Stanley’s Trenton shop, Sewing By The Sea, is four miles from Ellsworth set back from Route 3. When Gary’s father, fisherman and boat builder James Stanley retired in 1997, he gave Gary his boat and gear. Best of all, one evening each month, and more often as Christmas approaches, people can rent space at her shops, bring whatever they’re working on, either hand or machine work, including mending and knitting, and Stanley goes from table to table helping the user. Here it is, this all-encompassing fabric shop set back from the road on Eastern Maine’s rural coast, yet at Sewing By The Sea, Stanley and her fishermen’s wives work and thrive.

Tags: quilting patterns, beginner quilting, stanley, quilting, quilting fabric, shop