Sunday, April 25, 2010

Europe, Fabric and Quilts

While I was in France and England I tried to visit a few quilt shops. 
Here I am standing in front of LeRouvray quilt shop in Paris.  It was 10:00am and the shop didn't open until 1:00pm so I didn't get to go inside but I did window shop and hopefully I will get it visit it the next time....if there is a next time.
In York England I visited the Viking Loom. 

While I was in the shop there was a lady talking to the store clerk about Tilda.  I had never heard of Tilda so I listened in on the conversation.  They told me it was a very popular fabric line, designed by Tone Finnanger.  They were sold out except for this one piece.   I bought a meter which was about half of what they had left.  What is great about British fabric is that it is 59" wide. 
I also bought 2 fat quarters of Moda.  2.90 lbs is about $4.25 per fat quarter.  Fabric is so expensive in Europe but I had to have some souvenirs.

In London I insisted that I have time to go to Liberty of London and make a few purchases.

I bought a meter of each of the fabrics above.  At 19 lbs per meter that is $30 per meter.  This will probably be the only Liberty of London fabric I ever own. 
The store is absolutely beautiful inside.
Me making my purchases. 
I had no idea there was a quilt show starting at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.  The last day of our vacation was kind of a free for all, everyone did their own thing.  I took 2 hours and went to the quilt show.  The quilts were from 1700 thru 2010.  There were some absolutely beautiful quilts, very well preserved, 300 years old and they looked like they could have been made last year.  Photography was not allowed but here is a link to a BBC News story that shows many of the quilts.
In the gift shop they were selling FABRIC.  I bought 2 fat quarters and a 1/2 meter piece.
The back of the label tells about the fabric pattern.  The fabric is 100% cotton but it states it cannot be tumble dried, it can be dry cleaned.  I tell you what, I'm washing and drying these pieces!!

Until next time,

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Monday, April 19, 2010

I'm back

Hello everyone.  I have been in Europe!!  Because of home security I decided to simply stop blogging and not tell the world that I wasn't home.  But now I am home and very lucky to be here.  We ( me, my husband, my oldest daughter and her partner) flew home from Heathrow last Wednesday.....6 hours before they closed the airport due to the Iceland volcano.  Oh my goodness I am so glad that we got home.

When we left Heathrow we had no idea that the airport would soon be closed.  A couple missed getting on the flight.  Their luggage was on the plane and it had to be removed before we could take off.  I wonder if they are still stuck in London.   On the flight home me, my husband and daughter all ate the same meal on the air plane.  We all got food poisioning and were extremely sick for several days.   Now I have bronchitis BUT I think all of those people stuck in Europe would gladly have traded places with me, food poisioning and all.

My daughter had a new video camera and she recorded herself at Stone Henge.  This is a photo of herself taken from a frame in the video.  We always have a stuffed animal as a mascot on our trips and this is Little Feather.  It was cold and windy at Stone Henge.  We had a private tour and were allowed to walk right up to the stones.

We visited Paris France, Edinburgh Scotland, Bath, York and London England.  My daughter put a video on YouTube of my husband driving for the first time on the left side of the road.  I'll put a link to it when I find out what it is.

I will be posting more photos (of course) and showing some of the fabrics I brought back with me.
Until next time,