was a fun trip round!