The first rule of travelling

The first rule of travelling is…….. check out the local quilt shop!  We are currently very happily ensconced at Awakeri Hot Springs Motor Camp and soaking in the thermal hot pools, such bliss after a hard day of being on holiday.  So a drive to Whakatane to check out the local quilt shop was a welcome diversion. “Pins 2 Patches” of 46 Domain Road is a shop full of all sorts of wonderful goodies, with a very welcoming owner.  She was a little late opening the shop after the Christmas break, she told me, and had customers queued up waiting on her doorstep.  Sounds like her shop is just the type that customers can’t wait to get to!

The fabric selection is very extensive and is arranged by type in different rooms.  Lovely bright prints for children, and co-coordinating pastels  fill one room, together with a selection of printed panels so suitable for a cot quilt.  Children’s quilts line the walls of this happy and cheerful room.  

The kiddie print room

There are quilts everywhere, and baskets of fat quarters to rummage through.  There were threads and needles, and notions galore.  I  checked out the patterns, looked through the magazines, and chatted to another customer about how we would both like to make one of the quilts on display.

Patterns and notions

Step into any of the other rooms and more fabrics are displayed on shelving in their colour families.  I love batiks and noticed a large selection of these glorious fabrics on display. 

A whole lot of glorious colour

While I dithered and decided, Robin was waiting patiently outside in the car beside the beautiful flowering tree.  (I think it is a jacaranda tree - am I correct?)  I finally purchased a couple of Christmas prints, and bought a new magazine for my holiday reading.  What bliss, pottering around a quilt shop!  It doesn’t take much to make a quilter happy, does it.

If you would like to follow our holiday adventures, check out our Travel Blog on www.romanyrambler.blogspot.com