Shopping in Launceston

Yesterday I went to Launceston which is about a 90 minute trip from Penguin. It was very hot - too hot for shopping really but despite the heat I managed to visit two quilt shops! The first one is called The Quilt Patch and it is one of Tasmania's oldest quilt stores. I didn't buy anything for me - wonderful restraint! HOWEVER, my seven year old niece Tali was with me for the day and she is keen to make her first quilt. She was so enthusiastic - picking up fabrics and saying 'I like this, Auntie' or 'This is a nice' - so what could I do! Eventually she choose a very sweet pack of 10 Fat Eights from 3 Sisters Sanctuary range. They are so gorgeous - very pink and girly. We also got an extra half a metre of one of the florals to use as a border. Tali took great delight in handing over my credit card before departing with her little bag of goodies.





The second shop we visited was The Country Quilter. This store has moved to new premises in Kingsway since I last visited. It is now much bigger with lots of space to display all the things quilters love. I was excited to see the patterns and samples created by Rose from Threadbare Creations. She is a very talented lady and I especially liked her Family Values quilt. It is available as a Block of the Month and I am very tempted.

I have been admiring the lovely quilts Peg makes with her Moda charm squares so I picked up two packs of charm squares by Blackbird Designs called Nell's Flower Shop. Blackbird Designs fabrics and patterns are always beautiful.



I also found a book called Charmed and Dangerous by Heather Mulder Peterson which has 9 projects designed for 5" charm squares. I will just have to be strong and resist leaping into something new just yet - remember the WISP challenge! (I think I will need to keep doing it for a year, maybe even two, to get all my UFO's finished!)



I love the look of this quilt and table runner.