Fabric Shopping in Holland (part 2)

 To Amsterdam

The next stage of my fabric adventure saw me travelling from Zutphen to Amsterdam via Arnhem - a trip of just under 2 hours.

My now bulging suitcase was getting quite heavy, so that 40 minutes after leaving Zutphen I found myself in Arnhem. Here I had to change platforms for the train to Amsterdam Central, but there were no lifts! The first station on my travels without a lift! I eventually got my suitcase and bag up a very steep flight of stairs and down to the next platform. Hopefully the engineering works at Arnhem will include the installation of lifts!

Within 15 minutes of arriving in Amsterdam I was at my hotel, a very short walk from the main railway station. The Crown Plaza hotel has integrated three merchants houses into the hotel which you can see to the right.

The purpose of my trip to Amsterdam was to visit Den Haan and Wagenmakers. This fabric shop is renowned for its reproduction of Dutch/Indian chintzes. Three years ago Petra and her friend Nel bought the shop and I had seen some of their fabrics at the Festival of Quilts.

After booking my hotel a couple of weeks ago, I was researching the shop's address only to find that my hotel and the shop were in the same street and, as it transpired, was just a 5 minute walk away! Now, how did I manage that one??

Den Haan and Wagenmakers

 The next morning (yes, I waited a whole night, but I was tired and it had begun to rain and I had no idea the shop was sooo close!) I visited the shop and... oh, my goodness another shop I want to pick up and put in my back garden!

Oh, the colours and the fabrics...


Model made in chintz and plaids





Spider Web Star and Log Cabin in barn raising formation

  

View from the top of the staircase

 The ground floor holds the chintz collection plus latest arrivals whilst the mezzanine floor holds mainly the reproduction collection. Three or four of the chintz fabrics I recognised I already have in my collection but had not realised they had come from there, so will fish them out and put them together.



Some of the chintz fabrics available

 I had not realised that  Den Haan and Wagenmakers are also well-known for their plaids, another love of mine and there were several fabric packs made up of a mix of chintz and plaids which really took my eye..., but they will have to wait - a good excuse for another visit!

But, I was there with a purpose. I took over the mezzanine floor in my quest to find just the right fabrics for the old quilt. Bolts of fabric were pulled and put away and 3 hours later I emerged with these fabrics to add to the ones from Zutphen. I think I am done!

I also bought a chintz Tree of Life panel to add to my collection and would have liked to have bought more, but I was going to have difficulty in carrying it all, so memo for my next trip to the Netherlands - take a bigger suitcase!



Tree of Life panel

Danke Vell to Elsbeth and Nel for another warm welcome and their patience and assistance.



And now for some views of Amsterdam from a canal trip. Unfortunately, it was raining and very overcast, so a little drab.

Central basin and Cathedral

Entrance to one of the canals



Mercahnt's houses





Houseboat on canal





Seagill - whilst close to the sea, Amsterdam's canals are freshwater



 



Seagull comes to a sorry end!!



Cycle park by main station



Fabric shopping in... Holland! (part 1)

Despite some prevarication because of yet another heavy cold, I set off last Monday afternoon for another of my fabric finding adventures, this time to... Holland! Spreading my germs where-ever I went!

It must be 25 years since I last visited the Netherlands and I had long wanted to visit Zutphen where Petra Prins has what I was sure would be a lovely quilt fabric shop. Each year, Petra has a stand at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, UK and I love her selection of fabrics, many of which we do not see in the UK. It is rare not to find a group of quilters 3 or 4 deep around her stand and I was not to be disappointed by my visit to her shop!

Stena Ferries (no affiliation), have a great "Sail and Rail" deal for the Netherlands which includes a return rail ticket from any National Express East Anglia station, which in my case was London Liverpool Street to Harwich, then a return ferry trip to Hoek van Holland followed by a travel anywhere by rail ticket in Holland on the days that you arrive and leave Holland - a fantastic deal.

On arrival at the Harwich passenger terminal, there was this wonderful embroidery.

Made by members of the local embroidery group, these panels depict the history of the area over the past 2,000 years through the use of raised embroidery or stump work.

Unfortunately, because of the reflection of the lights on the protecting glass, it was difficult to get clear pictures, but hopefully these photographs will convey some of the attention to detail within the panels.

Farm girl and her Gloucester Old Spot pig

As I had decided on a night crossing to Holland I had a cabin. I was shocked when I saw it. For me this was far beyond what I was expecting, but then the last time I slept on a ferry it was in my childhood and believe me the cabins were nothing quite like this!

My cabin (above) and shower room (below). I even had television to watch, although I could have gone to the on-board cinema. The meals were pretty good too!

My ship, the Stena Hollandica taken as the sun rose through the mist. My cabin was on Deck 11 - at the top.


To Zutphen...
I caught the train from Hoek van Holland (Hook of Holland) to Zutphen, changing trains at Rotterdam Central and Apeldoorn. A very easy trip undertaken in just over three hours.

