This shop hop, the Row by Row Experience, is nationwide and quite simple.  Just visit the participating shops and ask for their free “row by row” pattern.  The theme is “seasons” so it might be holiday themed or use the four seasons tree fabric provided by the sponsors.  Some shops offer a kit for purchase with the fabrics needed to make it in their color palette.  Many shops are also selling license plates with funny fabric/sewing related sayings.  I’d like to collect one from each state I visit this summer.

Here’s a few of the blocks I collected in Ohio (pictures courtesy of the shop’s website or from my visit):

When I returned to Oregon, I collected another few row patterns and started work on a wall hanging using 8 of the blocks. Since I only bought the fabric pack from two shops, for the rest I used stash fabrics or picked up fat quarters to fill in sections.  It was fun to practice some new techniques, like the fusible applique.

Also, I used a new technique for basting (not pinning) the quilt that mom taught me using two boards to mimic a quilt frame.  It worked really well!  I also figured out that it would look nice to quilt with two different threads and using diagonal lines since the rows didn’t line up front to back very well.  Here are a few more pics of the process:

After a few nights up until midnight sewing, I turned in my finished quilt for the prize at Quilter’s Corner Store.  25 fat quarters in a rainbow of colors ready for inclusion into new projects and 2 yards of anything in the shop (I bought some beautiful batiks for an upcoming quilt project!  Tea Time Calico also generously gave me a free yard of fabric for including their row in my final project.  It’ll be fun to show the final project at the September WSQ guild meeting.