Shop Hop: Behind the scenes

Have you ever wondered what quilt shops do to prepare for shop hop? Here at Sweet Home, we’ve been busy little bees since early January and now that shop hop is a week away, we’re checking our lists and still trying to get as much done as possible. I thought I’d share a behind-the-scenes look at some of what we’ve been doing…

We started early cutting and packaging the Shop Hop Fabric Strip Sets…what you see is only about half of the 600+ kits we’ve done! We’re offering something a little different to shop hoppers this year -- if you missed it, check out the Shop Hop Blog for details on this new program. 

Emptying bolts and bolts of fabric…

Cutting kits…some on the die cut machine, which generates tons of scraps…

Labeling and packaging all of those kits!

 Finding a place to put all those kits until they’re needed!

Daily visits from Mr. Brown bringing new stock to be checked in and added to the mix.

Making new samples…which still have to be hung on the walls for display!

All of those new samples means there’s been a whole lot of binding going on!

Ripping wool to re-stock our display … there’s something really satisfying about ripping wool!

 Several trunk shows have arrived and are waiting their turn for display!

And finally, a sneak peek at our Shop Hop quilt, which is finally off to the quilter for quilting! (This picture was taken during the last stages of construction as the borders were going on.)

Remember those strip sets I mentioned that every shop will have for shop hoppers? All the shops exchanged sets and this is the free project we came up with. As is tradition for us, we always use black and white in some way in our Shop Hop project and this year is no exception…the black and white polka dot really showcases the vibrant strip colors. We hope you love it as much as we do!

~Melisa @ Sweet Home Quilt Co.