Hey everyone! Welcome back to what’s left of the Monday grind after what I would call an awesome and successful weekend. As you saw in my last post, I started off the fun Friday afternoon while setting up for the Purge and Splurge Sale event we hosted at The Gathering on Saturday. Over 30 vendors set up shop inside the retreat house, selling all sorts of things from sewing, craft, and art supplies to hand-made wares, toys, games, clothing, and antiques. I, of course, took full advantage of the opportunity to purge a whole lot of “extra” fabric from my stash at home that was just taking up space in the studio. I have to say, I felt like I lost about a thousand pounds once I finally had it all out of the house and loaded into the back of my car. Purging excess and unneeded supplies is always a huge chore to organize, but also a huge relief once it’s over. I feel so light and it’s nothing short of wonderful! Not to mention I ended up with a little extra jingle in my pocket once it was all said and done, which never hurts.

Shoppers started arriving as soon as our doors opened at 9:00, and cars were parked up and down the street in both directions by 9:30. We were fortunate enough to share the weekend with our area’s annual city wide garage sales so traffic was good and steady all day. Shoppers who came hungry were also in luck. Delicious boxed lunches consisting of homemade chicken salad sandwiches, house fried chips, and fresh baked cookies prepared by Erica and crew were available for purchase to both shoppers and vendors alike for a reasonable price. Even if you were only there to tag along with a friend, there was definitely something for everyone at this event.

Judging by all the happy vendors and smiling customers leaving with treasures in hand, I think it’s safe to call our very first Purge & Splurge Event a success! Did you have a chance to stop by? If so, I’d love to know what you found to take home! Also, don’t be afraid to let me know what you liked or didn’t like about the sale and what you’d like to see in the future. We had such a great day that the girls and I were already discussing our next Purge & Splurge event right away this morning. We hope to do another one soon – maybe this fall? We’ll see! It all depends on everything else we’re planning at the moment and whether or not we can work it into the schedule. I guess you’ll have to stay tuned to the blog and my LIVE shows to find out!

Summer is definitely off to a busy start at Primitive Gatherings. Another big event keeping us busy right now is the 2023 Wisconsin State Shop Hop. If you’ve never done a Quilt Shop Hop before, let me explain how it works. Shop Hops are events where a group of specific quilt shops get together and create a passport system to help encourage quilters to visit their shops. As shop hoppers physically visit each shop on the passport, they receive a stamp to show that they were there. Once they’ve collected all the required stamps, participants will typically turn in their completed passports to be entered into a drawing for prizes. Sounds fun, doesn’t it?

I especially love participating in the WI State Shop Hop because it gives my fellow WI based stitchers and I an opportunity to show off our state pride using creativity, hard work, and our own two hands. This year is especially cool for me because I am the official fabric designer for the event. That means we get to show off our WI pride even that much more, with not only my fabric line but also with a collective effort of projects designed exclusively for the event by different contributing artists through Primitive Gatherings. The fabric line consists of 14 different fabrics that include a range of reds, grays, blacks, and white along with six coordinating Bella Solids, bringing the collection to a total of 20.

Anyone from WI will tell you that for whatever reason, we tend to have a lot of state pride up here. All of our family members love anything WI so the Shop Hop projects make great gifts for pretty much any occasion. Prints include the state in plaid, flowers, the WI logo, swirly stars, and an itsy-ditzy. There is also a Buffalo Plaid panel in the collection featuring four different Wisconsin-themed designs that could be made into a super cute and quick quilt in a few easy steps. It could also be cut apart and made into a variety of unique projects like decorative pillows, a tote bag or mini quilt – the possibilites really are endless!

Another great thing about this Shop Hop is that participants will receive a FREE pattern for the quilt “Heat Wave” by Running Doe Quilts, just for coming into the store and having your Shop Hop passport card signed! Now, I know many of you are not from WI and probably don’t care too much about our weird obsession with our own state, but I didn’t want to leave anyone out of the fun. You may have noticed, not all of the prints within this Shop Hop line are WI specific, like the itsy-ditzy, swirly stars, and floral prints for instance. Maybe you’re out of state but have a friend or family member from WI you’d like to make a gift for, but don’t necessarily need a ton of WI-themed fabric. This line makes it possible to use a portion for other projects as well. If you are from WI but just can’t make it here to the shop in person, don’t worry. I have something in store for you as well! For a limited time, if you buy the WI Shop Hop based quilt kit for “Heat Wave” you’ll receive the pattern for free! If that sounds like a deal you’d like to get in on you can find it to order by clicking the button below.

If you’re a local quilter who loves shopping and winning prizes, I encourage you to participate in this event! There will be first, second, and third place prizes awarded to eligible winners. In addition, each shop will have a $100 gift basket that shop hoppers can register to win (please visit wisconsinquiltshophop.com for eligibility requirements). The Shop Hop runs from now until June 30th, 2023. All stores participating in the Shop Hop are open 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday (additional hours may be available – please contact each shop for specific hours). Maps and a list of participating shops are available by clicking HERE!

Oh! And speaking of shop hours, please be aware that due to the Shop Hop, the hours at Primitive Gatherings have changed for the month of June and are listed below. We will be going back to our normal summer hours starting Saturday, July 1st 2023.

Well everyone, I am officially tired after another long day! Time to start thinking about evening activities and what’s for dinner tonight. If you’d like to see me go through the Shop Hop and fabrics one by one feel free to watch the replay of STITCH with Lisa last week where I show them all off along with some additional projects people have come up with for the line. You can watch by clicking the STITCH button below! I will see you all again tomorrow, Tuesday June 6th at 10:00 a.m. CST for CommentSold where Jess plans to show off her latest favorite new arrivals here at PG. I’m super curious to see what she’s got up her sleeve… Tune in tomorrow to shop with us. Until then, take care and have a wonderful evening! ~Lisa