A quilting and shopping adventure!
A message from Brenda Miller of ABQ Sewing Studio
The 2023 Southwest Quilt Crawl has wrapped up. I hope you’ve all had an opportunity to kick back, relax, and test out that new Brenda’s Blossom Block you received, along with all the other fantastic goodies you collected from the six other participating shops.
I wanted to take a moment to express my heartfelt gratitude to everyone who took part in the event. Your participation, enthusiasm for learning, and the overwhelmingly positive feedback we received truly made this crawl a remarkable experience.
-Brenda Miller
July 5, 2023
Visit the Southwest Quilt Crawl Facebook page after Monday, July 10, 2023 to see the announcement for draw winners for the gift certificate prizes.
From Saturday, June 17 to Friday, June 30, quilting enthusiasts explored seven of the most unique quilting resources from Ingersoll to Tilbury.
The one-of-a-kind Southwest Quilt Crawl offered a great opportunity to explore seven quilt shops that celebrate the art of quilting in their own way. This year we celebrated with a floral theme and vistors found block-making demonstrations, prizes, and even few surprises during this memorable crafted-with-love experience.
Exploration of Southwestern Ontario quilt shops
The quilt crawl may be over for 2023, but you can still discover these exciting stores, fully stocked and ready to meet you.
During the event, quilters had the chance to collect fabrics and directions to make a 6″ block from each of the participating locations. But instead of making a quilt from the various blocks collected, each store used its block in a different way using a different technique, providing inspiration and ideas on how to create something unique and personal.
About the quilt shops
ABQ Sewing Studio
15 Centre St. West, Strathroy
At first, Among Brenda’s Quilts was a small home-based business. However, as Brenda’s passion for quilting and bag pattern design grew, so did her need for space. That’s when she made the leap and moved into a commercial space. Little did she know that leaving the door open would lead to curious visitors coming in to see what she was up to. They started requesting various sewing notions and fabrics, and it soon became clear that a new shop was being born.
Brenda knew that she couldn’t do it all alone, so she reached out to Kelley Richardson, a sewing machine expert and an incredible teacher. Together, they expanded the business in 2022 and moved to their current location at 15 Centre St. West in Strathroy, where they proudly serve as a Showcase Retailer for Baby Lock Sewing Machines.
At their shop, you’ll find almost the entire line of Baby Lock sewing, quilting, embroidery machines, and sergers, along with a vast array of quilting and fashion sewing fabrics and patterns. But that’s not all! Brenda also offers her full line of bag and quilt patterns and her line of bag zippers. The best part? The team at the ABQ Sewing Studio is passionate about teaching, and expert teachers Kelley and Shirley Parkin offer their vast experience to new and experienced sewists alike. Irene Mischkinis rounds out the team with her extensive knowledge of garment sewing and fitting.
Even if you’re not in the area, you can still enjoy the ABQ Sewing Studio. With a huge online presence and hundreds of products, they make it easy to shop from the comfort of your own home. Brenda also offers online classes at her site Make Bags With Brenda, where you can learn and create at your own pace.
If you’re in the area, they invite you to visit during the two weeks of the Southwest Quilt Crawl to see for yourself all they have to offer. You’ll love the warm and friendly atmosphere at the ABQ Sewing Studio, where every customer is treated like family.
Heather Bell’s Sewing Studio
24846 Pioneer Line, West Lorne
I am known as the Batik Lady with about 2000 bolts of quality Batiks from Lunn Studios, a Robert Kaufman line and Timeless Treasurers. It’s so much fun organizing fabric with you for a quilt. Allow a few hours to play.
HoopSisters is a line of embroidery designs I have sold since 2011. They get better every year designing small wall hangings to full-sized quilts.
This month will be my 32nd year of selling Pfaff sewing machines & sergers. There are such exciting changes in those this year.
Needles, specialty feet and notions cover several walls.
Marti Michell is a template designer from Atlanta. Her products make pieced quilting easier and more accurate. I love to show you how to work with them.
-Heather Bell
Heather Bell’s Sewing Studio Facebook
Pastime Pieces
11175 Brush Line, Blenheim, Ontario (for GPS, city is “Chatham-Kent”)
Seven years ago on May 9 my dream shop was finished. After starting a quilt shop in my home several years before that and outgrowing the space, my husband designed and my son built my dream quilting space on our farm property.
Pastime Pieces is a two-storey red barn with an upper loft for sewing and classes and a downstairs filled to the rafters with lots of fabrics, patterns, books, wool applique and cross stitch.
Samples are our thing so we always have lots of new and interesting quilts, wallhangings, pillows, etc on display and the kits, charts, books and patterns to go with them. We also carry Aurifil, Guterman thread, Perle cottons and embroidery threads (DMC, Weeks and Classic Colorworks).
I have an online shop as well that you can order from.
