Let’s Shop Hop
Carla Christian
50plus Magazine
TWICE A YEAR, quiltmakers and crafters hit the road to visit a trail of quilt shops in the Willamette Valley. Known as the Underground Shop Hop, this fabric hunt operates on the downlow, and that’s how everyone likes it.
Know Before You Go
Spring 2024 Underground Shop Hop
Fri-Sat Apr 5-13; closed Sun Apr 8
This Year’s Theme: Feeling Mellow Yellow
Details undergroundshophop.weebly.com.
When Mari VanderStelt, owner of Yankee Dutch Quilting in Brownsville, and Diane Bowden, owner of The Cotton Patch in Keizer, organized the first event in 2017, they jumped in with barely a month to plan. Deadlines for advertising had passed, so they opted to just use Facebook and word of mouth to spread the news.
“We made a big deal about it being a secret,” says Mari. “We’d say, ‘Shhhh!, just tell your friends, it’s a secret.’ — People loved it!”
They were thrilled when their quickly organized first go — which they figured would be a quiet with just a few shoppers — was a huge success. In fact, in two hours they’d given away a fourth of the patchwork kits they’d normally distribute during a two-week affair. That’s when they knew they had a hit that quilt artists love.
In a shop hop, shoppers visit a group of related stores over a few days or weeks. The Underground Shop Hop features nine Willamette Valley stores that sell fabrics and supplies for quilters. Each bi-annual hunt for fabric treasures has a theme and special correlating project.
You can join the fun in several ways. First, pick up a passport at the first shop you visit and get it stamped at each participating store. When you’ve visited them all, leave your passport at your final destination to be entered to win prizes.
Another fun perk: free quilt block kits are offered at each stop. Every block has the same outer “frame” using a color theme — think Back in Black, or Singing the Blues. But the pieced design in the middle is where the shops can get creative, so no two blocks are alike.
Should you choose to accept the Underground Mission, create a quilt using your finished blocks and submit a photo of your masterpiece for the Underground Facebook page. The winner of the Passenger’s Choice award, selected by popular vote, or the Conductor’s Choice, selected by stores, each receive gift vouchers from each participating shop.
“There are some fabulous quilt artists in the Willamette Valley,” says Mari. “This shows off all their talent. Every year we are totally amazed by what we see.”
Remember, though . . . it’s a secret! Every day during the event, a secret “passcode” is posted on the Underground Shop Hop Facebook page. If you know the passcode, you get a little something extra at each shop.
“It IS underground, after all!” Mari smiles.