Fabric Friday: Cotton & Color

Fridays are fabric days here on my blog, I know I haven’t done a Fabric Friday post in a long time but after my Quilty Road Trip yesterday I thought it would be the perfect post to revive that idea.

Yesterday, my friend, Mrs. K and I drove to Basel to visit the Cotton & Color quilt shop located on the outskirts of Basel in the town of Riehen. Riehen is a suburb of Basel and is where the art museum Foundation Beyeler is located. This little hidden gem of a store is tucked away on a residential street, a few minutes walk from the German border.

In September 2014 I visited this quilt shop for the first time with my parents (see that post here) and we had a lot of fun, but this time, I had a very specific list of things I needed to buy, and only a limited amount of time.

I love how when you walk into this store, you are greeted by a colorful world of quilting, a real change to the leafy green suburban location. There is conveniently a waiting area for the hubbies or good non-quilting friends.

The shop is large, but is in the basement, so it is not up there on my list of favorites, due to the lack of natural day light. But what it lacks in lighting, it makes up for by offering a terrific selection of notions and sewing supplies and fabric of course.

What makes it even better is that everything is available online as well, which makes it easier for me, since Basel is not close to where I live and requires more or less a 2 hours car ride (depending on traffic) or more by public transport, train and bus.

The staff are friendly and multi-lingual which is necessary being in a city which neighbors France and Germany. So these languages, English, German and French are all spoken by one or more of the employees.

What I find a bit frustrating is the organization of the fabric in the store . All stores have their own particular layout, but this one just doesn’t float my boat. That is not saying that it isn’t organized, it is, but aside from being organized by color it is not completely clear as to why certain fabrics are organized the way they are. Maybe on a 3rd trip I will be able to figure it out. Of course that is just a personal note.

One thing I didn’t get a chance to explore was the class space. Quilting Courses are available too and when we were there, there was a course going on with Barb and Mary from Me and Mary Designs, which explains the beautiful quilt that was displayed.

For me the large selection of Kaffee Fasset and Cotton and Steel and many interesting holiday prints were a great draw. However, I managed to buy only fabric I was going to use in a planned project, but I was dying to buy the home decor linen fabric line they had. I will definitely have to return to get a second look and make my decisions. Lots of possibilities for new curtains in my office or the upstairs studio.

In any case there are some amazing fabrics available and a wide selection and it is certainly worth a visit, either online or in person if at all possible.

Now to the fun stuff, what I bought.

As my birthday was last week, I got a nice spending allowance, which amazingly enough left room for a delicious meal in a neighboring village, more on that in another post.

Well two lovely books came home with me.

I am a real Lori Holt fan, and so I have been eying this quilt and her book for a long time.

And Aneela Hoey is one of my all time favorite bloggers and fabric designers and I have long been a fan of her quilts and embroidery. This book is exactly what I have been looking for to up my embroidery game with my quilt labels.

On the fabric goodies side of things, I picked up a half meter each of the following prints:

My Fabric Goodies

“All in A Day” Now it is difficult to pick my favorite but if it must be done it is this blue and white written print from Henry Glass & Co., Inc. It is Pattern #8471 and is called “All in a Day” by Annie Downs of Hatched & Patched.

2. “Netherlands-Man And Woman” Though the color and cute, modern yet nostalgic print from Mary Fons’ Small Wonders line is just too precious. # CP57039 Netherlands-Man And Woman.

3. Chambray Rose” by Nancy Gere # 40828 This one from Windham Fabrics reminds me of all the random English blue and white porceillan dishes that my mother and Granny Jean collected.

The last two fabrics by Tilda are ones that Mrs. K discovered for me. I absolutely adore them too! They are really traditional and really thick. Just lovely to work with I imagine.

4. “Emily” in Dark blue Tilda Quilt Collection #481121.