Big Island Quilt Shops!

My husband is always great about making sure I get to some quilt shops when we're traveling.  There are several shops on the Big Island of Hawaii! I didn't make it to the shops in Hilo but I went to most of them on the West side of the island.
The first one we stopped at is in the Waimea Center in Kamuela.  It is called Topstitch and it's a really fun little shop.  The owner was very helpful both with fabric and information on a good place to eat in town.  I loved her store hours sign (pictured left).

I also visited Quilt Passions in Kailua-Kona.  It is a great store packed full of wonderful fabrics and notions.  They had a Quilting on the Beach retreat going on the week I was there (if only I'd known!) There is a Marriott Hotel next door to this shop and next door to the hotel is the beach!  The quilt retreat was at the hotel and on the weekend - just a day after we left - they were having a quilt show at the hotel.  I picked up a couple of license plates to add to my collection and their Row by Row pattern.

I went to a couple of other quilt stores in Kailua-Kona.  Both were very crowded and kind of dirty... So having said that, I won't mention them by name :) One even had the bolts of fabric on the shelves with the plastic still on them!  How are you supposed to touch it or even see it? Hmmm....  And there was a box of mousetraps for sale in that store.  I don't believe I've ever seen mousetraps for sale in a quilt shop before.  To give them the benefit of the doubt, perhaps they have more challenges storing fabric, due to the more humid weather than we do here in the desert!
I managed to pick up some nice Hawaiian prints that I plan to incorporate into my Millefiori quilt! My suitcase weighed four pounds more when I came home :)