travel tuesday – Fluffyland Craft & Sewing Blog

September 22, 2015

travel tuesday: münchen mit marie

This year has been a whirlwind of plane rides and delightful trips. I always feel bad leaving Lemontree at home alone, but there’s just so much world out there to be explored!

I had been looking forward to this particular trip for what felt like forever. Marie, my incredibly talented blogging, sewing, knitting, and baking friend, scored an internship with BMW in Munich from March through August. When she first shared the news, she said, “if you happen to come to Germany this summer, you should come visit me in Munich.” What’s summer without a trip to Germany? I penciled it in for late August and dreamed about the trip for months.

We had the most wonderful visit. We visited flea markets and fabric stores. We took the train into the Alps, with day trips to Salzburg and gorgeous Schliersee.

We went to museums: BMW Museum, Deutsches Museum, Deutsches Verkehrszentrum. At the BMW factory tour, we saw the car assembly from start to finish, including a detailed – and fascinating! – description and walkthrough of the 6-step exterior painting and powdercoating process.

We had ice creams and Eiskaffee. I had Bier and Schnitzel, Marie had Apfelschorle and veg. I filled my suitcase with MAOAM for Brad and flea market treasures for me.

We took a cable car to the top of Untersberg in Austria, where the view was all too similar to my view from Mt. Snowdon on last year’s hike in Wales. That is to say, we were embraced by a giant, opaque cloud. But the tufts of mist nestled in the nooks of the mountain couldn’t be beat.

I loved the chance to visit Munich for more than the day or two that I had spent there on previous trips. There’s a big difference between sightseeing and experiencing a city, and this trip was the perfect blend.

The best thing about having a creative friend is the chance to discuss techniques, problems, and current projects without any sort of explanation. While riding the train, walking our tens of thousands of steps, or sitting by the lake making friends with ducks, we’d chat about things we were working on or dreaming of working on. Blogs we’ve read, quilts we want to try, the difficulties in trying to keep a fabric stash to a manageable size. We even debated appropriate stitch lengths! Sorry, Marie – I just hate sewing at under 3.0.

On our last day, we visited the lake town of Schliersee and hiked to the Schliersbergalm and then to the top of Rohnberg. It was a perfect day, and there are few sights more gorgeous than that lake surrounded by mountains on all sides.

My favorite part of the whole trip, though, was the ride down the mountain on the Schliersee Rodelbahn. You just sit in a little cart with a brake and careen down the mountain in a winding plastic chute. What could be a more perfect end to a wonderful day, and a wonderful holiday?

Thanks, Marie, for the perfect summer adventure! I can’t wait until next time!

Travel Tuesday is a semi-weekly feature that allows me to recap the many trips I’ve failed to formally document. I’ll be sharing photos and fuzzy (but fond) memories from recent and not-so-recent adventures.

July 28, 2015

travel tuesday: fabric shopping in liege, belgium

As I’ve said before, traveling is often just an excuse to find new fabric stores. My most recent trip to Belgium and the Les Tissus du Chien Vert store in Liège was no exception.

Brad flew to Belgium for a business trip, and I was eager to tag along. Belgium’s promises of frites, waffles, and beer were enough to get me excited… but they also have this fabric store with a giant boat in the center of it. You can climb up to the boat, and spin the steering wheel and everything. It’s very effective marketing, since it gets your significant other excited about a fabric store (especially valuable when said significant other may or may not be the only one authorized to drive the business-use rental car).

There may have been a conversation like this:
Sam: Do you mind if we stop at this fabric store on the way to Bruges? It looks really good and there’s a giant boat in the middle of the store!
Brad: Okay!
Sam: I mean, we don’t have to do it if we don’t have time or if you don’t want to…
Brad: But there’s a giant boat in the middle of the store!

I loved this store. It was an absolute delight.

Not only was there a boat in the middle of the store, but the cutting tables were fashioned on top of the beds of old trucks. The place was filled with natural light, and the decor was just right: creative but not kitschy, fun but not flashy. And the place was huge, especially by European standards, and filled with fabrics of all varieties. They had a great selection and good prices, plus a sale during my visit.

The oilcloth corner boasted its kid-friendliness with a vintage coin-op toy and hopscotch floor. The oilcloth selection was impressive, as were the selections of wools, durable outdoor nylons, and faux furs/velvets.

They had a high pile velvet that felt like heaven. Brad and I each wanted to buy enough to line every pocket of every coat, for life. We were only stopped by the fact that it was only available in red and pink. If that had been green, or orange, or blue, or yellow, we would have had to devote a suitcase (and perhaps a bank account) to the stuff.

On the upper deck, there were swings draped in leathers and suedes.

I ended up with one meter of fabric: a gorgeously textured green wool that’s destined for a new project chair. I managed to escape with just that, for now.

This was the Liège (Hognoul) location, but they have additional stores in the Brussels area. Don’t quote me, but it looks like the others may have boats as well… or at least something nearly as cool. This felt like the kind of store I could return to again and again, and I’ll definitely make another stop if I end up in Belgium sometime.

Travel Tuesday is a semi-weekly feature that allows me to recap the many trips I’ve failed to formally document. I’ll be sharing photos and fuzzy (but fond) memories from recent and not-so-recent adventures.

June 9, 2015

travel tuesday: san francisco’s britex fabrics

It’s no secret that I actively seek out fabric stores when I’m on a trip. In fact, I might even say that traveling is simply an excuse to go fabric shopping in a new environment. Fabric stores feel like a little bit of heaven mixed with a little bit of home.

San Francisco’s gem of a fabric store is Britex Fabrics. It’s huge (4 floors!), fancy, and packed with everything you could ever want.

I visited San Francisco, a delightfully walkable city, in mid-May. As I approached the entrance to Britex and noticed the giant red sign, I knew I was going to like this place.

The ground floor features rainbows of wools and silks.

They use library ladders to reach the highest shelves – can you imagine? It’s like Belle’s library but with fabric in place of books. This is what dreams are made of.

The second floor houses home décor and cottons. I poked around the print cottons and considered a few, but this is where I must be frank: I’m bad at buying expensive fabric, and I’m terrible at summoning the strength to cut it once I bring it home. I was simply exploring, with no project in mind, so I continued onward.

Floor 3 felt the most like a candy land. Walls of trims, racks of ribbons, and buttons of all colors and shapes. The ribbons were available in every imaginable hue.

Floor 4 is home to the remnants, interfacings, and clearance bolt ends. If I were to buy something, this would be my floor… and if I lived nearby, I’d be checking their bargains every few weeks. But for this trip, the inspiration alone was a sufficient souvenir. I need a library ladder! (but hopefully I never have enough fabric to warrant one!)

Another great fabric stop – where I actually bought some fabric! – was Fabric Outlet in the Mission district. Not as photogenic, and the area is questionable (careful!), but the store is an enormous basement filled with some of everything. Acting fancy at Britex and staring open-mouthed at the gorgeous fabrics was fun, but treasure hunting is my preferred way to shop… I like a little bit of a challenge, and I love to dig to find the best fabrics.

And who can visit San Francisco without taking a million pictures of this thing? It’s so pretty.

Travel Tuesday is a semi-weekly feature that allows me to recap the many trips I’ve failed to formally document. I’ll be sharing photos and fuzzy (but fond) memories from recent and not-so-recent adventures.