Bus Shop Hop to Minnesota

What a weekend!! By 7:30 AM Friday 17 quilters were on a "coach" to Minnesota. We had a great bus and driver, Mike, and set out for an adventure to 8 quilt shops. Two were in Wisc, and 6 in Minnesota.

Minneapolis skyline

A cute 30's tablerunner using Darlene Zimmerman fabric. This was displayed at Four Seasons Quilts in Plymouth, Minnesota.

Quilted Treasures in Rogers, Minnesota.

Dickey's Barbeque. Four of us were lucky enough to have $4.00 dinners. People were lined out the doors for the barbeque. One of the owners came out and handed us coupons for a free sandwich with the purchase of a drink. Who was going to pass that up!!! They had run out of ribs. The pulled pork I had was delicious. I can wait in line for great food. The price was right, on top of it.

Eagle Creek Quilt Shop in Shakopee, Minnesota.

Sew Little Time Quilt Shop in Hudson, Wisconsin.

We stayed at Americinn Lodge and Suites in Rogers, Minnesota for both nights. We were up at the crack of dawn all days. We visited 2 shops on Friday before reaching the hotel. On Saturday we visited 5 shops. We had 4 that were on the hop, and a fifth in the town of Anoka, the Halloween Capital. By the time we reached our last stop of the day, "Fourth & Main" in Cannon Falls, we were beginning to drag. They were wonderful and had a supper waiting for us. What a lovely old building that had been renovated. Sunday there was one shop in Plymouth, Mn. "Four Seasons Quilts" and our last one the "Calico Shoppe" in Eau Clair, Wisconsin.

It was so exciting to see what other shops had in the way of fabrics and patterns. Every shop was so different and had fun things for us to see. The theme of the shop hop was purses. Each shop featured a different purse pattern. They had them made up and in some shops demonstrated how it was put together. Several shops had created their own patterns. What could be more inviting then another purse, tote bag, or small cosmetic type bag to hold our treasures. Needless to say we will all be outfited with new bags!!

The shops had fabric we have seen and lots that we had not. We helped the quilt shops by spending our cash and using the credit cards. Each shop had treats for us, fruit, cookies, or cheese and crackers, punch or lemonade and of course coffee to give us more energy. We all had a great time. We arrived back in Oswego about 7:30 Sunday night. We all agreed we would like to do it again, just not tomorrow!!! One of the husbands wanted to know where to drop off his wife for next weekends trip!!!! (There is not one planned.) We hope we can all do it again after the credit cards have time to recover.