Updated February 2026. Originally posted March 2020.
While the Quilt, Craft, and Sewing Festival has great fabric and pattern vendors (some of which we featured in Part 1 of this post), that’s not all that’s there.
Quilt shop cuckoo clock from Cheryl Ann’s Design Walls booth
You can find booths for guilds and organizations devoted to keeping handmade traditions alive. There also are lots of vendors selling tools, embellishments, and materials that go along with quilting and other types of crafting. It’s impressive how many of them have invented, made, or designed the products they’re selling!
Although I haven’t been to the Phoenix Quilt, Craft, and Sewing Festival since I moved to Tucson, I wanted to update information about the last show I went to and the vendors I met. The 2026 show starts tomorrow (January 29). Not all of these vendors will be there, but plenty more will be participating!
Last year, I went to two days of the Festival – one with my Mom and one with sister-in-law Dinah and friend Kelli.
The first day, we ended up parking in a lot that was actually meant to be for a dog show, which we needed to walk through to get to our Festival.
The second day, I parked there on purpose. We walked past booths of dog stuff and people with impeccably groomed and well-mannered dogs. I really wanted to ask one of them if their dog was available to tutor our little rascal Quijote. But that’s not why we were there.
Walking into the Festival building meant being surrounded by a dazzling array of colors and patterns, handcrafted items, crafty inventions, and big ticket items like long arm sewing machines. It was fun to check in with favorite vendors from the past, meet new ones, and see things I hadn’t before. Continue reading “Quilt, Craft, and Sewing Festival: Patterns + Fabric”
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!
Wildlife rescue centers in Australia and the animals they’ve taken in have found some unlikely allies.
Joeys hanging around. Photo: Wildlife Volunteers Association Inc.
Caring for injured Australian fauna requires a very specific supply list, which includes things like marsupial sleeping pouches and mitts to protect burnt paws. These can’t be made out of just anything. It has to be soft, breathable 100% cotton fabric – exactly the type of material that quilters are experts at working with.
NotJustQuiltZ’s aboriginal-designed fabrics at the Quilt, Craft, and Sewing Festival in Phoenix.
Jeltje van Essen, owner of Quilt Shop 100 Rozen in Deventer, Netherlands, realized this and recruited a group of volunteers to sew for wildlife centers overwhelmed by Australia’s intense fire season.
Pauline Rogers demonstrates her products at the Quilt, Craft, and Sewing Festival in Phoenix.
Jeltje’s quilt shop crew in The Netherlands started by making mittens for injured koalas, using cheery fabrics to make their carers smile. They have since moved on to other projects, like sewing wraps for rolling up recovering bats into cozy little fabric burritos (bat-ritos?) that make them feel like they’re snug inside their mothers’ wings.
Bat wraps! Photo by Animal Rescue Freecycle Craft Guild.
The Dutch quilt shop volunteers certainly weren’t the only crafters to pick up their needles to help, however.
Donations of handmade items have been pouring in to the Rescue Craft Co. (RCC), based in New South Wales, which has been sharing patterns and coordinating shipments from around the world.
Nests by Nicole Jarczewski.
In fact, the reason the Netherlands quilt shop group switched projects is because the koalas in Australia are all stocked up on mittens. RCC has actually been so inundated that they’ve asked that people stop sending them.
Instead, they’re requesting veterinary supplies, a select list of crafted items, and monetary contributions to their logistics GoFundMe or other trusted organizations working to help Australia heal.
Photo: Wildlife Volunteers Association Inc.
How to Help Australian Animals (via Rescue Craft Co):
Craft items from the updated list on RCC’s Facebook page (where you’ll also find shipping addresses and patterns).
Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
