Quilters on a Shop Hop Mission

If you’re not a quilter, you probably don’t know about the 11^th Annual Western Washington Shop Hop. From June 24 through the 28^th quilters will be touring the western part of our state from Lynden up north near the Canadian border all the way down south to Longview at the Oregon border. We’ll be riding in cars, busses, and ferries packing supplies of chocolate and coffee, armed with cash and credit cards on a mission!

The mission is to go to as many independently owned quilt shops as possible and collect the free quilt blocks that each shop designs and gives to participants. The way to accomplish this is as varied as each quilter who embarks on the journey. Some plan everything down to the last thread hitting every shop, others approach it so casually they only gather enough blocks to make a wall hanging.

I’m somewhere in between. I like to plan which shops to visit and also get a feel for what the shop is like once I’m there. I like to shop and take advantage of the almost overwhelming choices offered in 58 different shops.

I’ve shop hopped solo, and with a reluctant husband. I’ve dragged even more reluctant kids and their friends along. I’ve also gone with my parents and fellow quilters. Solo is hard because then you have to be your own navigator and there’s no one to bounce ideas off of. Initially my husband didn’t think he’d like it. But, once he figured out how things worked, he became a pro at getting his passport stamped. I also think he secretly enjoyed the good-natured ribbing/attention that he got as one of the few husbands on tour.

With the kids, I quieted their groaning with bribes of fast food lunches and assigned them things to look for in quilt shops, like fabric with chocolate candy on it. I managed to work in some Washington geography lessons as we drove from shop to shop. The year I persuaded my parents to join me, they got a kick out of peoples’ reactions when they shared that they were visiting from Hawaii.

You non-quilters may ask how many of the shop hop quilts I’ve completed. My answer is one, and this year I’ll go on my sixth shop hop. Yes, I know, save your scolding. You see, for me the shop hop isn’t just about getting a “free quilt.” It’s about exploring territory beyond my current quilting abilities and beyond Puyallup. It’s about boosting my creativity. It’s about building bonds with family and friends and making memories like the time we went to a shop in Kalama and talked to the owners about how Kalama was founded by a Hawaiian chief, or the time a friend and I spotted a black bear running alongside us on a country road near Yelm. It’s also about appreciating this beautiful state I’m so lucky to call home.

Laura Keolanui Stark is on the road or in a quilt shop somewhere in Western Washington. You may reach her at lkstark@yahoo.com. (Originally published in The Herald, www.puyallupherald.com on 6/24/09.)