I was lucky this week to get to do some shopping in Tucson. My conversation in the morning went something like this...
Me: "What are you up to today?"
My husband's response "Just work unless you have another idea."
"Well" I said. "I was thinking of heading down to Tucson to do a little shopping."
"Is there a store that starts in Q and ends in T?"
Busted. I was able to get in three stores and if you follow me on instagram you'll know I had a bit of fun and did a little damage.
Here are the three shops I visited and my thoughts...
The Cactus Quilt Shop:
Nice shop sorta tucked away in a corner of a shopping center. They recently moved so I originally went to the wrong address that google maps gave me. In my experience, quilt shops move ALOT. So checking their website for a correct address is a good idea. I really need to take my own advice on this. Anyhow, back to it.
A pretty decent sized little shop with a good selection. Most of the fabrics weren't really my fancy but like any good fabric hoarder I was able to find some goodies in the fat quarter bins (not usually a fat quarter buyer). The staff was friendly and helpful. And the pricing was good $9-10 was what I saw - I didn't look extensively at the pricing in each store I just got a general idea from the bolts I grabbed to look at.
If you're looking for some real Arizona fabric they had a nice variety.
They also had a great notions wall and...
classroom area.
If you only have time for one shop this probably wouldn't be my recommendation but if you have a day and time to drive from one end of town to the other it's worth a stop.
The Quilt Basket
This is the shop the Tucson Modern Quilt Guild meets so obviously they have a nice selection of fabrics for modern quilting.
I do have to admit that I was a little annoyed with the bolts. Having them laying down made it difficult to grab stuff out. I like to pull stuff I like half way out so that I can see what I'm thinking and push it back in if I change my mind. This was not possible at all. You had to pull the whole thing out and it was heavy to get stuff on the bottom. But don't worry, I made the effort and got some goodies.
If you are a Bernina person, they are attached to a retailer who has there own supply of goodies. They also have a nice classroom where I assume the Guild meets. Overall a good shop and definitely worth stopping in. The best part is that it is only ten minutes from my last shop so you can hit these two together really easily.
Quilter's Market
If you have time for just one stop this is my choice! Sorta glad I went there last sorta not. Why? Because I may have held out and not bought as much not knowing what was to come if I had come here first. On the other hand. I probably would have rather spent a little more here than in the other stores. I really wish I had more pictures for you of this one but it was the end of the day, I was tired, and I was late getting back to pick up one of my sons and babysitter at the mall.
I wanted a ton in this shop and I bought a bunch. This was the most expensive of the three stores so I guess it's good I went there last. Bolts were in the $11-12 range. Also, they organize most everything by color and not by line. At the quilt basket I bought some fabric all from the same line because it was together and I could envision how I would use it. This shop had the same line but it was spread out by color and I would not have pulled it out because of that - it also was more expensive here. I think if a store has a lot of a certain line they should keep it together and when it starts to dwindle and not really look much like a line sorting it into color sections is better but that is just my opinion. I was also pretty happy when they pulled out a basket of toys for my son to play with (although they could have been a little cleaner). Overall great staff, huge store, and lots of GOOD stuff!
