50 ways to keep a quilter happy while on vacation 44, 43, 42

How quickly the summer slips away. While some people like to take the summer off from sewing, that just isn’t possible for me. It’s in my blood and no matter where I go – there’s something to see or do. Here are a couple more tips that can keep a quilter happy (or at least amused) while on vacation.

If you’re a quilter, it’s a good idea to show these tips to your traveling companions. When you ask them to stop for something – they should be comforted to know that you are not the only crazy quilter out there!

If the quilter in your party spots something quilt related on the side of the road, it’s imperative that the vehicle be stopped so the quilter can investigate.

In this case, I stopped, took the picture, but the location had nothing to do with quilting. However, a QR Code allowed me to use my smart phone and I realized that these quilt blocks were signage for the Arts and Heritage Trail in PEI.

I kept an eye out for other blocks and of course, stopped and took pictures of all those blocks as well. Who knows – I may design a quilt around the blocks that I personally saw.

I love any kind of quilt book, but I really love some of the older books and especially books that document quilts from various regions.

Whenever I can, I stop at used book stores and browse the quilting shelves to see what treasures I can find. There’s only one problem with this – you must have a very good memory or you need to have a list of the books that you own. You may end up with duplicates.

It’s not fair when they change the cover of the book. Just last month, I found a “new to me” book only to discover when I got home that I already had the book, but the cover had been changed. NO worries – the duplicate book has already gone to a nice home.

I shall be frequently mentioning that the quilter be allowed to visit a quilt shop. Stopping in quilt shops is very important. Why is that?

Quilters are curious. They want to see what patterns a particular quilt shop has stocked, they want to see different lines of fabric from those they normally see at home. Perhaps there is some new embellishment, trinket, tips or tricks that can be gleaned in the store. So technically it’s not just a shopping expedition – oh my goodness – these stops are educational! If your family is at all concerned about your well being, they can be comforted in the fact that every stop makes you a better and more knowledgeable quilter.

But the most important reason that quilters need to stop at shops while on vacation is bragging rights! Come on – we quilters want to tell everyone we know that we visited the shop in such and such a town. It creates camaraderie among the quilters and makes you a solid part of the quilting community.

So in order to keep everyone happy when the quilter visits a shop, guidelines are important.

• Set a time limit. I know – this is hard for the quilter to accept, but fair is fair. You cannot leave the family waiting in the car for hours while you take a class.
• Everyone must respect the time limit. No non-quilting party member is allowed to run into the store with excuses or whining. Unless there’s blood – I do not wish to be disturbed during my time limit.
• Leave the husband/family in the car. Do not bring them into the store. They will hover, they will pile on guilt, they will look at their watch. Leave them outside. 
• The family is responsible to provide entertainment for themselves without complaining. Encourage them to take a walk, sit on a bench, read a book, listen to music, play games on their cell phone, take up geocaching (a sort of electronic treasure hunt and the caches are everywhere).

There’s a lot to keep them entertained while you browse the shop…

Hope you enjoyed today’s tips for keeping the quilter and the family happy while on vacation. Stay tuned as I have a lot more great tips to share with you. Have a great day! Ciao!