When it didn’t work out for my mom and I to make a day trip for the Northern Arizona Quilt Shop Hop (part 1 of this saga), we opted instead to visit a couple of her favorite East Valley quilt shops. Both of them participate in the official Phoenix-area (Valley) shop hop that usually takes place in the fall, so we were hoping to get the scoop on that while we were there.
A Quilter’s Oasis in Mesa, Arizona
Quilt Shops
The stores we visited were A Quilter’s Oasis and Mad B’s Quilt and Sew. Afterwards, while we were in the car headed to see Barbie, we recorded a few thoughts about the two shops.
Mom: Both places [A Quilter’s Oasis and Mad B’s] are always very helpful to get you what you need and help you find what you’re looking for! You see the owner’s characteristics in the shop, just like if you go into somebody else’s home. It shows their personality.
Mom: I think they’re exceptionally helpful in A Quilter’s Oasis. They have a really big collection of batiks, so that would be a distinctive for them.
Me: I think A Quilters Oasis also had more “cutesy” fabrics, which is good if that’s what you’re looking for.
Mom: Yeah. And so many quilts displayed, which is really nice!
Carrol’s Garden quilt for an upcoming class with instructor Brittany DeVries (October 28).
They were indeed very helpful at A Quilters Oasis, which was our first stop. I think by the time we’d been there 10 minutes, three different people had asked if we needed anything! We checked out their classroom space, and even the class participants were super friendly.
We ended up in a whole conversation with the staff about our attempted trip to the Northern Arizona Quilt Shop Hop and the upcoming one in the Phoenix area. They shared what they could about shop hop plans that were already in the works.
Instructor Kathy Reynolds will teach a class on making this “Vintage” quilt on October 3.
For their store specifically, that includes deciding where to get cookies this year, because, apparently, they give away tons of them during the shop hop! The fact that they’re already working on this tells me their priorities are in the right place.
Mad B’s t-shirt collaboration with State Forty-Eight.
We followed that up by visiting another Mesa-based quilt shop, Mad B’s Quilt and Sew.
Me: Maybe the fabrics were a little more modern at Mad B’s.
Mom: Yeah, maybe a little more modern. Mad B’s always has their projects out for you to look at – if you can find them!
She laughed, because we had gone around the whole store trying to find a particular sample project that she wanted to show me. Turns out the teachers make their own demonstration samples for classes and take them home once the class is over, so it actually wasn’t even there anymore.
Space patterned fabrics at Mod B’s.
We turned our attention to gathering supplies for the next class Mom would be taking there. Sales associates helped us locate the right zippers and figure out how much of different types of fabric she’d need for the project.
The entrance to Mad B’s in Mesa.
She’s been taking extra classes at Mad B’s this summer. They offered this great deal where you’d buy a Class Pass and then could take all the classes you want in July and August without paying additional class fees.
It seems like a nice way to liven up a time of year when the heat is feeling oppressive and not much is going on!
Mom: A quilt shop hop is a regional opportunity to see different quilt shops. For us here in the Valley, they’re spread for – I don’t know – 50 miles? So a lot of times people will divide and do the West Valley one time and the East Valley another time. But there’s also groups of quilters who will just rent a bus or a van and go, for the whole day, from one shop to the next!
While many of the details were yet-to-be released, we did find out a few things about this fall’s Phoenix-area shop hop, which is more formally known as…
Hop Around the Valley: Maricopa County Shop Association Shop Hop
Dates: October 6-14, 2023
Passports are $10 and are now available for purchase at any of the shops.
Get passport stamps by visiting all 9 participating shops during the Shop Hop dates to be eligible for the grand prizes!
Have prize drawings, including two $50 gift cards for their shop!
October should be a much nicer time of year to be hopping around Phoenix. I think my mom has already bought her passport!
Another participating shop is Sun Valley Quilts. I met owner, Barbara Connoyer at the Quilt, Craft, and Sewing Festival., and took a photo of her and a rep from The Grace Company at their booth.
In case you’re not familiar, you can think of a quilt shop hop as kind of like a pub crawl, only with less alcohol and a lot more fabric.
Different quilt shops in a region will participate with demonstrations, prizes, and fun activities. You “hop” around to the different ones. Instead of tickets or admission, you can purchase a single passport that allows you to join in the extra festivities at each shop.
Banner project via Quilt N Sew Connection, Prescott Valley.
To join in, you just start in any of the 6 participating shops and buy a passport for $5. That gets you entry into prize drawings and a 10% discount on merchandise, as you visit the rest of the shops (or as many of them as you’d like).
Route on Google Maps.
The Plan
My mom wanted to go check out that Northern Arizona Shop Hop, so we hatched a plan to make a day trip while I was visiting her recently.
