We're Ready for 2014!

It's that wonderful time of the year, when spring is in the air...no wait.

Well, weather aside, it is still that wonderful time of the year to start planning your trips for the 11th Annual State of Maine Quilt Shop Hop!

We have a total of 39 shops participating this year and we hope you all are as excited to get hopping as we are! The website has been updated with the current list of shops, photos of prizes and a downloadable PDF of the 2014 Passport. Photos of the shop sample quilts are coming in and we'll be adding them in the next few days.

The website is: www.maineshophop.com
Contact us at: info@maineshophop.com
Follow us on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/StateOfMaineQuiltShopHop?ref=hl

This year we are happy to be working with P&B Textiles and are featuring their basics line, Bear Essentials 2. See the beautiful rainbow of fabrics at: http://www.pbtex.com/bearessentials2

Hopping officially begins on April 1st! All shops are offering Sunday hours of at least 12-4 as well as Tuesday-Saturday hours of at least 10-5. Shops do have the option to be closed on Mondays, so plan accordingly! Shop Hop hours are listed on the "Participating Shops" page of the website, but be advised that these hours are for April 2014 and not necessarily their regular hours.

Every shop owner is looking forward to meeting and greeting each and every one of you - here's to a great hop in 2014!

Some Mid-Summer Fun!

I'm sure that the 11th Annual State of Maine Quilt Shop is far from everyone's minds (except for those of us on the committee...), but there are other fun ways to connect with your favorite quilt shops, all summer long! While you all are gardening, beachin' it and celebrating with friends and family, we quilt shop owners are right in the midst of QUILT SHOW SEASON. Yes, it's a season. And summer is when the quilt shows explode!

Did you know that we have shop owners who travel the country all year long, selling their wares? We also have shop owners who visit only smaller guild shows. And we have everything in between.

So, to celebrate the next up and coming quilt show, we've got a fun little contest!

Maine Quilts 2013 is right around the corner. If you're new to this event, be sure to visit www.mainequilts.org for all the events, classes and hours. If you've never volunteered at Maine Quilts, this is a great year to start! Whether it's wearing white gloves, selling raffle tickets, or scribing for the judges, there is always something to do.

Here's the contest. Leave a comment below, or on the Facebook page linked to this post, with the number of Maine Quilts 2013 vendors who were also part of the 10th Annual State of Maine Quilt Shop Hop!

We have a prize pack of 10 quilting patterns (a $99 value!) for the winner, who will be randomly selected from all the correct answers.

Good luck and we'll see you at the show!

A Couple of Other Events

Before we closed up shop on this hop, I asked all the shop owners if there were other hops that they'd like shared here. I mean, we have a pretty captive audience, eh?!

So here are two additional events that you folks might be interested in. One almost immediately and one in the fall. As you know, we all love any event that supports the local, independently owned shops!

Spring into Summer Shop Hop
Features 5 shops and is held May 31st, June 1st and 2nd
Visit their FB page for more info
https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Spring-into-Summer-Quilt-Shop-Hop/104315016312597

Autumn Splendor Shop Hop
Features 7 shops in Western Maine and is held September 26th through October 6th
Visit their website for more info
https://sites.google.com/a/threadsgalore.com/autumn-splendor/

Plus, you don't want to miss Maine Quilts 2013, where you''ll get to see all the shop hop quilts again in one place! It's sure to be a great exhibit. The show is held at the Augusta Civic Center and is always at the end of July. The dates for 2013 are July 26-28. Hope to see you there!

The Last Little Bit!

Sorry for the delay in the post folks. That pesky spring cold got the best of me. Now that I can actually breathe, here is the final list of gift basket winners, our kid winners and our chauffeur.

These people won gift prizes that were donated by our wonderful vendors!
Shirley McConrad, Diane Kimball, Gail Hallowell, Cindy Wixon, Deirdre Bennett, Ruth Alexander, Cindy Briggs, Marie Lizotte, Carol Rafalowski, Orianna Mank, Ellie King, Christina Burns, Teresa Bailey, Rayleen Pinkham, Carole Hicks, Nichole Champ, Trish Ash, Linden Simmons, Shay Perryman, Roberta Grohs, Marion Dyleski, Deirdre McMahan, Brenda Holt, Anne Lavoie, Sarah Dailey, Pat Hackett, Ryan Allen, Lisa Kimball, Sharon Ashworth, Susan Girdwood, JoAnna Goode, Winnie Peters, Laurie Scott, Linda Greer, Cindy Richards, Wendy Hanscom, Anita Hedstrom, Brenda Davenport, Donna Loveland, Aislynne Hayden, Laurelee Swift.

These are the adorable kid winners!
Kaedyn C. and Sarah D.

And our driver of the year...
Charles Merrill - you get  $100 gas card!

If your name is on this list and you have not received a Prize Claim Certificate, you will shortly. I got most of them out before the cold. The rest went in today's mail, along with the prize for Mr. Merrill!

Congratulations to all the winners. It was a great time.

Shop Prize and Gift Certifcate Winners - Finally!

I just have to say that this part of the hop is harder than the whole month of hopping! Finally I have a listing of the prize winners for you. These are all the folks who won the shop-donated prizes and the $50 gift certificates. The list for the 41 gift baskets is almost done and will be posted next.
So without further ado...here they are...


