To truly begin summer off correctly in Southern California, you need a fire, and we have a doozy of one going on right now, only a few miles from my house.  The above map, from today, shows 21% containment, and I could see clouds of billowing smoke yesterday when I went to the grocery store.  Usually we like to END our summers with a fire, but not this year, the fourth year of the drought.

So my friend and I decided to hit the road this morning, in order to recover from the ardor of Registering for QuiltCon 2016 (no, I didn’t get the Gwen Marston class), and visit the newest shop not too far from our town in the neighboring city of Temecula: Needle in a  Fabric Stash.

Our only other dedicated-modern-shop is in Los Angeles, way too far away for a casual stop, so it was nice to find out about this place.

Sue Stone, the owner, has a well-curated selection of fabrics, from Alison Glass to Cotton and Steele to Dear Stella, and isn’t locked into one line too heavily, but instead displays them to encourage mixing between the designers.

Some fun displays and stacks of fabrics.

The displays and patterns are well organized and encourage browsing.

Here Sue is helping a young customer choose fabrics for a quilt.

A nice selection of solids, plus more lines.

Needle in a Fabric Stash is owned and managed by Sue (above).

She’s been in operation about 7 months, and has already set up some great classes.

We grabbed some lunch and kept going. . . over to Primitive Gatherings Quilt Shop, not located in Wisconsin (that would have been QUITE a road trip) but in the next town up, in Murrieta.

This friendly fellow, an import from Wisconsin, helped us get signed up in their store system, and showed us around.  Since I used to live in Wisconsin, we traded that old joke about there being two seasons in Wisconsin: Construction and Winter.  I knew the one about three seasons: June, July and Winter.  He admitted that he would like to be back there during summer, but come winter. . . he was happy to be in California, where the car doors didn’t freeze shut.

As the name of the shop implies, the bulk of their fabrics are Civil War era prints, and they have lots of very cool displays.

The Modern Section.

I was amazed by the teensy tumblers quilt they had on display–along with teensy precuts to go with it.

We both liked their mini tote designs–they had several.

All in all, a good outing on a hot summer’s day!