The plan was to time our two-hour drive from Phoenix so we’d arrive as the shops were opening. We wouldn’t get to all of them, but we might be able to go to 3 or 4 out of the 6, and then get back to her house in time for Phillip and I to drive home to Tucson (two hours in the opposite direction).
What actually happened was a different story – more on that in a minute.
While the day did not go as planned, I had looked up a bunch of stuff about the shops ahead of time. And had done some deep dives into Google Maps street views of our destinations, because even map apps can be confusing!
Via Sew-n-Sew Fabric, Notions + More.
Let’s Go to the Hop
In case you’d like to plan your own Northern Arizona quilt store expedition (during a shop hop or not), I wanted to share the information I found about the shops I was planning on going to.
Before you drive across the state, it’s always a good idea to check AZ511 for road closures because of construction, weather, wildfires, etc.
Exit to Chino Valley, via Google Maps.
Start here!
Take the I-17 north out of the Phoenix area.
When you get to Cordes Junction, peel off onto AZ-69 North (take exit 262 for Cordes Lakes) towards Prescott.
You’ll get to Prescott Valley first, and that’s where you’ll find the first two shops on our list…
One of the town trails via Prescott Valley Parks + Recreation.
Prescott Valley
In case you’re not familiar with the area, yes, Prescott Valley is a different town than Prescott, which is almost 100 years older!
Find them at 6546 E. Second St., Suite A, Prescott Valley
From Cordes Junction, stay on AZ-69 for about 30-40 minutes.
Take a left onto Valley View Drive – which may look less like like a street and more like the entrance to the Mattress + Furniture Gallery parking lot.
Quilt N Sew Connection is in one of the Santa Fe style buildings on Second Street, across from the Post Office.
“A great selection of quality quilting fabrics, battings, books and supplies,” as well as “a passion for batiks!” On the home decorating side, they carry an assortment of upholstery fabrics for both DIYers and pros – and (heads up, cosplayers!) they also have an entire foam department.
Find them at 6479 E. Copper Hill Dr., Prescott Valley
From Quilt N Sew, cross AZ-69 and turn onto Copper Hill Drive.
ClothPlus is in a warehouse-looking building on the south side of the street.
Prescott Courthouse via Visit Prescott on Flickr.
Prescott
Prescott’s Courthouse Plaza is home to craft fairs, festivals, and lots of other outdoor events! It’s surrounded by a town square full of quirky shops and restaurants, historic hotels, and old-timey saloons. We were hoping to be there by lunchtime.
Snow falling on the shop! Via Prescott Quilt Works.
A new full-service quilt shop with “a curated selection of both traditional and modern fabrics, patterns, and supplies.” Their goal is “to inspire and help you create your vision while having fun from start to finish.”
“This store has been a dream of mine for over 30 years and to see it come to fruition has me beyond words. Our goal is to provide a one stop shop for all your basic sewing needs.”
Open Mon-Sat 9am-6pm
Contact[email protected] / Facebook / (928) 636-3769 Find them at 1120 S. Hwy 89, Suite E. Chino Valley
Get back onto AZ-69, but prepare to take a pretty quick right.
Exit onto AZ-89 North.
Go through like 6 traffic circles. Make sure you’re still on AZ-89 when you come out the other side of each one!
At the stoplight intersection with Rt 2 S, make a U-turn. (Where are those traffic circles when you finally need one?!)
Sew-n-Sew will be on the right, in a strip mall with a blue roof.
Quilter’s Quarters shop, photo by Paula Fleming via Google Maps.
Cottonwood + Flagstaff
The other two participating shops that we knew we wouldn’t be able to fit into our day trip…
Usually, going to Northern Arizona in the summer means cool weather instead of Phoenix heat.
However, as the shop hop got closer, the whole state seemed to be scorching. Even in the high country, they were expecting temps of 98-100, which is not cool. But cooler than Phoenix by about 20 degrees, so that’s something.*
I checked in with Mom.
Me: If it’s hot up north, do you still want to go?
Mom: Sure!
Mom remembered she had a doctor’s appointment scheduled for the morning of our trip. It would mean heading north a bit later, but we could make it work if the appointment didn’t go too long.
Me: If we leave straight from your doctor’s office, do you still want to go?
Mom: Sure!
The appointment went too long. It was midday before Mom finally reappeared in the waiting room. We started talking about if it made any sense to try to drive up just for the afternoon. Then Mom had an idea.
Mom: Instead of making a long drive, do you want to visit a couple nearby quilt shops and then go see the Barbie movie?
Me: Sure!
That was a plan that worked out perfectly. The Barbie movie was great! And I’ll fill you in on the Phoenix-area (East Valley) stores we visited in the next few weeks.
*Temperatures were around 37 Celsius in the normally-much-cooler northern Arizona region. Hot. But slightly less hot than the Phoenix area, where it was 47 C!
