Sunday Stash #3 - Texan Mini Roadtrip

My final fabric stash from QuiltCon (Haby stash to come soon) includes these gorgeous fat quarters from Cloud 9, an American company who specialise in organic cottons for the home sewist. I loved this stand so much in Austin, I went back for more the following day! I'm not sure what I'm going to do with these yet - can I mix organic cottons with non-organic? Or should I keep them all the same? At least I bought enough that all work together! Incidentally, Cloud 9's beautiful website has some  truly inspiring projects including quilts and bags and they're all free!

After four days of quilt-show joy in Austin, we thought we would go on a mini road-trip around Texas, starting with a couple of very cold days in San Antonio and a visit to the Alamo. This unassuming old building in the centre of downtown San Antonio is where, in 1836, a small Texan army stood up to over 1,000 Mexican soldiers until, completely outnumbered they finally fell on the third day. The battle so outraged Texan settlers and adventurers from the United States (Texas was actually independent at this time and did not belong to the union) that many joined the Texan army to take on the Mexicans. They went on to defeat the Mexicans at the Battle of San Jacinto which ended the Texas revolution.

 

The town of San Antonio is very pretty, and I imagine even more so in the summer, man it was cold! They have this lovely canal circling the centre of town below road level where you can walk along the pathways lined with restaurants and shops - definitely worth a return visit.

We then drove down to Fredericksburg... while we're on about driving, can I just scratch my previous comment about US freeways being easy to navigate... with no road signs until seconds before you turn off, constant toll roads to avoid by driving on perfectly fine roads right next to the tolls, and elevated junctions that put spaghetti junction to shame... we are definitely getting a satnav next time!!

Anyway, where was I... lovely Fredericksburg is a town founded by German settlers in 1846 and which still keeps it German traditions today, with schnitzel and Bratwurst on restaurant menus, and inspiring antique shops full of furniture from the 'old country'.

On our last day, guess what... I found another quilt shop!! I loved One Quilt Place! Now if I'm ever lucky enough to have my own quilt shop, this is what I would want. I love the quilts hanging from the ceilings - so inspiring! They've also used old pieces of furniture such as that gorgeous bed frame to hold traditional fabric ranges, genius!

I especially loved this colourwall of fat quarters, how yummy is that!!


My final fabric purchase of my hols was from this amazing shop, they have the best 1930s fabric range! As I'd already spent far too much, I had to control myself and just went with these to add to my stash.

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