Grand Prize:
Fabric Garden – Luci Levesque, Augusta AND Eleanor McClay GC

First Prizes:
Maine-ly Sewing – Karen Greenleaf, Westport Island AND Pam Meservey GC
Mariner’s Compass – Denise St. Pierre, Alfred AND Kathy Ludwig GC
Sanford Sewing Machines – Lorry Letourneau, Waterville AND Gloria Cadman GC
Tony’s Sewing Machines – Catherine Leonard, Nobleboro AND MaryAnn Arnrick GC
Quiltessentials – Debbie Heffernan, Old Orchard Beach AND Rita Fitzsimmons GC

Second Prizes:
Yardgoods Center – Gary Wright, Woolwich AND Randy Menninhaus GC
Choppin’ Cotton – Erika Bourget, Farmingdale AND Cath Hinse GC
Nancy’s Sewing Center – Kathy Alley, Nobleboro AND Virginia Lemos GC
Knight’s – Rae Morang, Chelsea AND Brenda Spulick GC
Country Creations – Lorrie Metzger, Levant AND Roger Scott GC

Third Prizes:
Alewives – Sandy Meatty, Dover,NH AND Laura McNelly GC
Attic Heirlooms – Linda McPhail, Benton AND Pat Johnston GC
Annie’s Teeny Tiny Quilt Shop – Kathy Peters, Sumner AND Sherryl Jones GC
Babbling Brook – Anne Marriner, Portland AND Pam Jewett GC
Busy Thimble – Irene McMahan, Waterville AND Jewell Woerter GC
Calico Basket – Sharon Lee, Steep Falls AND Bonnie Woodman GC
Cotton Weeds – Lucille Saucier, Auburn AND Peg Nulle GC
Cotton Cupboard – Susan Hanscom, Mason Twp. AND Irene Farrar GC
Cozy Cottage – Julie Anderson, New Gloucester AND Kathleen Butler GC
Crazy Moose – Emily Croxford, Poland AND Linda McDowns GC
Fabricate – Karen Graham, Lisbon Falls AND Kate Starrett GC
Fiddleheads – Melissa Fredsall, Rome AND Jennifer Smith GC
Kathie’s – Susan Lombard, Unity AND Linda Nappi GC
Kedar Quilts – Carol Pratt, Unity AND Lois Doyle GC
Mystic Maine – Lenora Higgs, NB Canada AND Lisa Hellman GC
North Woods Quilting – Dana Asselyn, Durham AND Jessica Gammon GC
Oxford Mill End Store – Loretta McNichol, Belgrade AND Sharon Demeritt GC
Pins & Needles – Bethany Ober, Carrabassett Valley AND Cynthia Hall GC
Pinwheels – Angela Laustsen, Waterville AND Robert Gerstley GC
Quilt ‘n Fabric – Brenda Devoe, Augusta AND Carol Dean GC
Quilt Divas – Peggy Baum, Hermon AND Patrick Tierney GC
Sew Portland – Ruth Vietze, Alna AND Sue Arnold GC
Sewing by the Sea – Paula Chadwick, Stetson AND Sharon LaSota GC
Threads Galore – Gail Plummer, Holden AND Patricia Bolz GC
Village Quilt Shop – Sally Burn, Lyman AND Ruth Scheibernpflug GC
Whippersnappers – Nina Chavez, Jay AND Jackie Knapper GC

If I really butchered someone's name, I sincerely apologize. Deciphering passport information is sometimes really fun! Listed next to each shop name is the winner of their prize and the winner of that shop's gift certificate. Prize winners have already been notified. Gift certificates are in the mail.
Congratulations to all!

Voter's Choice Challenge Winners

Here's the next update...

Winning certificates for the 37 shop donated prizes have been sent out. I will most likely publicly announce those names on Monday. I want to be sure folks have received their mail before their name gets plastered all over the internet.

Certificates for the $50 shop gift certificates and the 41 prize baskets/bags are in-process now. Hoping to get them mailed tomorrow. Some of those prizes need to be relocated from my shop to others, so we're also working on the logistics of that.

So...here's some more that I can tell you!

Our 2013 Shop Challenge Voter's Choice Winners are...

#3 - "The Silver Screen" from Fabricate in Bar Harbor;

#2 - "Cabins Around the Stars" from Whippersnappers in Hallowell;

AND (doo doodoo doo!)

#1 - "Shop Hopping Divas" from Quilt Divas in Rockland.

The voting was fierce and although these three obviously came out on top, number wise, the first place prize changed hands between the three of them during the course of the tallying! Here are photo reminders of the winners.

The photos do not do these quilts justice, especially the #1 winner. I will take a better series of pictures to show off all the workmanship and post it later.

Congratulations to all the shops - everyone received votes!

So Here's What I CAN Tell You...

As of 1PM today all the winners have been drawn and all the votes tallied. Over the next couple of days, Prize Claim Certificates will be mailed out to the winners and the winner list passed along to all the shop owners. I will not announce any winners publicly until certificates have been mailed. But I do have some interesting and fun info to share with you!

Here's the hopper breakdown:
All 37 Shops - 160 hoppers
31-36 Shops - 77 hoppers
21-30 Shops - 129 hoppers
10-20 Shops - 335 hoppers
Kids - 20 kid hoppers
That's a total of 721 completed passports received. WOW!

In addition to the prizes listed in all our materials, we had an additional 41 gift bags/baskets of items that were sent to us from our vendors! All prizes included, hoppers had a potential of winning one of 115 prizes.

So, watch your mailbox this week. You just might have a certificate! Tomorrow we'll announce the Chauffeur Drawing winner and we'll unveil the Shop Hop Challenge Viewer's Choice winners!