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Inasmuch as the sun was shining this morning, and inasmuch as Jim and I have not been “up that way” since last summer, I proposed a trip to Keepsake Quilting. Always game for an outing in which he can take along his camera to catch local scenes, Jim agreed. When we left, the sun was so bright we needed sunglasses. There is little snow on the ground and the bright rays were helping what remains to continue melting. Many new businesses have sprung up along the roads we traveled to reach Centre Harbor, home of one of the country’s finest quilt shops, now part of the New Track Media Group, a big corporate conglomerate that bought up most every quilt magazine, as well as other quilt businesses in 2006.

Upon entering the shop, there were bolts of Christmas fabric in the entry way, most of them with large scale poinsettia designs. The shop has lots of “gifty” items like condiment plates, little stuffed animals, gift cards, mouse pads, and other items. The first thing I noticed were the long lines of quilters wanting to have fabric cut, but how eerily quiet the store was, considering the number of people present. A clerk’s voice could be heard, announcing that everything in the store was discounted, except for the consignment quilts.

I wandered around. They have some interesting “medleys” but in none of them did all the fabrics have appeal to me. They had jelly rolls galore. I have not quite figured out the advantage of buying fabric in that manner so walked right past them. In the “bolts” department, the only consistent price I was seeing was $10.26 per yard. Even with the so-called discount, this seems to be a higher price than I paid just a few months ago at the store. However, I was not so much concerned about price but in finding a fabric that could be inspirational, a take-off point for a new project. Unfortunately, I came away empty-handed.

I felt overwhelmed by the number of bolts of fabric. In some instances, less is more, particularly when one can’t see the forest for the trees, or the potential of cloth because one’s senses are so bombarded with designs of all kinds, all of which could stand on their own, none of which you’d want to be “matchy-matchy,” but also none of which seem to form an integral theme with any other. When I got in the car and Jim remarked that he thought I’d come out with a big bag of fabric, I said, “I must not be a real quilter, after all. I didn’t see anything I had to own.”

Like many quilters who have been quilting for a long time, I don’t need the glam, I don’t need the hype, and I certainly DO need to use the fabrics I already have in my stash. My goal is to make more quilts in 2011. Make it a great year for quilting!

Pat