Zutphen is a beautiful medieval town which has retained a lot of its charm as I hope some of my photographs show, with cobbled, narrow streets and interesting buildings and of course the ubiquitous bicycles.

The Groenmarkt... I was very lucky with the weather, it was very warm for the time of year.

My hotel...

There was a shell grotto in the hotel grounds...

Petra Prins' quilt shop is situated just off the Groenmarkt down a narrow cobbled street. Unfortunately, you cannot tell from this picture, but the cobbles were all laid out in a clamshell pattern which I thought was very appropriate.

Inside, the shop was like a fabric wonderland! This photograph shows just about half of all the bolts of fabric. Bep and Gerda were really kind and allowed me to virtually take over the shop as I tried to match the fabrics in an old quilt I had brought with me and plan to reproduce. I spent a total of 6 hours in there (spread over 2 days I hasten to add), but all the same I don't know how they kept their patience with me! But it was fun, fun , fun to play with the fabric.

The above picture shows my final collection of fabric to reproduce the old quilt including enough background fabric for the project.

And then I chose a few more fabrics for other projects. I could have chosen so much more! Gerda and I spent a little time sparring with each other as to who had the largest collection of quilt patterns by Di Ford (an Australian quilt designer), I think I just about won that one, by two patterns! The above fabrics are for my Beyond the Cherry Trees Album Quilt, the Poppies quilt and finally the Phoebe quilt, because I have decided to do the centre block - again and Gerda was generous in sharing with me the two fabrics she used for the centre pot.

In far too short a time, it was time to leave Zutphen and head for Amsterdam, but I will be back...!!

If you are ever in the vicinity of Zutphen, do visit Petra's shop - I have added it to my personal list of the 10 best quilt shops in the world!

Danke Well, Gerda and Bep for all your help and hospitality.

The Pineapple Block

I began this, my fifth block from the Beyond the Cherry Trees Album Quilt at Christmas, but what with all those "fingers" I put it away for another day.

Well, that day came a couple of weeks ago, when I was home with a very heavy cold. I had no stitching prepped except for this block, so I decided to tackle it and you know? I enjoyed the challenge so much, that I had finished stitching it within a couple of days. I decided that I wasn't going to be beaten by tiny selvedges between each of the "fingers", that I was in control and not the fabric. The block has been hanging on what purports to be my design wall now for about a week, but I haven't been home to take a picture of it in daylight - on the whole I am very pleased with the block, although I could do better with the ironing!

I have three more blocks prepped and ready to go as I have four very long journeys coming up this week, more about which I will say next weekend.

Have a good week!

Coming up for air...

It has been some weeks since I last posted, but until last weekend I had been unable to put needle into fabric due to my workload. But... all the marking is now done - well, until April 7th anyway and now I am catching up with the housework, gardening, stitching and just life in general!

Even Hamish was wondering whether he would ever get fed? Hey, remember me...?

And at times pointedly reminded me that he did still exist by jumping onto my work table and then sat and stared at me until he got his way. He knows he is not allowed on the tables etc, so he also knew that this was one of the quickest ways of attracting my attention, which he certainly knows how to do!

Beyond the Cherry Trees Album Quilt

I finished another block earlier this morning. This one I struggled with, not necessarily with the techniques required (although I do need to practise my reverse applique!), but with the colour combinations, especially the flower spray, which went through several re-incarnations, and the two side flowers which I have done in the purple fabrics which I will also be using in the centre block on the grape vine. This block is central and just above the centre block so hopefully the purple will blend in.

I completed the centre flower first by stitching all the layers together in the hand i.e. off the background, and so this, along with the material for the vase, formed the foundation for the entire block. I became a little worried that the centre flower would come to dominate the block, but I think with the red flowers on the vase material, plus the strong colours above and on each side, I think it all blends in well together.

Since looking at this photograph, I note that some of my curves are not as smooth as I would like, which I suspect was not helped by the fact that I had initially stitched it to the wrong side of my background fabric, so I will revisit it and tidy them up at a later date, but for now it is as good as done! I have three more blocks prepared and ready to stitch, so hopefully it will not be too long before my next blog.

Have a good week!

On go slow... and the American Folk Art Museum exhibit

Okay, things have slowed down a little over the past week as regards my Beyond The Cherry Tree album quilt and I am late getting my weekly blog entry up. I have been working on prepping some more blocks and I decided to go for some more complex ones, but somehow the fabric auditions are just not coming together and I am struggleling! I hope to get the problems resolved by this weekend, otherwise I will just have to put these particular blocks away and have a look another day.

This month's block is now up and it's a simple one, so maybe I will concentrate on that one , so at least I will feel I have achieved something over the past fortnight. I am also back into marking mode, so once the pile is out of the way maybe I will see a solution to my fabric audition problems

American Folk Art Museum



Yes... it's yours truly!

