I decided on a name for my new yarn shop series of  blog entries.  It will be called "Featured Yarn Shop."  Which means that I got permission to post the photos, so our initial featured shop will be Lila & Claudine's, located on 86 Mahtomedi  Ave., Mahtomedi, Minnesota.

The shop is owned by Kirsten Skoglund and her sister, Polly Hart. Kirsten told me that Polly is the artist and has done all of the really cool stuff in their shop. They have been open for 90 days and are having a blast. It’s become a local "destination" and from these pictures you can see why.

They named the shop after their grandmothers.  According to Kirsten, Polly is like Lila was and Kirsten is more your Scandiavian type like Claudine was.  This photo of the two grandmothers marks one entrance to their basement shop.

Another entrance can only be described as the bottle wall.

The interesting glasswork on the wall came from next door.  Apparently, Polly taught herself to cut glass.  Then they scrounged bottles from the bar next door.  You heard it right.  The bar saved all the bottles from one day's sales.  This glasswork is made up of beer bottle bottoms and tops that Polly cut off the bottles and attached to the wall.   This next photo shows more of the glass wall and I think one of the grandmothers?  pointing the way to the shop.

Down the stairs into the shop.

Another great idea that Polly had was covering up some unsightly pillars that were, to put it mildly, unsightly.  She got bricks of all shapes and sizes.  Then she stained them and made a mosaic-like appearance.  One workman wondered if they wanted to have a professional bricklayer do it.  No thanks.

Here is a closer view of the wall.  Yes, there are little stuffed critters in the walls.  They are great for child-care.  The kids can gather up the little stuffed animals and find spots for them in the brick walls.