Trip Recap: All Carolinas Shop Hop 2022

As noted in a previous post, the first part of our trip to North Carolina we spent camping on the Blue Ridge Parkway in the western part of the state.  For the second part, we traveled east to visit my husband's mother as we have done annually since she and her (now deceased) husband retired down there.  

When I visited her in 2020 after her husband died (which because of pandemic travel restrictions, I was the only one in our household able to do the required post-trip quarantine),  I had learned that there was an annual "All Carolinas Shop Hop" spotlighting quilt shops in both North and South Carolina.  We made plans to do that when my husband and I could come down together in 2021.  We had a blast making the rounds to shops last year so of course a repeat of that activity was high on the visit agenda for this year!      

I actually brought last year's book with me on this trip as I planned to work on one of the projects offered in the book that I had purchased fabric for during last year's Hop.  

Yellow = 2021, Blue = 2022

There were some changes in how the the regions were organized this year:  The Keepsake Quilting/Pineapple Fabrics Outlet was part of the Central Region whereas last year they were part of the North Region that we shopped.  The North Region shops we had visited last year were grouped as the East Central shops this year.  Since my husband and I camped in the Western part of the state, I took advantage of going to a few of the shops in that area too.  

My MIL and I (with hubby doing all the driving) went back to most of the stores we had gone to last year.  There was only one we didn't get to and two that were on our list to visit last year but were not participating this year.  One of shops not participating had been closed the day we hopped last year so I had really hoped to get there this year.  

When I had visited my MIL in 2020, we had gone to the Keepsake/Pineapple Outlet which had been newly opened that year.  We loved it but didn't put it on our 2021 Hop list because it was a challenge to get to since it is a two hour drive away and I was doing most of the driving then.  However since we had chauffeur service, it was added to our Hop list for this year and we also took the opportunity to visit another store that was along the route back home.  

Needless to say, none of the stores disappointed and there were a lot of goodies purchased!  One of the highlights from the Western spur was that I stopped in a shop called "Dreaming of the Sea".  While I didn't buy all that much, I did have a great conversation about RVs while there!  For the rest of the Hop, I focused on getting things on the list I had brought with me and managed to get all but four of the things on it.  

My list had included:

•  A Fall themed three yard quilt bundle (Quilt Lizzy-Wake Forest was in a new location this year and I also got a great 3 yd flannel kit there last year) 
• I was looking for Minick and Simpson red fabrics for the idea I talked about in my May Summer Recap post about augmenting their "Pear BOM" kits that I've been receiving (fabrics found at  Bernina World of Sewing, Keepsake/Pineapple and Studio Stitch with more on that project later)
• Black embroidery floss (not pictured) to continue my travel cross stitch project (thanks to Quilt N Code)
• Strawberry red prints to provide some stash options for a Red & White version of the Fat Quarter Shop "Jelly Snowflake" quilt I want to make as part of this year's Christmas quilting (courtesy of Cary Quilting, Quilts Like Crazy & Embroidery and 5 Little Monkeys who also posts regularly on Facebook)
• Fabric for the alternate squares to recreate Beth Dutton's Quilt from the "Yellowstone" TV show (a Keepsake/Pineapple "fabric by the pound" score)
• Light batiks for backgrounds which is something I normally don't see often but had found plentiful on last year's hop too (this year I scored them at Bernina WOS again but also at 5 Little Monkeys, Keepsake/Pineapple and The Broken Needle). 

Another special find was the green Jason Yenter dragon panel called "Dragons - The Ancients" also in the "by the pound" cubes at Keepsake/Pineapple.  This was really special because buying it was inspired  by seeing  the red version of the original "Dragons" quilt on display at Quilt N Code, one of the Western area stops we made.

You can find information about the red colorway of the line here

This is not the one that hung in the shop -- my husband and I were so enthralled by that quilt that we forgot to take a picture of it!  The one in the store had been made by the owners fifteen year old (!) cousin who won the "Youth Award" and "Best In Show" at the State Fair when it was entered.  I asked them if he (!) was still quilting but they said he is a senior in high school now so was busy with all that entails.  

My husband couldn't stop looking at the quilt, particularly since we've been watching the Game of Thrones prequel "House of the Dragon" that just finished its first season Sunday.  Unfortunately, the shop didn't have any more of the fabric from the line so I was only too thrilled to find the green panel at Keepsake/Pineapple later.  

I've already ordered fabrics to make a smaller, simpler (aka more likely to get made) version from a free pattern on the eQuilter website (note: when it comes up onscreen, it may show it with the wrong border print but the pattern will download pictured in the fabrics from the line).

One of the orders is already in and another with the remaining fabrics needed will arrive soon.  All in all, it was another great Hop and I'll share other things purchased as the projects I use them in come up.  More details of the trip to follow!

Edited To Add:  You can see that finished top here.

Courtesy of Pineapple Peeps on Facebook