When we travel, there often are things which remind us of home. Or they might remind us of a friend! And that’s exactly what happened one cool, cloudy morning in Haarlem, Holland!
The weather forecast predicted rain. So we went in search of the art museum location, thinking that if it were to start raining, we’d know exactly where to hurry to! We checked the map, and off we went!
As we approached the narrow alley on which the museum was located, I noticed that this cobble-stoned street was lined with beautiful espaliered trees and incredibly ornamate house facades. I was smitten! The empty street was quiet, except for a lone bicyclist headed in our direction. Clicking away with my camera, time stood still. Momentarily anyway.
Suddenly, I heard my husbands voice. “You should go look at this quilt shop for Marlene!” I turned around and realized that I had noticed just about everything else on the street but the Quilt shop. And! I was standing right in front of it!!
Despite it being fairly early in the day, the place was buzzing with activity! Customers were picking out fabrics for their projects and chatting with each other. What a lively place! The walls of the store were lined with incredibly creative hand-made quilts, colorful bales of fabrics, notions a quilter would need and want, different kinds of yarn and dozens of small “samplers” of precut squares lovingly tied into ready-to-sew bundles. The atmosphere was just wonderful!
The entire time I thought of Marlene, one of my most treasured friends, and how she would love this place! But since she wasn’t there, I did the next best thing! I took some photographs to share a little Dutch Quilting Flavor!
Thank you for being a kind, generous and supportive friend!
Happy Quilting, Marlene!
Hugs, Sabine
in cahoots with muddy boots 
Thank you so much for this post!! Loved all the photos and now I want to travel the world and check out all the quilt stores. I’m very impressed with the quilting there. I wanted to paw through all those bins of fat quarters. I’m looking forward to working with the charm pack you brought me. I so wish I could travel but since I can’t, I’ll be content with fabric souvenirs :).
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Hey Marlene! Great idea to check out quilt shops around the world! I’ll have to keep an eye it for them when I travel. You would have fit right into that store! They even had a coffee maker. No one seemed to be in a hurry. 😊
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I’ve never seen anyone in a fabric store that is in a hurry. 🙂 It could be a great travel piece.
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That just goes to show you how often I go into one! Now I’ll have to do some checking around!
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That checking around can get you into trouble. 🙂
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I am sending a link to this post to a dear friend of mine who is a quilter in Maine, USA. I absolutely love this slide show. Send a thanks out to your husband for the suggestion of visiting the store. How enchanting!
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Thanks! Hope your quilter friend enjoys this! I know I loved seeing and experiencing it without being a quilter! 😀
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That is fabulous! And, what a lovely post for Marlene, as well. I hung on your words, “Clicking away with my camera, time stood still. Momentarily anyway.” Very poetic.
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Thanks Missy! It really was a wonderful place to be! Marlene too does some amazing quilting! 😊
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Yes, her handiwork is pretty outstanding!
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I know! She made a small tapestry with books and flowers for me last year! Gorgeous! It’s framed and hanging in a spot I walk past all day long. 🙂
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