Winging It!: Row by Watery Row

In its fifth year, the Row by Row Experience is an opportunity for quilters throughout the US and Canada to visit quilt shops, collect patterns, make a row quilt, and win prizes. . . and have a whole lot of fun and memorable experiences in the process!

Sounds like a typical shop hop, right? But it's quite different. Quilters don't have to buy passports, they don't have to pay a fee, and they can collect rows from a variety of locations to assemble a quilt from eight different row patterns. Each participating shop has created an original pattern for a 36"-wide row following a theme. The theme for 2015 is H2O--Water. The row patterns are free, but they can ONLY be obtained by visiting the quilt shops in person. Prize-eligible quilts need to be finished--that means quilted, bound and labeled. The row-collecting starts on June 21 (Summer Solstice!). And ends on September 8.

And the whole event originates from Syracuse, NY, my home base. With just a few days left to prepare for the beginning of the event, I chatted briefly with Janet Lutz, owner of Calico Gals in Syracuse, and the originator of the nationwide Row by Row Experience. She said, "With over 2650 participating shops, all focused on our June 21st start date, most all the details are in place. We're ready! The shops are very excited to create a fantastic experience for quilters traveling from shop to shop and between states and provinces. My best advice is enjoy the journey, drive safely, and experience shops that are new and different from your usual routine."

As a pattern designer, this is my third year working with shops to prepare their patterns for the event. Two years ago, I worked with two shops to create their row patterns, and last year I assisted six shops by creating their row patterns. This year I was thrilled to help create a grand total of 13 original patterns for twelve shops.

Better get your travel journal ready, you'll want to go out of your way to visit these shops to get your row patterns for the 2015 event.

Here's the Hummingbird Highway Row By Row Experience Roll Call (in alphabetical order by state or province). I don't have final photographs for each shop's row. Since I don't want to blow their big reveal, if I don't have the quilt photo, I'll just provide the pattern title, and you'll have to investigate further. Each state or province has a facebook page and many of the row samples can be found there.

California. Monica's Bead & Quilt Creations, Palm Desert. Oasis