In a few weeks, I'll be travelling through Europe. I was wondering two things.

1) Is there anyone on the board who is familiar with Quilting activities around Rome. In particular, are there any quiltshops or quilt shows in Rome during the week of Oct 6 - 11. I'd love to hear from you.

2) Also, I wonder if there are any European quilters on this board who live in communities on the Rhine river. If so, can you point out some quilt shops or even better if there would be a quilt show along the way between Oct 11th and 24th.

Hi Gail,
I don't know where you will be exactly near the Rhine River, this river is quite long! In the latest magazine of the German Patchwork Guild I found this information, maybe it is interesting for you:

PatchArt
Exhibition of handsewn and handquilted Quilts by Ute Drechsle
Gallery BW/Barbara Wartenberg
Rheinstrasse 15
D-79415 Bad Bellingen
www.galerie-bw.de
email: [email protected]
Open Mondays and Wednesdays 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM

Bad Bellingen is near the Rhine River, I am sure you can find it on a map of Germany in the internet. You can also contact the gallery be email and ask for an appointment if you don't find the time during the regular opening hours.

Do you know which towns you will visit? I can look for shop information for you.

I think the Berloitz(may be wrong spelling) books of the various countries have a list of all the shops in a particular area, would it be worth popping to the shop and having a look, you don't have to buy if not. Or if you know the names of the towns you will be near have a look on google earth at the main street to see what is there. Maybe silly ideas but that is what I would try.

No offense and none meant... But when I went to Rome two years ago there were so many beautiful things to see and do that quilting and quilt shops were the last thing on my mind :shock:

Yes, I have a feeling that in while in Rome, we'll be busy enough, but just on the off chance there was a spectacular quilt display, I would feel bad to miss it.

I would like to see one quilt display while in Europe, just to see how it compares to North American Shows, I would be happy. Here are the different places I'll be visiting along the Rhine.

Amsterdam
Arnhem – Rees
Bonn
Cochem
Bernkastel – Luxembourg
Trier and Bernkastel
Boppard – Rhine Gorge
Heidelberg
Plittersdorf – Baden-Baden
Strasbourg
Basel

Here you find a list of Quilt Shops in Germany (and other countries):

http://www.cosman.nl/maps/list_en.php?cn=de&ord=c

Maybe you can find something here.

I can only talk about quilt shows in Germany and in my humble opinion you can't compare it with an American Quilt Show! The dimensions are totally different. We have some fairs here over the year but they won't take place at the time you are here. The same with the annual quilt show organized by the Germany "Patchwork Gilde".

Have a wonderful journey! The Rhine area is beautiful (if you like try the famous German wine!) and I'm sure Rome will be breathtaking.

Oh, lucky you!!!!!!!!!

Last year at the Houston Quilt Show I met a busload of women from Italy who were here doing quiltshows from Vermont to California. Apparently, quilting is a growing hobby in Italy.

While a "show" might be nice, I find that quilt shops outside the US are somewhat dissappointing. We are blessed with such variety, quantity, and value. Besides that, so many of the fabrics are from the US manufacturers!
When looking for "native" fabrics, I find many of them are coarser than what we find here in the states.

I used to go to school in Boppard many many moons ago. Lived in the area between the Rhine and the Mosel rivers. Have a wonderful time. Some of the towns you mentioned are actually on the Mosel river.

When you start from Cochem toward Bernkastel, there is supposed to be a cute little fabric shop in Traben-Trarbach which is not far from Bernkastel.

http://www.handarbeitsstube-trasser.de/