The Summer Night Market is starting up again, so I’ve updated the links and info in this post. There are now over 60 participating vendors! The Market happens from 6-10pm the last Friday of the (Tucson) summer months – May through September.
2023 dates are May 26, June 30, July 28, August 25 + Sept 29.
Emily lighting up the Melrose Macramé booth (more of Jessica’s macramé and Emily’s lights in the top/featured photo)
A few dozen vendors bring their handmade goods and set up around the shipping container shopping center – along with food trucks and a DJ. Of course, the regular shops, restaurants, and bar stay open too.
Links to Etsy shops have been converted to affiliate links. Etsy purchases you make after clicking them earns a small commission that helps this site without costing you anything extra!
The University of Arizona Museum of Art (UAMA) wasn’t even open yet the morning after Thanksgiving 1985, when an employee arrived to find a man and a woman already waiting outside. The gregarious couple managed to talk their way in, following the employee into the building.
University of Arizona Museum of Art in 1982 via Gannett.
The woman, wearing a red jacket and a scarf in her hair, chatted up a security guard, while her mustachioed partner went upstairs toward one of the museum’s most important works.
Woman-Ochre had been in the museum’s collection since 1958. It was unceremoniously taken off exhibit when this Black Friday visitor hacked the canvas out of its frame, rolled it up, stuffed it under his jacket (or somewhere), and made a hasty exit with his accomplice.
The empty frame of the missing de Kooning painting via UANews.
The two were peeling out of the parking lot with the painting before anyone at the museum realized what had just occurred. Back then, the UAMA didn’t have security cameras, and there were no leads. All they had was testimony from the few eyewitnesses, police composite sketches, and an empty frame.
Composite police sketches of the thieves, along with the empty frame they left behind. On display at UAMA’s Restored exhibition.
UAMA put the theft insurance money they received from the state into getting surveillance cameras and otherwise tightening up their security.
Possibly unrelated, but the university has also renovated the area, so you can no longer pull a car right up to the front of the museum.
UAMA today – with security cameras.
Periodically, UAMA would remind the public of the missing painting. Staff held out hope for its return, but they really didn’t know if they’d ever see it again.
And, for over 30 years, they didn’t.
Willem de Kooning with Woman I peering over his shoulder, c. 1952. By Kay Bell Reynal, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
The Origin: New York 1955
“Beauty becomes petulant to me. I like the grotesque. It’s more joyous.”
The painting they had stolen was Woman-Ochre by Willem de Kooning, who is considered to be one of “the twentieth century’s most influential artists.” He was a contemporary of New York abstract expressionists like Arshile Gorky, Franz Kline, Jackson Pollock, Ad Reinhardt, and Mark Rothko.
Jackson Pollock, Number 20 (from 1950), painted on the back of a game board.
Woman-Ochre is part of the controversial series of Women paintings de Kooning did in the early 1950s. Described by some as “aggressive” or “violent,” they were too abstract to be considered portraits, but the recognizable human forms meant they weren’t abstract enough for de Kooning’s avant-garde friends.
Woman-Ochre by Willem de Kooning, 1955.
Perhaps his refusal to fit neatly into categories is part of what has kept people intrigued by de Kooning’s art over the years. His works are “among the most marketable in the world.” In 2016, his piece Interchange sold for $300 million, making it the world’s most expensive painting at the time. The University of Arizona (UA) estimated Woman-Ochre itself to be worth $160 million in 2005.
The Alters’ home in Cliff, New Mexico. By Cheryl Evans/The Republic.
The Discovery: New Mexico 2017
“…if the thief has kept the painting, he or she eventually dies, and the surviving family finds the painting and tries to sell it. The painting is returned — but the process can take decades.”
–UANews article written in 2015, when Woman-Ochre’s whereabouts were still unknown
In 2017, a retired public school speech therapist named Rita Alter passed away in Cliff, New Mexico, a town of under 300 people. Her husband, Jerry had passed a few years before, so their nephew was left in charge of dealing with the house and eclectic estate.
A tile-covered pyramid, one of the random assortment of possessions the Alters left behind. Image Courtesy of David Farley via Arizona Republic.
Most of the furniture and some other household items were sold as a lot to Manzanita Ridge Furniture + Antiques in nearby Silver City for $2000.
Manzanita Ridge Furniture and Antiques via their Facebook page.
That included an intriguing mid-century painting that was found awkwardly hanging behind the Alters’ bedroom door. Once it was on display in the store, people started asking if it was authentic and offering huge amounts of money for it.
Woman-Ochre hung behind the Alters’ bedroom door. Photo on display at UAMA’s Restored exhibition.
Puzzled, store co-owner David Van Auker removed it from the floor and began researching the painting. The search turned up articles from the 30th anniversary of Woman-Ochre’s theft, which UA publicized to keep the missing work in the public eye.
