Row by Row

Many North Carolina quilt stores are participating in this "thing" (for lack of a better word) over the summer and early fall.  Quilt shops in Canada and across the US who are participating are offering a free quilt pattern (36"x 9") if you visit their store between July 1 and Sept 1.  Once you acquire 8 rows (or more) and put them into a quilt (totally finished, quilting, binding...the works), if you are the first person to show off the quilt at one of the stores where a pattern originated from, you get a prize from that store. NC is a little behind the buzz (we've only had 2 winners out of who knows how many stores), but evidently a lot of people are doing it, as the Cary store has already had 1,000 people come by the store and request patterns. That's a lot of customers in just three weeks!

While it would be incredibly awesome to be a winner, I'm being very picky about what patterns I'll do. If I'm going to invest my time and money into a quilt, I want it to be one I like, not just something I've thrown together helter skelter. The down side is that some of the patterns I really like are not close by...as in Murphy, NC.  If you drive much further west, you'll be in TN.

For a look at NC's patterns (or at least the ones showing pictures of them), you can visit Facebook's NC Row by Row Experience page.  To see whether or not your state is particpating (and what shops), visit www.rowbyrowexperience.com