Mill House Quilts, Waunakee, WI

Another quilt shop we stopped on our great Saturday road adventure was Mill House Quilts in Waunakee, Wisconsin.  Mill House has an extensive collection of fabrics and all things quilting.  Wow – it is huge.  If you couldn’t find what you needed there . . . well, it must not exist or it’s out of print!

They have a ton of models, too.  I think the most models of any shop I’ve ever visited.  There were so many tempting items, it was almost hard to focus on “what do I need” rather than “I need that, and that, and that!”  HAHA  We found a pattern by Little Quilt Company called Farm Placemats that we just H.A.V.E. to make.  There is a cute little pink pig, a puppy, a cow, a duck, a sheep and the cute little kitty pictured in the header.  The patterns are fat quarter friendly . . . so what more could you ask?!  I can just imagine asking my sweet little great niece/nephew to be “would you like to sit at the cow, kitty or sheep placemat today for lunch?”  Yes, they have to be made.

One other model that kept drawing me back to it was this one, called Couple in Paris panel.  I am not a big panel fan.  Somehow it seems like cheating – it’s not quilting in the traditional sense where you cut fabric apart and sew it back together.  So what though?  If you like that pattern and it’s a panel should you avoid it?  Nope.  I decided it was special enough that it needed to come home with us.  It speaks to me.  ~smile~  Boom!

They also have a nice selection of hardcover and paperback books on a variety of quilting topics.  We were interested in the free-motion quilting books, along with walking-foot techniques.  Both my friend and I vow we are going to master both techniques this calendar year . . . well maybe not master them but certainly become more comfortable doing them.  I mean, can you ever master something like that?  You can become proficient, or very good at a skill but perhaps not a master.  Hold that thought anyway!

One last area that I was really looking forward to seeing was the long-arm displays.  My friends had mentioned that they have a “small” long-arm machine; one that was only about 5′ wide.  Hmm.  That would easily fit in our sewing room – after a bunch of other stuff was cleared out, anyway.  It turns out the one I wanted to see was upstairs in the classroom.  Diane spent time discussing long-arm quilting machines with us, and I fell in love with a model by Juki.  Do I see a Juki in my future?  Well, see the above paragraph about mastering techniques . . . perhaps if I feel I’m much more proficient in both free-motion and with the walking-foot.  We shall see.  I’m not ruling it out, that’s for sure!