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My Favorite Quilt Shop
….is Maine-ly Sewing, which regular readers already know. FINALLY, I remembered to take pictures, inside and out! This way, you can see why I love this store so much…first, it is an old house, reportedly haunted (check out this link to read the story). This picture is taken from Route 1 (the Atlantic Coast Highway, the old north-south highway that runs up the East Coast of the United States from Florida to Maine). 
This past summer, Marjorie Hallowell painted the house a cheerful yellow, added new siding (and discovered in the process there was no insulation…in Maine!…that was fixed!). Alas, the chimneys leaked and had to go, which means the old woodstove in the store’s largest room had to go too. Of course, that means more room for good stuff so I’ll live without the wood heat {grin}. There are two entrances: the ramp (good when rolling a sewing machine in for class) and the stairs into what used to be the screened in porch. Here’s a view of the porch, looking toward the door:
When you turn the corner into the door of the main house, you look right and see Marge (here) or Stacy (her wonderful daughter in law who is also a fabulous mechanic and repairs the Janomes!) at work at the cutting table, under the stained glass quilty window:
Here’s another picture looking towards the parking area:
Standing at the opposite end of the cutting table, you can see more thread…heaven! Also beads, doo-dads, buttons……YUM!
You’ll notice that Marge even has quilts on the ceiling! (and a corner of that cool quilty skylight).
If you turn back toward the entrance, you look toward the bathroom (in this picture, the blue and white quilt is on the door), the classroom is on the right, and another room of fabrics is on the left. Notice all those quilts on the ceiling…everywhere!!!! And old hand-hewn beams, too….
Here’s a look in the same direction, but on the other side of the center display of fabrics:
This is the doorway into the “front room”, which houses the more “solid” fabrics, batting, patterns, some sale items and other assorted good things:
Just above the door is this quilt with Laurel Burch fabric…how Marge makes so many samples is beyond me! But she sure does!
This view is from the doorway to the front room:
And this view is from the other end (where there is another door to the stairs that lead up and to the classroom). I didn’t take pics of the upstairs, but Marge has sale fabrics up there on one side, and the longarm and office area on the other. Yes, they also custom quilt tops!
And it’s always fun to see what’s on the wall in the classroom. Marge has a fantastic color sense, and has an entire store of great fabrics from which to pick. When things are slow, she sews in the classroom! She has made a lot of spectacular Asian-influenced quilts lately (like that blue and white one currently on the bathroom door, above), and this one is in progress…can’t wait to see it done!
This quilt, on the ceiling near the door from the ramp entrance, is made of Asian-inspired florals and black…dramatic!
Obviously, since I teach there, I’m affiliated. But Marge gave me my first teaching job, and is a great friend and supporter. She is SO encouraging, and is everything you want in a shop owner. If I ask her if she’d be interested in carrying a product, she’ll say “PLEASE tell me…I need to know what you want and like!” and she’ll give it a try, even if it means setting up a new account with a new wholesaler.
Best of all…she sells via internet, too….so if you aren’t lucky like me, who lives in easy driving distance (35 minutes door to door!), you can still drop in and shop! Hope you enjoyed the tour,
Cheers, Sarah
October 22nd, 2006 at 6:30 pm
Your quilt shop is very nice. I wish I had one close by. The one I went to closed in July.
October 23rd, 2006 at 12:24 am
Nice tour of a very nice quilt shop! I enjoyed my brief visit –DH and brother were with me — last June. Wish I lived close enough to take classes…
Vermont quilter
October 23rd, 2006 at 4:22 am
Great shop – it looks like it is truly stocked to the rafters!
I’m surprised they have fabrics on the porch – do they have the windows treated with UV for fading?
October 23rd, 2006 at 4:43 am
thanks for the memories Sarah Ann, I was just there in Sept. and it’s a wonderful store with a delightful owner. I so enjoyed seeing your postcards up close. I’m using the King Tut thread on the Japanese fabric I purchased there and it is really beautiful-thanks again….dee
May 17th, 2009 at 3:41 am
Such a usefule blog