Montana, Oh, my do you have a lot of quilt stores on the 90.

Next is the Silver Thimble in Bozeman, Mt. They asked me if I were on the National Quilt Hop.  Till then I had never hear of it.  Seems this year it is a musical theme, and each store can do any shape for their quilt block design.. While some years it might be a strict row quilt.

For those that are following me and are not quilters.  A row quilt is a little easier to design.

A quilter goes into a participating store, and checks out their design that represents their store. They purchase the pre-packaged fabric and the design for the participants to buy. A row quilt would be designs that are in rows, and the quilter can put them in any order, what ever pleases them. Or could put them in the order that they visited the store. 

One can look it up on the computer and find the stores that are participating. One of the stores I went into has a map of the U.S.A. and they are pinning each person's hometown. There are hundreds of pins on that map.

So if you are interested, check it out on line, gas up your car and have a great drive.

 

The Silver Thimble is a fun store with so much to look at. Each store seems to have a different personality. This is Silver Thimble piece for this year, Mountain Music.  Most stores have a theme, or fabric that is important to their area.This years theme for the National Row, is Music. . A moose and trees is very much Montana. Love how they designed this piece. It could stand alone also as a wall quilt. Lovely design.

Many of the stores have a piece that a quilter can use for a focal point of their quilt. Here you are seeing them hanging from the ceiling, and lots of fabric to look at.  Many ideas as you look around the rooms.  I have not been using patterns for a long time, but these wonderful dramatic pieces are sure tempting me.  I will not tell if I purchase or not at a store.  I am looking for items that I might not see anywhere else.. a button, a small piece of fabric, or who knows what will strike my fancy.

Landscapes and views are amazing. All that green, while I know our "brown" back home with 100+ temps, and the fires burning in Yosemite is so scary. We check that out daily, because we know of friends that have been evacuated.
 The roads here are smooth and clean. We crossed the Continental Divide, with views that are forever. On to the next stop.