Revved up for the Row By Row Experience Shop Hop!
29 June 2014
What are you doing July 1st through September 2nd? I know where we can find you ... traveling the state to collect rows for the Row By Row Experience Shop Hop! Started in New York, this different style shop hop has been expanding across the county. There are 1250 stores taking part! Close to 50 are here in Minnesota. You can click HERE to see who is taking part. There's even a map! They've thought of everything!!
So what's the point of the Row By Row? Well ... it's to collect really fun row patterns with unique looks based on a theme. You can assemble a quilt top using the rows however you want!
As shop owners we had to come up with a row ... like our Sweet Summertyme row ... that was 36 1/2" long unfinished and no less than 6 1/2" but no more than 9 1/2" tall unfinished. Our rows this year had to represent one of the four seasons ... I thought Summer would be perfect after the Winter we had! And who doesn't love watermelon? And crows?
There are prizes of course but you have to work for them! Create a quilt using at least eight different rows and be the first to bring it into a participating shop to win a stack of 25 fat quarters (6-1/4 yards of fabric!). Use our row and we have a bonus prize for you!
There are a few rules. Your quilt has to be totally finished ... including quilted, bound, and labeled. The winner has to agree to have their photo with their quilt taken so we can put it on the Minnesota Row By Row Experience Facebook page so everyone can see who the winners are. Imagine how inspired they'll be! The last day to turn in a finished quilt is October 31.
Hold on ... there's more! Most of the shops will be selling these stinkin' cute collectible fabric license plates! We were able to make up our own vanity plates and one is as clever as the next. And the things the different stores have done with them ... genius!
So I was fresh out of genius ideas but I know someone who wasn't! My friend PamKittyMorning is a bottomless well of them and when I told her my dilemma she had a solution faster than you can say "row by row'. She created this adorable shop hop bag from bits and pieces of her lines with Lakehouse Drygoods. You can fit three license plates on the front panel and three on the back. We're including the pattern FREE when you buy one of the plates from us.
You probably have a few more questions so here are the FAQ's. A couple of points to remember ... the stores are giving you their row for free when you visit their store. Please don't copy and email them to all of your friends ... it sort of misses the point ... we want to see your smiling faces! We own the copyrights on the patterns and many of us have plans for them after the shop hop ends.
There is a line of fabric that goes with the Row By Row ... we have the border fabric at Rosebud's ... on the bolt and in fat quarters. And we have kits for our row, too! They are $10.95 and include the fabric and wool for the row.
No one said you had to use the patterns just as a row though! We turned ours into a table topper!! Our kit includes the row fabric and wool but you'll need a 1/4 yard for the backing and a fat quater for the binding. We cut our stripe on the bias and it looks really cute! I machine stitched 3/4" from a seam edge down the middle of each log. I also did a curvy viney things connecting the crow to the flowers with three strands of bright green floss. Just for fun!
You can pick our row pattern up during our open hours ... Thursdays and Fridays from 10am to 4pm and Saturdays from 10am to 3pm. To kick things off we'll have extra special hours on Tuesday July 1 from 10am to 4pm and Wednesday July 2 from 10am to 2pm. And of course we'll be closed the Fourth of July.
So there you go ... hopefully EVERYTHING you need to know about the Row By Row Experience. Can't wait to see you in the shop!