San Diego Cruisin Quilters

On February 26, 2015 my day was quite active, my husband even took the day off to spend it with me. We put over 200 miles on his truck and spent the day driving around San Diego County. We haven't done that since we were searching for a home to purchase a few years back. We started our morning off driving first to Visions Art Museum located at 2825 Dewey Road, Suite 100 San Diego, Ca 92106. I am a member there and enjoy a monthly gathering of local textile artists, currently their exhibition is Expressions of Equality they have some wonderful pieces in there that are well worth seeing. This is their website http://visionsartmuseum.org/index.asp

I participated in the San Diego Cruisin' Quilter Run this date as well.The run actually ran from From February 27, to March 8, 2015 with pre-registered runners getting the early bird time. During the run I visited 13 quilt shops in the San Diego area. This was the very first time I ever did a run like this it was definitely a learning experience for me. With each shop you visited they gave you a pattern either a paper pieced pattern or an applique pattern. Each pattern was related to a central theme, this runs theme was Pirates. Each shop large or small had some form of give away involved. What I found was that not each shop offered the raffle to everyone who did the run. Because this was the first time I did the run I wasn't sure exactly what occurred during a quilt shop run. The first shop I went to was Rosie's Calico Cupboard Quilt Shop. Rosie's shop was a large well equipped shop, it had various fabric areas and many different notion areas. The people were friendly and informative. They had several different events running for this quilt shop run. Everyone participating in the run were given an opportunity to participate in their events. They gave you beads to wear to the shop during the 11 days of the quilt run if you wore these beads and made a purchase of $25.00 or more you would get a raffle ticket to enter into their drawings. They also included an ability to win a treasure chest as well. A nice shop to visit and well worth a visit. It is located on El Cajon Blvd in San Diego.

Another shop that I visited was the Quilter's Cottage it was in Fallbrook Ca. They have several different fabrics available as well as fabrics below $9.00 a yard it is all good quality fabric. They had a long arm quilter set up in their shop and have a quilter there who could quilt tops for you. Very friendly workers, and a nice clean shop, plenty of space so you didn't feel claustrophobic. They are quite a distance from my home though so not sure I will be able to visit them often. The different events they had going were offered to everyone even those they had never met like me.

Cozy Creative Center was a nice shop tucked away in a little shopping center, nice sewing class area, however they were not all inclusive on their raffles, I watched several women fill out raffle tickets before me but I was not offered one, nor did I ask for one, as this was an event hosted by them I felt I shouldn't have asked. They were located at 756 Jamacha Road, El Cajon, Ca 92019. They were quite busy though but the woman in control of the event was a bit overwhelmed with people, I am thinking it might have been better if they might have more than one person.

Memory Lane Quilt shop located at 1626 N. Magnolia Avenue El Cajon Ca 92020 had a really cute block for the run it was a parrot. Small shop nice workers.

Paradise Sewing located at 12639 Poway Road, Poway Ca 9206. Was a nice shop as well they had a small selection of fabric, a nice large sewing classroom, they have dedicated space for the Pfaff and Baby lock machines. Again a nice clean shop, small but a nice variety of notions, though they were not all inclusive with their raffles either.

Now one of the interesting shops that I visited was Eleanor Burns shop Quilt in a Day, I had no idea that she was located in San Diego, for some reason I always thought she was somewhere in the Mid-West. Large shop, many discounts, tons of fabric all nicely separated and  marked. Eleanor even had her own parking spot. They had a separate room where her videos were taped. She had a nice sewing classroom there as well. I found the space to be crammed full of fabric and notions, however, it also caused me to feel very claustrophobic.

Aretoy Quilt Shop located at 4749 Oceanside Blvd Suite A Oceanside California was a very nice friendly shop they had several different little cubbies in which to look and they had a a couple of different events that they made sure everyone participated in and were aware of them. Which was nice for a newbie quilt shop runner.

The Fat Quarters Quilt Shop located at 728 Civic Center Drive Vista California 92084 was a quaint little shop with some beautiful wall hangings that I really loved. They were unique designs and very beautiful batik fabric.

Inspirations Quilt Shop located at 27350 Valley Center Road #B Valley Center Ca 92082 was a little difficult to locate. They had a lot of space which I really liked they also had a long arm machine there and do offer long arm quilting services there. They have a large area for sewing classes and group classes. They actually had a lot of fabric to choose from.

Annie's Quilting Den located at 1876 W. El Norte PKWY Escondido, Ca 92026 was a small shop jam packed with fabric and notions. They did have a nice pattern for the run it was a Compass Rose. Wasn't made aware of any raffles or events with this shop.

The Grand Country Quilters located at 801 Grand Avenue, Suite 1, San Marcos, Ca 92078 was another small shop jammed packed with items. They have a very active class schedule and are very friendly folks. If there were any raffles or anything I wasn't made aware of them though.

Bits & Pieces located at 12625 Danielson Ct #111 Poway Ca, 92064 was a little difficult to find they were in a large warehouse type district. Not sure if there were in any raffles or events they were hosting as I wasn't informed. I am not likely to return to this shop as it was extremely claustrophobic and difficult to locate and was not overly inclusive.

The CraZy 9 Patch now this quilt shop is local to me and they are very friendly woman, it is housed in a yellow house at 2260 Main Street, Ramona Ca 92065. Their block for the run was the treasure chest. This was the last house on the run for me and I actually didn't get to it until Saturday Morning and they were already busy by the time I got there about 10 am. I dropped my passport off there and and got my pin and year  at this shop as well as purchased some batik fabric.

So all in all I found some nice quilt shops, within San Diego County. Some I will visit again and others I will not. I find being a new quilter that the more informative and inviting a shop is the better it is for me and the more I wish to continue to bring my business to them. When someone tells you that they are trying something for the first time I find that often people will glide over that fact. Taking up quilting isn't a cheap hobby especially when you are finding that most people have a preference for the quality of fabric, or a specific machine that is the absolute dream machine. For me though, I find that it is about the journey the people who I meet along the way, the ones that no matter how new I am the first thing they are asking for isn't money but the passing of knowledge. Everyone has to make a living, and when you do an event such as this sometimes it is the new person you want to pay attention to insure that they feel as welcomed as the regular customers for they are potential regulars.