There has been some talk recently on one of the lists I belong to with a group of members meeting up to see the year long quilt exhibition at the American Folk Art Museum in New York City and it had me reminiscing. I was very lucky to visit the exhibit last November when a good friend of mine and I visited. I am glad she came because for all my experience of cities I became quite disorientated in New York... I would still be wandering the streets trying to find the museum, if it wasn't for her and yet it was only a 10 minute stroll away from our hotel, if that!

We spent the whole day viewing quilts that I had only seen in books and thought I would never see "in the flesh". One of the best things was that we were allowed to take photographs! I have hundreds of them!! So I am giving a little flavour of the exhibition below.

Hewson centre Quilt approx 1790 - 1810

Oh how I would love to reproduce this quilt one day. I love everything about it and of course it has my favourite block - the Ohio Star. The centre is broderie perse using fabrics designed by John Hewson. The red floral border I think finishes it, so will have to keep my eyes open!

The Dunn Album Quilt - 1852

Made by the sewing group of the Fulton Street United Methodist Episcopal Church of Elizabeth Port, New Jersey. It is so reminiscent of the Maltaville Quilt, which I talked about in a previous posting.

Embellished Applique Quilt 1825 - 1845

Now this is a fun quilt! I have never seen a pcture of it before, but I love its folksiness. It is made of wool, silk cotton etc and is highly embellished with embroidery and beads. It is thought to have come from New York.

The Bird of Paradise Quilt 1858 - 1863

Another folk art quilt, but this time mainly in cotton with some wool and silk and again embroidery embellishments. It is thought to have come from the Albany area of New York state. I have the pattern for this quilt produced by Corliss Searcy of Threadbear in Australia. Its on my one day to do quilt list!

Whig Rose Quilt 1857/58

Probably made by Abigail Hill of Indiana. I love red and green quilts, but I doubt I will ever make a quilt quite like this as I think I would find it boring to make, four blocks of the same design, but there again it would be a challenge just because of that alone.

The Reiter Family Quilt 1848 - 1850

Made from wool and cotton this Baltimore style album quilt features a great deal in many books on the style... and now I have been able to see it in all of its glory. It reminds a little of the Rachel Meyer style of quilts which are in the collection of the Baltimore Museum of Art.

Sunflower and trailing vine 1783- 1830

Attributed to Catherine Lowrence Newton from North Carolina or Georgia, this quilt had just been added to the museum's collection. It was laying on a slightly inclined board so was difficult to take a picture of it. According to the gift, the quilt was set together with Caroline's wedding dress. I love the muted colours - the stories it must be able to tell as it stayed in the same family for generations before it was gifted to the museum last year.

There are so many more photographs I could show you, including the Stars exhibit in the museum's satellite gallery on Columbus Square which I would dearly love to revisit - that exhibition is up until September. The exhibit at the main site is open until mid-April when it will change to show yet more quilts from the collection round until next November.

Have a good week!

Kia ora tatou - Happy Waitangi Day!

Inside the meeting house on the Waitangi Marae

Today is Waitangi Day, New Zealand's national day and holiday, named after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi on 6th February, 1840. The treaty was signed between the British Crown (Queen Victoria) and a number of Maori rangatira (chiefs) from the North Island of Aotearoa (New Zealand).

I lived for 5 years in New Zealand and worked closely with the Maori. I thoroughly enjoyed my time learning about their culture, their language and their arts and crafts. I sit here at my desk looking at a kauri bowl, my kete (a maori basket) and a kiwi.

I lived in Rotorua where I looked after a number people's summer houses or batch whilst they were either trying to sell them or needed someone to keep an eye on their property outside the holiday season. Many of the owners lived in either Auckland or Australia. The view above is from the garden of one those houses looking out across Lake Okareka - happy times!

Beyond the Cherry Trees Album Quilt

Block 3 is finished! I quite enjoyed this block and am especially pleased with the fabric I used for the pot. This block was already prepped and ready to go, hence the reason why it only took me a week (that, plus no marking!). But, I need to prepare some more blocks, so it could be 2 - 3 weeks before I finish the next one.

Sundial Quilt

I finally finished another set of 4 blocks - this time the Scallop Shell. I wonder why the original quilter chose this design, did she live by the coast? For me, the Scallop Shell has a special significance, since it is the emblem that was chosen by the pilgrims as they travelled the medieval (1290's) Pilgrims Way from Winchester to the tomb of St. Thomas a Becket in Canterbury Cathedral.

I have a long association with the Pilgrims Way, as I have at various points in my life lived and worked along the Way, and today it passes right outside my front door. In the summer we see a steady stream of walkers and cyclists walking through the village as they walk the Pilgrim's Way.

I finish this entry with a photograph of 90 Mile Beach, which is right up in the very north of New Zealand. The beach is long and nearer 50 miles in length, but it is part of Highway 1 so drivers have to observe the rules of the road! I took this whilst on a coach trip up to Cape Reinga, the northern most tip of mainland New Zealand. It is one of my most favourite photographs. I have added a Maori proverb which I think is very apt especially for quilters.