Chip and Dale Designs

Samples in Ladyfingers Sewing Studio

PA Quilt Shops

Hello everyone! Bet you thought I got lost! Not lost, just visiting family in Pennsylvania. We went back for my great nephew’s high school graduation. It was wonderful trip- so wonderful, in fact, that I am dividing this vacation story into a few different blogs.

This first one is to share with you the quilt shops that I was fortunate enough to visit while I was there. My nephew and his lovely wife indulged us at every opportunity and took us anywhere we wanted to go- and the quilt shops were on the top of my list! Shocking, I know! I didn’t even have to ask twice- gotta love my family!

The first shop I visited was Ladyfingers Sewing Studio in Oley, Pa. It is owned by Gail Kessler, a fellow Craftsy instructor, fabric designer for Andover Fabrics and pattern designer. (Check out several of Gail's Craftsy classes at the bottom of this blog story.)

https://ladyfingerssewing.com/shopping_cart/index.php

We drove up and were greeted by these chickens- what a welcome! The kids ended up feeding them them their leftover lunch- after they ran out of the leftover biscuits,they fed them – chicken fingers! And the chickens loved them! Damn cannibals!

My niece Missy with a Ladyfinger chicken.

Ladyfingers Sewing Studio is centrally located in the beautiful, historic Oley Valley between Pottstown and Reading, PA. The store is in the former Griesemersville Hotel. Built in 1860, this stagecoach stop served travelers on their way from Reading to Philadelphia with over 40 rooms, a saloon, post office, and general store.

I walked in and the angels sang! Lots and lots of bright fabrics, beautiful displays, notions, patterns- everything a gal could want! I found some Mr. Chillingsworth fabrics and bought some yardage of a few of those.

I have been eyeing this quilt up in blog land, and they actually had the pattern so I had to buy it-

The sweet gal checking me out was lovely, and she was training another staff member- who I believed said he was the tech (they sell Bernina Sewing Machines as well). We had a great time chatting while checking out, and to make sure he got trained properly I picked out several other items to purchase so he could practice checking customers out. It was all for him, I swear! They were very gracious when I asked to take pictures for this blog- so I went out to the van and grabbed my phone to get these pics for you.

Gail, I had a most wonderful visit to your shop- I am sorry we didn’t get to meet you- maybe next time!

The second shop I got to visit is Wooden Bridge Drygoods, located in beautiful Kutztown, Pa. On the way down the road we ran into a horse and buggy- my first one of the trip! (no, we didn’t actually run into it, it was coming towards us LOL)

http://www.woodenbridgedrygoods.com/

I was expecting reproductions, as I was told this is what they were known for. Well, this gal was pleasantly surprised when I walked in. I was greeted by over 10,000 bolts of fabric! Yes, they had reproductions but they had plenty of other goodies for me as well. I am planning a quilt for my son out of snack food fabrics, and they had approx. 100 bolts of those alone! He picked out these 2 for his quilt-

As I walked around the shop and started gathering bolts of fabric, my son held out his arms and so I started piling fabric up! He is trained well HAHA. I found some of these pretty Christmas fabrics- and I could not resist. I love chickadees!

I also found a few dog fabrics as well- my niece and nephew have pugs, and I found one with pugs and dachshunds on it- how great is that? Now I need to make us all pillows out of these-

The gals checking me out were very sweet as well-we chatted about where I was from, etc. It was a lovely shop as well. I did not feel comfortable taking pictures in there, as the women were Mennonites. I should have asked- I am sure pics of the shop would have been fine, but I didn’t ask. I am not sure how they feel about pictures and if they are as strict as the Amish regarding photos, so I wanted to be respectful.

Well that is the quilt part of my PA adventure- stay tuned to get more details from the big trip!

CRAFTSY ONLINE CLASSES BY GAIL: