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Annual Calendar
The complete 2026 calendar of US regional quilt shop hops — New England, Pacific Northwest, Mid-Atlantic, Michigan, Blue Ridge, Southeast, Maine, and Utah — plus the latest on the Row by Row Experience.
A quilt shop hop is a coordinated event where a group of independent quilt shops in a region — usually a single state or a multi-state area — run a joint promotion over a defined time window of one to three months. Participants visit each shop, get a passport stamped, qualify for prize drawings, and sometimes receive free or discounted patterns. Shop hops are the largest organized events promoting independent quilt shops in the US, and they double as quilting road trips: visit a dozen shops across a state, collect fabric and stories from each, and you have a vacation, a stash refresh, and a passport full of stamps to show for it.
Most modern shop hops are run by Great Sewing Adventures, a Michigan-based organization that has expanded steadily over the past decade. In 2026 they manage the New England, Mid-Atlantic, Michigan, Pacific Northwest, Blue Ridge, and Southeast hops, plus added Idaho to the Pacific Northwest and split the former All Carolinas hop into two new regional events. Standalone state hops (Maine, Utah, and a few others) run independently. The original Row by Row Experience name returned in 2023 after a two-year run as Quilters Trek and a year off in 2022 — under new management, with a different row size (9″ × 36″ instead of the original 36″ wide) but the same shop-hop spirit. The revived program ran through summer 2025; no 2026 edition has been announced.
A quick note: NiftyFifty is an independent quilting website. We publish this calendar as a resource, but we don't organize, run, or sell kits for any of these hops. To participate or find participating shops near you, visit each hop's official site linked below.
Organized by FabShop Network
Monthly online shop hop where participants visit participating online shops and find hidden bunnies on each shop's website. Year-round event with monthly prize drawings.
Organized by Utah Shop Hop · UT
Utah's statewide shop hop. Spring event coinciding with milder weather across the state.
Organized by Great Sewing Adventures · MI
Michigan-only summer shop hop. Two months to explore Michigan quilt shops from the lower peninsula to the U.P.
Organized by Great Sewing Adventures · 3 states
Pacific Northwest shop hop expanded in 2026 to include Idaho alongside Oregon and Washington. Three months covering the region's best quilt shops.
Organized by Maine Shop Hop · ME
Maine's official statewide shop hop. Three months to explore shops from Portland to Bar Harbor and inland.
Organized by Great Sewing Adventures · 5 states
Mid-Atlantic states shop hop running July 1 through August 31. Pairs perfectly with summer family travel through New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland.
Organized by Great Sewing Adventures · 6 states
Two-month shop hop covering all six New England states. Visit participating shops between September 1 and October 31, collect passport stamps, qualify for prize drawings.
Organized by Great Sewing Adventures · 3 states
New for 2026 — the All Carolinas Shop Hop split into two regional events. The Blue Ridge hop covers North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia.
Organized by Great Sewing Adventures · 3 states
New for 2026 — the All Carolinas Shop Hop split into two regional events. The Southeast hop covers Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina.
A multi-state hop has dozens of participating shops scattered across hundreds of miles. Pull up the official hop map, identify which shops you can realistically reach, and group them by day. Don't try to hit every shop — most quilters complete a fraction of the full list and still have a great hop.
You'll be in a fabric store, then driving an hour, then in another fabric store. Lunch options near small-town quilt shops are sometimes limited. Pack a cooler.
Without a budget, a 12-shop hop can become a 12-month fabric bill. $25–50 per shop is a sensible starting point — enough for a fat quarter bundle or a small kit, not so much that the hop becomes ruinous.
Many shop hops give you a photo journal of where you've been. Even if your hop doesn't, taking a photo at every shop's front door gives you a visual record to look back on.
Every quilt shop has a specialty — a fabric line they're known for, a notion their customers love, a class they're proud of. Ask the staff what makes this shop different. The conversations are often the best part.
It's tempting to drive to the big destination shops and skip the small ones. The small ones are often the most charming, with one or two owners who know every quilter who walks in. Visit them too.
A quilt shop hop is a coordinated event where independent quilt shops in a region (state or multi-state) run a joint promotion over a defined time window — typically 1–3 months. Participants visit each shop, get a passport stamped, qualify for prize drawings, and sometimes receive free or discounted patterns. Shop hops are the largest organized events promoting independent quilt shops in the US.
Buy or pick up a passport at any participating shop. Visit other shops in the hop region during the event window. Each shop stamps your passport (sometimes with a small purchase requirement, often without). Complete passports earn entries into prize drawings and sometimes a small completion gift. Most shop hops are free to participate; the value is the passport program and the regional shop discovery.
Major 2026 regional shop hops include: All New England (Sept–Oct, six states), All Mid-Atlantic (July–Aug, five states), All Michigan (June–July, Michigan only), All Pacific Northwest (June–Aug, OR/WA/ID, with Idaho added in 2026), All Blue Ridge (Sept–Oct, NC/VA/WV, new in 2026), All Southeast (Sept–Oct, AL/GA/SC, new in 2026), Maine, and Utah. Most are run by Great Sewing Adventures. The Row by Row Experience has not announced a 2026 event.
The original Row by Row Experience ran from 2011 to 2019 — a summer-long national shop hop where participating shops gave away free 36"-wide row patterns to visitors. It rebranded as Quilters Trek for 2020–2021, took 2022 off, then returned under the Row by Row Experience name in 2023 with new management and a smaller row format (9" × 36"). The revived program ran through summer 2025; as of mid-2026, no 2026 event has been announced and the official site's shop has been emptied, so its future is uncertain. Check rowbyrowexperience.com or the program's social channels for current status.
Most regional shop hops are free to participate — you just need to visit the shops and get your passport stamped. Some hops sell an official kit or souvenir pin ($10–30) but participation in the passport program is free. The cost comes from gas and the fabric you buy at each shop along the way.
It varies by hop. Some shop hops require visiting every participating shop (a true "complete passport") to qualify for top prizes; others enter you for each shop visited (more visits = more entries). Read each hop's rules. Most have multiple prize tiers, so partial-completion participants can still win something.