Quilt Shops in Indy

I see that I completely forgot to tell you about the two quilt shops I visited while I was in Indianapolis (I'm home now, as I type this:). Bad me! I got photos of one but not the other - which IN NO WAY reflects on the quality of the two shops - they are both excellent places to visit.

The first one I managed to find is called Crimson Tate and is the very model of everything that I think a 'modern' oriented quilt shop ought to be! It's only been open a year and the owner, Heather, is out-going, friendly and welcoming ... the shop is filled to the gills with beautiful fabrics and samples ... and they have a sewing lounge where you can take lessons or just work on a project. When I walked in, one of Heather's teachers was working with a young girl (and her mom) who looked to be maybe eight or nine, teaching her to sew. YEAHHH! Teach that next generation! :)

Here are a few quick photos I took (with permission) with my iPhone, standing near the front door:

Those patterns on the wall above are clipped to a piece of very old snow fencing. The whole shop was full of cute antique objects that kept catching my fancy. :)

Part of the sewing area.

You can just barely catch a glance of Heather, the owner, on the right in the striped shirt - she's at the cutting area. My apologies for the focus - apparently my hands are starting  to shake more than the camera can compensate for. (sigh)

Even the sidewalks outside the front door are quilt-y:

The area of downtown Indy where Crimson Tate is located is being revitalized and there was very good access to the shop with plenty of parking. I highly recommend that you stop there if you are in the region - worth the trip! I spent a pretty penny inside, I can tell you. :)

The other shop I visited is Quilts Plus, on the north side of the city. It's situated in an open mall shopping area and I had been there before. They have a bit more country-to-primitive slant in their merchandise than my store has, but the fabric selection is EXCELLENT and the service is great. I just happened to visit on Saturday during one of their biggest sales of the year and the place was filled with customers. :) Such a fun visit and, again, well worth the trip. I'm not much of a crowd person, though, so the busy-ness discouraged me from spending much there (did get what was on my actual shopping list:).

There is one other shop that I regularly visit in the Indy area - Back Door Quilts. Again, more country than my shop but still a great store. It is located on the far southern side of the county that Indy is in (maybe a half hour drive from downtown?) and, by the time I had been to CT and QP, I was out of 'drive' desire. I generally love to visit the Back Door 'cause they do a lot of lovely wool applique (among other things:) and I always buy some new variegations of hand dyed Valdani perle cotton when I am there. :) Managed to get what I wanted at Quilts Plus this time, so decided not to go south.

By the time I finished with the two shops, it was early afternoon and I went back to put my feet up and actually sew in the hotel (I am re-covering an iPad case that I bought to travel with my iPad - using vintage embroidered table napkins that a friend gave me:). Maybe two hours later (plenty of feet-up time:), my daughter called. We went out to dinner and spent the rest of the day together, just hanging out and talking. I so want to move closer to her and my son-in-law in Wisconsin! I miss her a lot. :)

Was a great day, no question about it!

:) Linda