July 2025 - what a busy time I've had!

A little bit of shopping was done while I've been travelling the last three months.  This will mean my fabric tally will not be looking good - again!

In May, I had a great time on a two week textile tour - Textiles of the Lesser Sunda Islands with experts, Sue and David Richardson.  It was my second time on this fascinating tour around the most eastern Indonesian islands and I enjoyed it just as much this time around.  I didn't buy as many textiles as the first trip and did try to get samples of different designs.  (I'll do another post with photos of the woven textiles I picked up.)  These textiles won't be included in my monthly fabric tally but I did do some reportable fabric shopping.  With time between arriving from Sumba in the morning and departing for Melbourne that evening, I took myself off to my favourite patchwork batik fabric shop in central Denpasar on the island of Bali.  Dewi Mas has a range of batik fabrics, including dressweight material, so I had much fun there.  A group of Australian women, patchworkers, on a mini-bus tour were shopping up big as well.  My haul included two 5m lengths of dressweight fabric, 9m of various patchwork batik fabrics, and two jelly rolls that I couldn't resist.

Our son lives in Georgia in the USA so we trotted off in late May to visit him.  I always like to visit local patchwork shops so dropped in to two shops in Marietta, north of Atlanta.  Tiny Stitches was the first shop.  From the street, it didn't look too big but it was actually quite large.  And then I saw downstairs!  The building was on a hill so the large workshop and longarm quilting spaces downstairs  could be accessed from doors at the back to a carpark, as well as via stairs from the shop.  The shop was really well stocked, with lots of sample quilts on display.  A large range of notions and threads was available and a couple of racks of pattern books.  The staff were very friendly and helpful.  The problem with just dropping in as I did, is that I didn't have any specific needs in mind.  However, that didn't stop me picking up a few fat quarters of cat fabrics I didn't have as well as other bits and pieces.  As a new customer, they gave me a welcome gift, which was very kind of them.  I certainly intend to visit again next time we're in the USA to visit our son.  

The Southeastern Quilt and Textile Museum in Carrollton, Georgia, was a great find.  A small space but excellent exhibitions when I visited in early July.  They also had a small shop of donated patchwork items, including fabric and patterns, so I spent a few dollars and was very happy with my purchases.  We stopped in Englewood, Tennessee, for a lunch stop and at a small fabric shop there, I bought a 1/2 yard of fireworks fabric as a reminder of the 4th Juy fireworks I'd seen a few days earlier.  

So I'm very happy with my holiday shopping sprees.  

July 2025 fabric tally

Finishes in the month:   sadly nothing finished!

Purchases in the month:  Indonesian batik fabric = 21m; USA patchwork fabrics = 7.5m

Fabric used:  - 0 m         Fabric acquired:  + 28.5 m

Running tally for 2025:  + 8.75 m