Quilt fabric shopping in Europe

We stumbled upon a fabric store in Rotterdam -- about 2 blocks from the hotel! And this is my third year at that same hotel.  You would have thought I could have smelled it at least!  But we were just taking a stroll and noticed fabric in the window.  Walking in we noticed it was mostly dress making fabric. But then noticed some basement steps......and found the basement was full of cotton fabrics! Woo hoo! I got a batik, maybe for a purse or bag of some type. I resisted on any more.  What I liked though was that they had ALL kinds of colors and sizes of gingham check--in 100% cotton!  Most of our gingham here in the US is a blend with polyester. (great if you are making kids clothes, not great for quilters).  Here is what I bought...  never mind...nothing special and I forgot to take a picture of it. :)

In Amsterdam, we went to Den Haan and Wagenmakers..

 where they have authentic reproduction Dutch fabric..... for a price. :)  It is such beautiful chintz fabric.  I bought some a few years ago, and it's still aging in my closet, so I resisted. I did find a book that just came out in English that I've been waiting for, "A History of Dutch Quilts"  by An Moonen. I'm going to do a post later on this fabulous book. 

After the little detour on Saturday and not being able to get to the quilt shop in Antwerp, I told my friend Pat I would get her to a couple in Paris for sure! The first place I took here (in a few textile shops up by Sacre Coeur) didn't really pan out authentic French cotton fabrics. They are a much better price up there vs. the quilt shop. But since they had just a few in colors she didn't want, we toured the Basillica

                                                          and Montmartre (a neat artist's area)

 while we were there and then headed back into the city.

Stopped at Notre Dame, toured the church

 and the walked the couple of blocks to Le Rouvray.

 NOT open! In fact, with a sign on the door. Closed for remodeling.

And a map of where they are temporarily located. Yeah right! It looks SO easy--see the little arrows on the map and ici (here)?  There is not a straight street in Paris. Street signs are on the buildings. We tried to decipher the map, and ended up walking for 15 minutes. We decided to walk back to the shop, get the full address this time (smart, huh?) when we came upon the street! A very short street, but still no quilt shop. We walked back to get the address, and returned to the little street, which happened to be no more than 50 yards from the original shop! Found the address and peered in the gated windows, and yep...that was the shop all right. Closed today! I wonder if our husbands were behind this, we spent no money on fabric in two cities!

So, all in all, a cheap fabric buying trip! But so much fun in the search. And if you can't find fabric...buy pastries!

Au revoir!

What country am I in?!!

Last Saturday, I was taking a small group of women and my granddaughter on a little side trip to Antwerp, Belgium. My husbands softball tournament was going on in Schiedam (outside Rotterdam)

(it was actually Cup 2011--but they already took that logo down!) and we decided there were better things to do! like go Diamond shopping (on one ladies agenda), seeing the old city and architecture (another's passion) or finding a quilt shop (guess who?)

Got online and bought our tickets the night before. Please note: do not take powerful painkillers the night before you need to go somewhere, especially if YOU are leading the group! I got up 13 minutes before we were to leave for the train station. We made it though. I double checked to see what platform we needed to be on, and away we went.

When our time to arrive in Antwerp came and went and we were not even close to the city, it kind of bothered me. Then we passed Eindhoven and a little voice in me said, hmmm, that's west of where we want to go. I started getting nervous by then. I tried to find the conductor..to no avail. 1 1/2 hours on the train, and no conductor to be found. I told the women that we needed to get off at the next station just to be sure. Next stop? Out in the                
                                                                 middle.  of.  nowhere.

with just a platform, no station. Next two stops, the same. Ahh, a station coming up! By this time, I KNOW we are on the wrong train. Brilliant, aren't I?

As we are waiting for the train to stop, an older gentleman came up to us and I asked him where we were? He looked at me a bit odd and I repeated the question. After the third time, I asked, a bit frantically, what country are we in? I was SO afraid we had gone to Germany! He looked at me and said, Holland. Whew! We hadn't left the country.

By that time the train stopped and then the conductor finally shows up! He looked at our tickets and said, you are on the wrong train! Yeah, no kidding! Where were you earlier?   We had to get off the train, wait for a train going back, get off two more stops, change two more trains before we finally arrived in Antwerp! 4+ hours late!

 And you know what? 5 more minutes and we would have been in Germany! We ended up in Venlo-      (-and to all my Dutch friends....do NOT laugh! I know there is nothing in Venlo. :)  )


We did get to eat at my favorite Argetinian Beef place. Let Suzi stay in the Diamond district and we headed down through the shopping areas, towards the old city (Grote Market) and De Kathedraal for Kim to do some sketching.