One UANews article from that time basically called it: “Usually, a stolen painting gets returned to a collection in one of two ways. The thief may try to sell the piece shortly after the heist and get caught. This often takes only a few years. But if the thief has kept the painting, he or she eventually dies, and the surviving family finds the painting and tries to sell it. The painting is returned — but the process can take decades.”
David picked up the phone and called UAMA. “I think I have a piece of art that was stolen from you guys….”
The Co-Owners of Manzanita Ridge Furniture + Antiques. Photo on display in UAMA’s Restored exhibition.
A few days later, museum staff made the 3-hour drive from Tucson to Silver City to authenticate the painting. They were moved to tears when they realized it truly was the piece that had been missing for so long.
“The thieves actually committed two crimes that day. First, they stole an important signature painting from the University’s museum collection. They also stole more than 30 years of access from the public and scholars across the world, depriving them of the opportunity to appreciate, learn from and be inspired by a significant artist.”
How did it get there in the first place? There’s evidence to suggest that the couple who owned the New Mexico home where the de Kooning was found were the ones who had made off with it all those years before. Since they’re both deceased, they won’t get a jury trial. However, we know the pair was in Tucson the day before the heist, celebrating Thanksgiving with family. And they do bear a resemblance to the police sketches made shortly afterwards.
Via ArtNet: “A police sketch of the suspects in the 1985 de Kooning heist released shortly after the crime took place, and a photograph of Jerry and Rita Alter at Thanksgiving dinner in Tucson the day before the robbery. Image courtesy of the police department and Ron Roseman.”
UAMA offered to purchase the painting from Manzanita Ridge, but they refused to accept any money for it.
Aerial view of the Getty Research Institute. Via the Getty blog.
The Restoration: Los Angeles 2019-2022
They didn’t steal [Woman-Ochre] from the museum, they stole it from all of us. From everyone.”
–David Van Auker, the antique store co-owner who found Woman-Ochre
It turns out that violently wrenching an oil painting from its canvas, rolling it up, and then stuffing it under your clothing are not recommended art preservation techniques.
Woman-Ochre close-ups sent to UAMA after its rediscovery in New Mexico.
When Woman-Ochre was finally found, it was a mess. The paint was cracked and flaking off. Damage caused by the theft was made worse by amateur attempts to repair it and the haphazard way it was stapled and screwed into a new frame. (Also not recommended.)
Laura Rivers, Getty paintings conservator, working on the restoration of Woman-Ochre. Via the Getty blog.
The painting was taken to the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, where their team of experts painstakingly assessed and repaired the damage. They were able to use infrared photography and X-radiography to find out exactly what type of materials de Kooning had used to create his painting, so they could treat it appropriately.
Woman-Ochre before restoration: under raking light (left), XRF (Macro X-Ray Fluorescence) scan (middle), close-up of cracked paint (right, top), and microscopic paint cross-section (right, bottom) on display in UAMA’s Restored exhibition.
Conservator Laura Rivers spent months cleaning it and using a microscope and small dental tools to reattach tiny paint fragments piece by piece.
Work restoring the painting went on for about 2.5 years before it was ready to be back on exhibit.
Woman-Ochre on display in UAMA’s Restored exhibition.
The Exhibition: Tucson 2022-2023
“I believe art should be where everyone can see it.”
After an exhibition at the Getty, Woman-Ochre returned to its Tucson home.
Mark Rothko’s Green on Blue (left) and other mid-century works on display in UAMA’s Abstract Perspectives in Mid-Century Art exhibition. You can also see Woman-Ochre (centerpiece of the Restored exhibition) through the doorway on the right side of the photo.
Phillip and I got to see the Restored: The Return of Woman-Ochre exhibition, as well as Abstract Perspectives in Mid-Century Art, which displayed art from de Kooning’s contemporaries, showing the context of his work.
Phillip walks by “Number IV” by Morris Louis, 1957, at UAMA.
Restored wrapped up today, but the Woman-Ochre painting itself will remain on display at UAMA. It will return to museum’s second floor in a gallery that has been renamed the Manzanita Ridge Gallery in honor of the antique store owners who were crucial in its journey home.
Via Manzanita Ridge Antiques on Facebook.
More to Watch + Listen to about Woman-Ochre…
The Thief Collector: Documentary about Woman-Ochre’s theft and the secret lives of the crime’s main suspects. I got to see a screening with my friend Laurel at UA in October. I’ve wanted to recommend it, but there wasn’t really anywhere you could see it. Now it’s finally available to rent or buy on Amazon! (Not endorsing Amazon but glad this gripping yet thoroughly entertaining doc is getting out there!)
The Recovery: 10-minute video by the Arizona Republic.
When the Tucson Gem + Mineral Society held their inaugural show in the 1970s, it was the first of its kind, welcoming both professionals and the public. It continues to be the largest gem and mineral show in the world! Continue reading “10 Things to Know About Gem Shows in Tucson”
