This delightful shop is half yarns and half fabric – yarn to the left and fabric to the right as you walk in the door. Located about 25 miles from Interstate 99 between Altoona and State College, it is by appointment only – but you can generally get an appointment the same day if you are in the area. Owner Cynthia Spenser went to appointment only during Covid, and found she could maintain a much better level of customer service with this model and so has continued to run the shop this way. I didn’t find it an issue, and having her undivided attention for questions was wonderful!
There is a lot of wonderful fabric here, with over 400 bolts of solids, blenders, and batiks. There are also large and small prints from designers like Kaffe Fassett and M&S Aboriginal fabrics. You will remember that this company both acknowledges the designed and sends out flyers with the meaning of the Aboriginal symbols. Fabrics are sorted by color families rather than designer or type, so the prints and all of their blenders – including batiks – are shelved together. There are also woolens in charms and fat quarters. Yarn is about half of the shop, and Miss Cynthia dyes some of it herself – although she didn’t admit that until I had picked out one of hers for my sister’s birthday! There is a wonderful selection of sock yarns available here.
Miss Cynthia is also a pattern designer. She runs new patterns as a mystery quilt or a Block of the Month, so check out the samples on display. BOM Kits are available online. She also designs knitting patters – the 1″ to 2″ knit ornament pattern at the right is coming soon! There are many other great samples to admire, with patterns available as well as kits. Note that the blended string quilt blocks (part string, part four patch, part half square triangle, all beautiful) are half warm, half cool colors – and there is a pattern! I can think of several ways to get sub patterns using these blocks, just by the interplay of the warm and cool halves of the blocks.
I would plan to spend at least 20 to 30 minutes here, longer if you knit as well as quilting.
| Stitch Your Art Out | Hours: By Appointment Only |
| 235 E. Pine Grove Road | Phone: 814-238-4151 |
| Pine Grove Mills, PA16868 | cynthia@reallyclear.com |
| www.stitchyourartout.com www.reallyclear.com | Mail Order: Yes Fabric Online: Yes |
Stop back on Thursday and see where the North American Shop Hop is visiting next!