I make Facebook posts, Facebook Live videos and Flosstube videos all under the “Pastime Pieces” name. These inform you what’s new in the shop and any upcoming events. Or, sign up with your email to stay updated with our newsletter.
I am always looking for new and interesting projects and ideas to offer to my customers. So come on in and get inspired to start your next quilt, wool applique or cross-stitch project.
See you soon!
Marlene Wymenga
Sew Creative
22486 Adelaide Road, Mount Brydges
Sew Creative has over 2500 bolts of quality quilting fabrics. The selection of materials is sorted by colour palette, which makes choosing your fabric matching easier. I have Northcott, Moda, and fabrics from Free Spirit, Tilda and William Morris, just to name a few. Choose from oh so many wide back fabrics for your special quilts. You’ll also find precuts galore.
Sew Creative is a Pfaff and Handiquilter dealer, with the Amara on a 10-foot frame with Prostitcher on display.
I carry many patterns and books, and kits and there is a large wall of notions, including the Westalee Ruler Templates. I have done many classes using the Westalee templates and if you are interested give me a call.
Joan Hilhorst
Soft Impressions Quilt Shoppe
20 Ella Street South, Tilbury
Looking for the perfect spot to kick off your Southwest Quilt Crawl this June? Look no further than Soft Impressions Quilt Shoppe in beautiful Tilbury, Ontario! Conveniently located at 20 Ella Street South, our shop is just minutes away from Highway 401, making us an easy stop for both local and out-of-town visitors.
But that’s not all – our location is nestled between Lake St. Clair and Lake Erie near a stunning conservation area, and is just a half-hour drive from Point Pelee National Park, a popular stop on the monarch migratory route.
But let’s talk about the real reason you’re here – quilting! At Soft Impressions Quilt Shoppe, we pride ourselves on being a full-service quilt shop, offering over 1000 bolts of 100% quality cotton fabrics, longarm quilting machine rentals, and a wide range of classes to suit every skill level.
Whether you’re a seasoned pro or a novice quilter, we’ve got everything you need to make your next project a success.
So what are you waiting for? Visit Soft Impressions Quilt Shoppe. I’m Lisa Hill and I can’t wait to meet you!
Stache Fabrics
213 King Street, London
Stache Fabric & Notions was born in the basement sewing room of Michaelanne Hathaway in 2017 with nothing more than two shelves of fabric and a website. Today Stache occupies the better part of the main floor of the old Novacks located at 213 King Street and offers almost 2000 bolts of fabric, and all the things you might need to make a quilt or other sewing projects.
The staff at Stache are always there to greet you with a smile and welcome you into their colourful, happy place. Whether you are looking for that perfect piece of fabric for an existing project or need help designing and starting a new special project you will always be sure to find what you need, as well as many things you didn’t know you needed!
Stache also boasts a bright and comfortable classroom, creative space and a full dynamic roster of classes and workshops that change seasonally throughout the year.
Michaelanne and the Stache team are always finding ways to give back to the downtown London community in which they live. Many hands have created quilts which have been donated to organizations like My Sisters Place and Ronald Macdonald House.
They believe that a business that thrives in a community has the duty to support and give back; one cannot live without the other and they are proud of their downtown community.
If you haven’t ventured Downtown London in a while, take the opportunity to go and explore this little gem of a shop!
The Quilt Kitchen
301 Main St. South, Exeter
The Quilt Kitchen, which began operation in 2019, is located in the heart of downtown Exeter. We are a very modern quilt shop with a love of paper piecing, linen/cotton blend fabric, Charley Harper fabric and all kinds of unusual offerings!
Our go-to solid is Kona cotton with over 260 colours in stock. Our favourite thread is Aurifil thread. We love all kinds of unique and unusual projects. We are blending in a little bit of embroidery just lately into some of our projects as well.
We teach classes of all sorts in person or on Zoom, and have kits for all types of quilting projects. We have patterns, books, notions and all things quilt related!
We built the shop on the premises of what our mission and vision statement reads, that we are customer oriented first and foremost. We have a great website, are on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. Check us out on any or ALL of these platforms.
We also offer a unique selection of kitchen gadgets as well as some incredible locally-made pottery, stained glass and glass-on-glass pieces. We like to cater to those who are non-quilters as well.
Exeter is a very diverse location with all kinds of great sites and shops alike. We are proud to say we have a renowned chocolate shop and offer some of the finest dining (Eddington’s) in the area. We have some amazing dress shops, a unique gift store and, of course, sightseeing opportunities such as the Morrison Trail. We are 20 minutes from the Lake Huron towns of Bayfield and Grand Bend. So when you come to Exeter, plan on spending the day and taking in all that we have to offer.
– Tammy Sparling
The Quilt Crawl sounds amazing!
I have it on the calendar.
Susan
Burlington ON
Thanks Susan. Yes, it’s going to be wonderful. See you then! Brenda
Looking forward to the crawl.
Janice
Langley, BC