Monday, January 11, 2010

The Quilter's Barn -- Blenheim, New Zealand


Like probably all of you, everywhere I travel I'm keeping my eyes open for a quilt shop. So I was very excited to find The Quilter's Barn. We were on a tour of the New Zealand countryside, including a wildlife feature (Destiny's favorite parts of the trip were seeing the flora and fauna of both countries) and a wine tasting (to keep the other two of us in a mellow mood).



We had stopped in a shopping area in Blenheim for a snack -- the ice cream was very yummy -- and Destiny and I were both pretty excited to find the quilt shop. From the steet, the signage was unmistakable and the entrance was cute and country themed.

















One of the ladies working there told me about the Hoffman Challenge quilts upstairs, so I headed up and then took a picture of all the great fabrics from the staircase.....



and of Destiny coming up to see the quilts.



After I photographed the Hoffman quilts -- I will post those this week, I promise!! -- I came back downstairs and started looking at some small art quilts for sale that are handmade and embellished by a local artist. They were priced around NZ$450, which I think would be about $350USD.






And here's a close-up of the handwork in the bird's feathers.











A second one by the same artist....



and a third....



What I bought: The above book was brought to my attention by the same lady who had guided me to the Hoffman quilts. Before this book was published, Gail and Christopher Lawther had visited New Zealand and fallen in love with its many facets. They were inspired to design, make and photograph many beautiful art quilts and publish this book for the rest of us to enjoy.

I was extremely happy to buy it as a momento of my visit. If you are an art quilter, you may wish to look for this book. It is very well illustrated and a lot of art quilting techniques are taught.

Still a bit jet-lagged, but it's only Monday -- this too shall pass??

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