karate lady

what a cool idea......

Quiltbyme

I found the way to buy fabric when traveling is the post office flat rate boxes. You can get the goodies you want and send them home. It"s like Christmas when you get home and open them up.

Grace MooreLinker

Most of the time I'll just look , but I do look for new patterns. most of the time They are all the same as I find on line or in my local fabric stores. Yet it still fun to look.

VernaL

When we went to Alaska quite awhile ago, I shopped at a fabric store in Sitka and found a wonderful fabric with icebergs and polar bears on it and a beautiful blue sea. It was made by Hoffman from CA, but it sure wasn't anywhere locally. We also went to Hawaii about 10 years ago. In Maui, I don't think I missed a quilt shop. Their Hawaiian fabric was so much cheaper there than what I was used to in CA. I bought enough so that I had to stop at a stationery store, purchase 2 boxes and tape and mailed them home. I only have a few pieces left. I also took a Hawaiian applique quilt class while I was there and it is now hanging on my wall. My husand is very supportive. When, I came out of the quilt class, there he was. He had taken a ukelele class with a whole bunch of people in the same mall. He was having a ball. I usually try to find something that reminds me of the trip.

VernaL

Oh, I forgot to mention that before we go anywhere on a trip, I check the Internet for fabric stores or quilt stores in the yellow pages of any towns that we will visit or travel through. I print out a local map and get a phone no. so I can call for directions if needed. I also subscribe to The Quilters' Path which lists quilt shops in CA and a few in other states. My husband also bought me one of those thick quilt store directories for the US. I use both books quite often and take them with me. We were travelling to a remote mountain area and I had brought along some hand quilting. We were already on our way, when I realized that I hadn't brought any quilt batting. I looked in the Quilters' Path and there was a quilt store in Pasadena. We hopped off the fwy and I got my batting to take with me. It was called New Moon Textiles and was a wonderful store. My husband is used to this kind of behaviour. He is this way with fishing tackle stores!

Phannie1

I am getting back into quilting after 20 years... so much has changed. Rotary cutters are the bomb! so when I go on vacation, my husband golfs and I look for quilt stores. I buy what strikes my fancy. Different shops seem to lean to a theme. a Shop in Glenpool, OK, the owner there likes florals and has a great selection of fabrics with all types of flowers. Orange Park, Fl has a shop that likes novelties and she has a everything military to hunky men to pets and foods. Another in Jacksonville likes children's prints and has any pattern for bags to yoga mats. They have a little more than just quilt fabrics but I found the diaper bag pattern I was looking at online.

We are heading North to Delaware in July... I am making my list of shops and planning on a day in Lancaster, PA. (Hubby is from that area and is looking forward to showing me around.) Let's go shopping.

RugosaB

5 years ago we took a land tour/cruise in Alaska, and I bought mostly patterns, but a few fat quarters too, all alaska themed.
Ha last year I bought fabric with the classic Hawaian florals, and a couple of patterns

I like to buy fabric/fat quarters with that state's particular 'theme, and patterns that are specifically printed in that area

Suzan88

I found a quilt shop in Taos (where the assistant wasn't very friendly) and a linen shop where the assistant was very helpful. I bought fat quarters of native American designs, three pieces of flax in lovely colors and some linen for a top I intended to hand stitch since the weather was much hotter than I'm used to, but in the end I survived with the clothes I took with me. I was tempted by gorgeous hand dyed silk ribbons but decided not to invest in them this trip.
I also found a good quilt shop in Santa Fe and bought a range of fabrics in oranges, purples, deep blues and yellows; the colors of a fabulous sunset. And I took a photo of a very interesting wall hanging that I plan to adapt. For some reason I also bought the circular foot for my Janome...probably because the shop owner showed me a wonderful silk jacket with scallops embroidered using this tool - how hard can it be?

nancyw

We lived in England from 1987 to 1991 and I made it to Liberty of London one time . The prices were so high I didn't buy anything. I just drooled.

Pam S

Jan, when you go to San Francisco, be sure to check out Britex Fabrics at 146 Greary St. downtown. Not a LQS but 4 floors of every imaginable fabric type, buttons and embellishments galore. My DH had found it when he was in SF on a business trip and when we went there last summer he made sure I got to go to Britex. My 15 yo DD and I spent a lot of time in the quilting fabric section and the saleslady realized that my DD is a budding quilter so she went to a closet and brought out her amazingly beautiful crazy quilt. It took her about 6 years to complete and was just awesome. The prices were higher than home and the quilting section isn't very big but we found things we don't see at home (including the cutest SF landmarks fabric that I intend to put into my "vacation memories" quilt someday) so we bought a bunch of fabric. We were like kids in a candy store.