Jelly Belly Bean Quilter: Quilt shop bus trip!

This is a picture heavy post but I couldn’t leave anything off! If you want to see the pictures better click on them and they'll appear in a new window.

Last Saturday most of the sit n sew ladies from the Wollert lifestyle village and friends (I think we need a name!) went on a bus trip to four quilt shops. A big thank you goes to Kay for not only arranging the whole wonderful day out for us but also for driving the bus!

Our first shop was The Quilt Shop in Eltham. This was a new to me shop and what a treat it was! The shop owner not only offered us tea and coffee and yummy biscuits but lucky prizes and a discount too!

This is the front room of the shop and you can see a few of the ladies studying all the fabrics and haberdashery on offer.

A Christmas display behind the counter.

More fabric and there’s Kate searching for the perfect fabric…

Ta da! Is this is?!

Beautiful fabric on display.

And plenty of inspiration hung on the walls.

The back room had large tables for sit n sewers and I had a lovely chat with the HAGS (Hexy appreciation group or gals) who were there working on their hand projects.

Next stop was to Patchwork with Gail B in Bayswater North. I've been here on numerous occasions as it has a huge display of just about everything you can think of. The shop is bursting at the seams so can be overwhelming so I'd suggest this is the perfect quilt shop to go to if you have a list. We were gifted a lucky prize here.

The fabrics are arranged in ranges, by designer and aisles of colours and there are hundreds of projects made up to inspire you.

This is the Tilda corner. Isn't it pretty?!

And the Blues and Yellows aisle.

A couple of bus trippers eyeing up the fat quarters.

After an excellent parking job in an extremely busy carpark (don't tell Kay I covered my eyes!), our next stop was to Craftpaks in Heathmont. This shop specialises in all things embroidery and has a huge range of quality flannels.

You really have to enlarge this picture. It's embroidered with ribbon and stitches with the occasional trimming! It's stunning!

These fantasy houses are amazing!

Then it was time for lunch! We'd all worked up an appetite by this time. We went to The Boronia Hotel which is a popular place with decent food, friendly service and a huge play area for kids.

Our last stop was to Lilly Patches in Boronia. This is a fairly small shop but there was plenty of fabric and the owner was very friendly and knowledgeable. We were offered a lovely discount at this shop!

These are mostly batiks and wide backs. Ah I see the Dalmation fabric on the back wall I was going to buy and forgot all about!