Wandering Stitches, Orlando FL

For the last three Quilt Markets, Mettler has been running a promotion for the stores who carry Mettler thread. They enter a drawing and the winner gets me! We agree on dates and then I go to the store and teach my two day Fluff & Stuff class and Mettler covers my fee, travel expenses, door prizes and thread gifts for every student. The store usually provides lunches, more door prizes -- in other words, this is a whole lot of fun for the people who get to go!

Wandering Stitches won the fall Quilt Market promotion and I went there last week. The store is located in an industrial complex just a few miles north of the Orlando airport and is owned by Lisa and Steve Mullins. Lisa started as a longarm quilter and there are four longarm machines in the store, which is huge! There are 6500 square feet of fabric and machines -- Wandering Stitches is also a BERNINA dealer and I got to do one of my free motion demos on the new sit down longarm, the Q-20! Fun!!!

Ooops! Got a little distracted there -- polka dots!! Pre-cuts!!

There are a kazillion samples on the walls and I took a lot of quilt pictures. The one on the right is from a book that they had sold out of -- does anyone know what book this is in? I love the modern vibe (which reminds me that I still need to post my QuiltCon pics) and, yes, I know I could figure out the design but I definitely believe in paying for another person's vision and hard work. So if you recognize the quilt and know the book name, could you please leave a comment?

Quilt samples for upcoming classes. There are two classrooms here; I was in the larger of the two and everyone had plenty of room to spread out. While I was teaching in one classroom, there were BERNINA serger classes going on in the other. A lot going on in this store!

This little wall quilt intrigued me because it was using the decorative stitches on the machine to create the striped fabric. I know my machine has probably 500+ stitches and I use 3 -- well, maybe 4 as I like a couple of different stitches for applique.....

Could not resist taking pictures of some of the Mettler thread fixtures in the store. First of all, I've never seen so much Mettler thread in one place outside of a trade show! They have everything! Secondly, when Lisa ordered the fixtures she asked if they could make them in black rather than the normal white wood that they come in. I love the way the black fixtures make the thread colors pop!
As for the bottom photo, this is the fixture that I have been drooling over -- all the 50 wt. colors in one place and displayed so conveniently. I do have a fixture, but it's older and showing signs of wear; I really have to start saving my quarters and $1s and $5s and get this puppy!

This is my class on the second day, taking a quick break to thank Mettler for this event!
If you are in the Orlando area, Wandering Stitches is definitely worth a side trip. It is so close to the airport that even if you have about a 2-3 hour layover, you could Uber on over there! Store is located at 5818 Hoffner Avenue, Suite 905 in Orlando (phone: 407-658-4044). When you enter the complex, you turn left and then proceed to a T, then turn right. So it's toward the back of the complex on the left hand side. And -- yes -- a box is following me home....

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