Get ready, get set, Shop Hop! That’s the marching order for April, according to Evelyn Caruso, co-owner of The Cotton Cupboard in Bangor. She reports that the fifth annual State of Maine Quilt Shop Hop is organized, ready and waiting for quilters or anyone else who can’t resist a fat quarter of fabulous fabric and a great roster of prizes.

This is how the Shop Hop plays out: Begin at any participating shop, pick up a ticket and get it stamped at each store you visit. Drop off the completed ticket at the last shop on your list. Your reward for hopping from shop to shop: a quilt pattern designed by Quilting Treasures and based on the Parisian Paisley fabric line designed by Marie Osmond – yes, THAT Marie Osmond.

Other prizes are Pfaff, Bernina and Jenome sewing machines drawn from the names of shop hoppers who visit all 25 shops. Those who visit 20 shops get a chance at a quilters retreat weekend and a quilt kit. Those who visit 15 shops vie for a fat quarters bundle, a quilter’s tote or a bendable lamp. Those who visit 10 shops have a chance to win machine quilting packages.

These shops are participating in the Shop Hop, so drive, quilters, drive! Alewives, Nobleboro; Barking Rose Quilt Barn, Cornish; Busy Thimbles, Litchfield; Calico Basket, Windham; Cote’s Sewing and Fabric Center, Auburn; Cotton Weeds, Freeport; Cotton Cupboard, Bangor; Country Creations, Jefferson; Fabric Garden, Madison; Fabric Inn, Farmington; Kedar Quilts, Waterford; Maine-ly Sewing, Nobleboro; Mariner’s Compass, Bath; Mystic Maine Quilts, Gardiner; Nancy’s Sewing Center, Belfast; Pine Tree Country Quilts, Stillwater; Pins and Needles, Farmington; Quiltessentials, Auburn; Quilt Divas, Rockland; Sanford Sewing Machines, Sanford; Sew Portland, Portland; Stitches Fabric and Yarn, Newport; Threads Galore, Rangeley; Yardgoods Center, Waterville; and Whippersnappers, Hallowell.

So many stores filled with so much fabric – so many happy hours of quilting ahead.

Snippets

Now that you have all that fabric, maybe it’s time to get the degree. Read on.

The Maine Crafts Association reports that it has received a $25,000 grant from the Betterment Fund to work with Eastern Maine Community College to help develop a traditional and contemporary craft associate degree program, which will begin as a certificate program in the fall.

EMCC will tie the curriculum into practical applications and offer it to other colleges within the Maine Community College System in order to make it available around the state.

The proposed craft curriculum will offer entrepreneurial business classes at EMCC. However, the bulk of the credits for the certificate will be gained through creation of a portfolio during off-campus apprenticeships in wood, clay, fiber and metal. This will put the EMCC craft student into the studios of Maine craft institutions such as Haystack Mountain School of Craft, and with approved master craftspeople in Maine.

To learn more, call 564-0041, e-mail info@mainecrafts.org or call EMCC at 974-4600.

The Bangor Area Chapter of the American Sewing Guild will sponsor a class in screen printing on cotton with instructor Oona Ryan 9:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, April 12, at the Hampden Municipal Building. To preregister and receive the necessary supply list, call 278-7270 or 941-8815. The cost of the class is $10 for members, 15 others.

Rug weaver Sarah Hotchkiss of Waldoboro announced that she has launched a Web site at www.sarahhotchkiss.com.

Visit knitter Vivian Hoxbro’s Web site at www.viv.dk/English/default.htm to access free patterns for a tam, bear, cap, doll, bag and scarf.

ahamlin@bangordailynews.net

990-8153