Shop Hop Frenzy

I'm becoming more Internet savvy.

Whoa, wait a minute. How is that possible? I've been on the Internet forever (so it seems) and I think I know everything about it. Yeah, right! It's not humanly possible to know everything, with all the decentralized development at the corporate and grassroots level.

This is not a dissertation about the net. The fact is, I don't always use all that's out there, mainly because of my casual use of the net. That, and my ego that thinks I surely know it all.

Somehow, and I can't remember exactly how, I stumbled upon the fabshophop, a virtual shop hop through online quilting shops. Fabshophop is consolidator site. It connects hundreds of small quilt shops around the United States that have a web presence, and provides promotional services for them.

It's all about eyeballs. The more eyes see your site, the more sales you get (roughly).

They have been running a promotion that imitates a live shop hop. You go to each of the participating shop/sites and find the bunny icon. When you click on it, you register for prizes. Most shops have a shop-hop icon on their home page and give a fairly obvious hint where the bunny is located.

Here, I thought I was so cool and wouldn't find anything new in the shops when looking for the bunny icon. Well, no! A few shops totally delighted me - particularly the one called Wilson's Calico Corner that has a Penn State affiliation. Not only do they have Penn State fabric and themed kits, they offer some adorable quilting gifts.

Did I mention I'm a Penn Stater? I do, in fact, bleed blue and white, in a subtle but very loyal way. "For the glory of old State..."

I found a few shops that featured designs I like. And I actually built a favorites list on FabShopHop.com to save all these special shops.

An old dog learns new tricks.

And now I'm in a quilting frenzy. Looking at all the projects, patterns, fabrics, accessories, I've gotten a little dizzy with the excitement of all these projects. I want to quilt, right now!! And, in this treasure hunt you can also find downloadable patterns for a nine-patch sampler. I love nine-patch.

Despite my feverish desire to sew the day away, the weather is awesome today in Kansas City, and dear husband and I really should get out of the house. We'll spend the afternoon at Powell Gardens and having lunch out. It's good practice in the care and feeding of a healthy husband.