Bolts in the Bathtub - My Local Quilt Store!

Bolts in the Bathtub is the quilt shop in Lancaster CA where I do a lot of my quilt supply shopping. It's owned by Dawna Harrison and Fay Harrison-Bergier, who are sisters, best friends of mine and excellent cooks! Although I know it wasn't on purpose, Bolts happens to be located a mere 3-1/2 miles from my house. Dawna is even closer, living a few houses away -- in fact, if we both open the windows of our sewing rooms and lean out a little, we can wave to each other!


Yes, there is a story behind the store name -- be sure and ask Dawna about it when you visit because it really is a funny story!

It's hard to see with all the fabric stacked all around it, but that really is a white claw footed bathtub in the front of the store. The newest fabric is stacked in and around it so that you see it first thing when you walk in. The bathtub theme is carried throughout the store -- the cutest restroom you will ever see -- and when you are shopping, if you put a rubber ducky on top of your stack of fabrics, the employees will know not to put them away yet.

This display of books and fabric is in the classroom so that you see it just as you walk in the door. Pink and orange fabric -- LOVE IT! Look at the quilt hanging above the batik display that was made with all those luscious fabrics. And all around this area are books and baskets of patterns to browse through.

Looks like there's an embroidery class going on. -- a lot of people doing other things while the machines are sewing by themselves. Embroidery is a huge part of Bolts' business; they are probably one of the leading stores selling digitizing software so that machine embroiderers can customize their own designs.

In fact, it seems like every time I come in the store there is some sort of workshop going on. Day classes, night classes, weekend classes -- they really use that classroom space!

There's a round table with chairs tucked into one corner of the classroom where Dawna and Fay are looking at all the fabric lines that one of their reps has brought. One of the things that I love most about them is that they buy just about EVERYTHING!

Well, I thought I was ready to pay for the fabric for my latest experiments, but look at all the goodies and samples around the register area. Yes, that's my purse on the counter! I abandoned it in the middle of my transaction and, inspired by all the quilts and things on the wall behind Susan, decided to look at a few more things! Had to leaf through the current magazines and new books on the counter and look closer at the charm packets in front, of course!

To find out more about Bolts and to see a class schedule, you can go to www.boltsinthebathtub.com. The current newsletter is online, so you can find out everything that is going on at "Your sewing room away from home"!