 But no time for Pat, Kajsa and I to find the quilt shop, Calico House. :(. Another trip.




The little green star on the right side of the map is the train station, and we walked along the green line to the circle, which is the old part of the city. You can see where Calico House is. Close enough, but not when you spent an extra 4 hours on a train!

So no quilt shop in Antwerp this year. But, we did get a Belgium waffle..nice and warm and yummy! Kajsa told me that I had a little bit of sugar on my face...and look who's talking!




And you can bet we were on the right train going home! What a quick fast ride. LOL

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on a whirlwind tour

Yikes! It's been 2 weeks since I've last posted? Hmm. lots to catch up on..but this month I've been to Denver to help my cousin, Mona, pull a trailer with my grandparents cupboard with leaded glass to my house. Home a few days, then to the NQA show in Columbus and then on to Canada with 4 other quilters for a retreat on Georgian Bay for 9 days! A lot of quilting, gabbing, laughing and eating went on and we enjoyed the beautiful sunsets each evening from the deck. Then we returned home to work on a few special projects (not quite done yet), pick her daughter up at the airport and spent 2 days quilting with her before they headed back to Denver. An hour after they left, I packed up my car and drove to my own quilt group's summer retreat. I have been playing catch up all week! I'll be posting pictures in the next few days--cuz I have lots to share!

Today was the first day I have had with my hubby (other than an hour or two at nights), so we noticed the forecast for today was gorgeous weather, so we made our plans for the day. I picked a few quilt shops from the Quilter's Travel Companion, and a postcard from a new quilt shop and hopped on the motorcycle and took off. Here's what we found today:

We left home and headed to Urbana (OH) and stopped at Rothschild's Farm on the way. They have grown from a little local farm with raspberries and other crops to a large corporation that sells their gourmet jams, their famous Raspberry Honey Mustard Pretzel Dip and all kinds of goodies in speciality food stores--YUM!

Back on the road to Urbana, we found Quilter's Outlet/Antique Alley (sorry--no website to send you to) on the main drag, among all the neat little shops. Good thing there was a coffee shop on the corner so hubby could kill some time. Nice little shop filled with fabrics she bought from another quilt store that recently closed in Marysville (Sweet Mountain Quiltery). One side of the store had the fabrics and books and the other was set up similar to a antique vendor's mall. A small, but nice collection of neat antiques and one booth in particular had lots of sewing memorabillia, including quite a few toy sewing machines. You know, my hubby is smart...he offered to take me all these places.....on a MOTORCYCLE! Now just guess how much I can buy? LOL I did find a book and a box of old wooden spools of thread for a few bucks. And on our way to Yellow Springs...where we passed by Young's Dairy Farm--and man, what a hoppin' place! Not only did they have homemade Ice Cream, but a petting zoo,miniature gold, driving range, a restaurant, kid's rides and much more. Hmm, we've never even heard of it. We made a note to check it out on our way home. We arrive in Yellow Springs and immediately went back about 30 years...to the 70's complete with tie dyed shirts, war protestors (it was hysterical--it looked like they let the nursing home people out on the streets with posters--have they been there since the OTHER war?), natural food shops and much more. It was in the National news recently where the local college, Antioch, is being closed down. Of course we found many people trying to sell shirts to save the college. Home to Amy Butler (we tried to find her studio, but I don't think it's open for retail purposes) (ED.note: when checking Amy's website to provide you with a link..I discovered she doesn't live here! LOL She actually lives in Granville, OH--I guess that will be another day!) and many other artists, they definitely listen to the beat of their own drummer. The smell of BBQ pulled pork lured us to their outdoor stand, but we could have stopped at any one of the little bistros along the way with their tofu/sprout sandwiches. I didn't notice any quilt shops, so we vowed to come back another day to check out many of the little shops and art galleries this town had to offer (as well as jump on the 75 mile bike trail that begins here).

And finally on to Waynesville, OH...home to more than you can count antique shops/speciality shops and gift shops...and one quilt shop....Fabric Shack. What a store..they are midst a remodeling/updating state, but was full of the latest fabrics and ones that I adore..Amy Butler...Jennifer Paganelli...Moda's...and many more. Several jumped in my hands before I left the store (but not enough to not fit in the side saddle of the bike!). Very nice store and was glad to return!

We turned around and headed for home, but not without stopping in Plain City (a small Amish community) at Der Dutchman (a VERY well known Amish restaurant) for some good homestyle cooking. We had called our kids to meet us there, so we enjoyed a visit with the grandkids, had a delicious meal, did a little shopping at the attached store and bakery and on home to plop our feet up!

What a day..er..what a month!