Shop Hops – A Quilter’s Dream Vacation

Have you ever heard of a “shop hop”? It is a great idea for a quilter’s vacation.

So what is a shop hop you ask? Quilt shops within a certain region will get together to organize a fun time for customers that visit all of the shops within a certain period of time (generally 1-2 weeks). These shops advertise all of the participating stores that are involved and let quilters know what fun events they have in store for them as they visit. Traditionally, the shops will come up with a theme for their hop like love, books, the seashore, food, etc. and all of the activities for the hop will fit in with their theme. When quilters arrive at the first store on their “hop” schedule, they will pick up a “passport” of some kind and then have all of the other shops they visit along the way stamp the passport. Another fun part of a shop hop is the project that the shops coordinate for the participants. In order to receive the patterns to complete the project, participants need to visit all of the shops to receive the clues or patterns that go together to form a quilt. This can be especially fun, because you may only see one block at a time and not know what is coming at the next shop in some cases. Other “hop” coordinators will allow you to see the complete project in their store, but you may only receive the patterns by visiting all of the stores. Additionally, quilters who visit all of the shops generally get their name in a nice drawing for a special gift that is donated by the participating quilt shops. This is a great way to find some new quilt stores to visit as well as having a great time visiting with your quilting buddies as you travel from one shop to the other. Why there are even some shop hops that have buses scheduled so that you can park your car and ride with a bunch of other hop participants so you make new quilting friends also.

Now is a great time to check out upcoming shop hops that are planned for an area you would like to visit and get your friends together to plan a great quilter’s dream vacation together. Since shops generally publicize their “hops” well in advance, you can make plans with your friends and can save up to really enjoy this experience. So, don’t you just want to jump right in and get inspired by visiting all of the shops in an organized shop hop? You can find some great shop hops by visiting QuiltingHub.com and checking under the “Events” tab.

Now go get “Shop Hopping”! Click the blue quilt shop hops worldwide button on this page to find hops near you now!