Quilt Shop: Lavender Rose Fabrics & Retreats; Eureka, California

Good morning, my friends. How cold is it where you are? 

When I'm finished with the laptop computer each morning, whatever I'm using it for, I put it in sleep mode and then set it on the floor, leaning against the exterior wall of the RV. When I pick it up, it feels as if it's been sitting on ice. Maybe I need to make a little quilt for it, to keep it warm you know. Certainly it must be against the law for a quilter's inanimate objects to go uncovered, wouldn't you think?

We decided to run our errands yesterday, and there was a quilt shop in the mix. It isn't the one I intended. When we drove by the first one, it appeared closed, despite what their website said. Also, the windows were boarded up, which didn't seem like good news at all. Instead, we went to Lavender Rose Fabrics & Retreats, a very small shop off the main drag in Eureka.

This is how it looks from the entrance. I'll say I was prepared to be underwhelmed at such a humble greeting.

When I stepped through the front door, it looked like this. A disembodied voice greeted me, followed by the body attached to it. I don't know if she was the owner, but the woman working there was friendly and chatty.

It was a small shop, but it was stocked with lots of fabrics. They had some pretty batiks, and lots of ocean scenes. There was also a nice supply of prints representing indigenous peoples. I looked closely at those with the Blackwork Baskets project on my mind. They were tempting, but I already have plenty of those to finish off my quilt.

There were lots of panels too, and you can see them decorating the walls of the shop. I didn't take a lot of pictures in here, simply because the size of the store allowed me to capture most everything with just a few shots.

Toward the back corner was a table with sale fabrics for $7 per yard. There were a couple here I considered as binding fabrics, but then I remembered my bins back home are stuffed with fabrics I purchased to use as bindings. Really, I don't need any more. There was also a wall of notions here...the usual suspects. A few rulers, needles, rotary cutters and blades...the essentials.

There was a nice supply of Kaffe Fassett prints. I love these, but their scale makes it difficult to use them for anything other than quilt backs. Maybe I just need more imagination.

It was a fairly quick in and out for this shop. It was worth the visit to see such a surprisingly large and diverse selection of fabrics in such a small shop. I would go back again if we visit this area in the future. It was tempting to choose something "ocean" for my regional print. I settled for this snowflake print. 

The swirling background made me think of snow on the beach for some reason...maybe because it was shelved with the ocean stuff. I bought a yard of it. I need only about a 9-inch square for my Shop Hop quilt. The rest will get used some other way.

In other news from yesterday, I filled my hoop again on the Blackwork Baskets piece. I'm estimating I'm about 2/3 finished with this now.

The weather has been chilly, with rain off and on. There is a nice river walk just across the street from the RV park. We're expecting relatively dry weather this morning before the rain starts up again around noon. I'm going to don my rain gear and go out one way or another. There has been entirely too much sitting for the past several days. Also, it's unlikely we'll be back here again, and so I'd like to see the area at least a little bit.

If you're enjoying this post, know that it was written under careful snoopervision by Smitty. 

Glad that I can be of assistance. You're welcome.

Mike will be heading out briefly this morning, but I'm staying in. I'll do a little more slow-stitching and then get out for that walk. Christmas has set me back some on my diet goals. A little exercise will do me good.