Like most quilters, I am always on the lookout for wonderful fabric. And, wonderful fabric at bargain prices is even better! Hands down, my favorite place to shop for fabric is at a chain of surplus and salvage stores, Marden's. Or as we like to call it, Maaaaaaarden's. They have several locations. I have only been to the Waterville and Lewiston locations. Where else could you find row after row of fabric from RJR, Henry Glass, Nancy Crow, Thimbleberries, etc. at 2.99 per yard?? It is not the latest "season", but who cares? To avoid random feeding frenzy type buying, I go with a pattern and/or a plan of what I am looking for. On my latest foray, I went looking for blue/white batik or oriental print fabric for the Peace Quilt. I found a mosaica pattern in blues and whites which I may use for the backing. But, what took my breath away was 2 large scale prints by Jane Sassaman. I bought them both, I think they would be perfect for Stack and Whack.
On a recent visit to my Dad, he took me to lunch at Hattie's Chowder House in Hallowell. I was trying to explain to him what a longarm machine was. After lunch, we walked up the hill to Whippersnappers quilt shop. We met Lynn, the owner, and she was in the back, working on her longarm! She generously let me show my Dad what all the excitement was all about. Whippersnappers is a very well equipped shop, and Lynn is very engaging and helpful. I bought some supplies for fabric painting and found some books I had been looking for, but had never gotten a chance to look through. While we were there, we picked up a pamphlet of Quilt Shops in Maine. I have since visited a couple of the 30 stores listed there.
Yesterday, we visited the Yardgoods Center in Waterville. After a little trouble finding it (my GPS would not accept the address) it was worth the trip! They advertise themselves as 10 stores in one, and they are not kidding. I stayed in the quilting section, but there was more yarn in one place than I have ever seen, rubber stamps, needlework, upholstery fabric, sewing machines, and a bridal section. They had an excellent selection of books, tools and fabric at usual quilt shop prices. I found some great orientals for my Peace Quilt, some interesting marbled fabric for a quilt I am planning based on the tile floors I saw on a trip to Italy, and a book for my friend Dana who collects ethnic fabrics. They also had one of the cutest dogs I have ever seen, a Tibetan Terrier. He looked like a miniature Wheaton. He entertained visitors by running amok in the store, untied my shoe laces, grabbed a ribbon roll from the window display and ran through the store as it unspooled. After all this excitement, his Dad put him in timeout in his crate.
The other stores that I never miss while I am here are the Fabric Warehouse in Lewiston/Auburn (formerly Charlaine's) and OnBoard Fabrics in Edgcomb. They are both owned by the same entity. Fabric Warehouse is a bit more industrial, lots of upholstery fabric, wool, leather, foam, fleece, zippers, thread, quilting fabrics too, all at discount (but not 2.99) prices. They are both located in big warehouses and filled with wonderful treasures. OnBoard also hangs winners of the Hoffman Challenge quilts when they are on tour. Last time I was at OnBoard, I found a pack of about 50 8 inch squares of silks tied together for $5.00. I sewed them together and made a gorgeous throw quilt.
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