If you don’t get stuck in one of Prague’s lovely cathedrals or wonderful exhibitions, there are some great places to pick up some crafty supplies. One of these is the immensely practical haberdashery Filium in the Palladium shopping centre. Apparently they boast the widest assortment of fashion buttons in the Czech Republic and, while they might not quite beat the legendary Duttons for Buttons in York, it is a seriously impressive collection.
There were many things about my recent trip to Prague that didn’t quite go according to plan. The antiques shop, famous for their stash of antique lace was closed for unexpected reasons, as was one of the museums I had wanted to see, and the whole country went into a ‘State of Emergency’ thanks to You Know What. However, despite my best laid plans going to waste, I found some unexpected gems, including the Museum of Decorative Arts, and completely fell in love with a city that I’m just going to have to go back to.
I think the post title and the cordoned off Nativity scene about says it all… so with today’s post you can enjoy some nice photos of St. Vitnus Cathedral in Prague (full title: The Metropolitan Cathedral of Saints Vitus, Wenceslaus and Adalbert – so there’s a Christmas connection in there somewhere) which might be one of the most breathtaking pieces of art I have ever seen in my lifetime.
I think we could all use a little escapism, so how about a quick tour of just some of the craft shop gems in Munich? Today’s treats involve the spectacular Roly Poly, Quilt & Textilkunst, ORAG Haus and a classic German craft staple, Wolle Rödel.
It would be remiss of me to talk about today’s trip to a craft shop without mentioning its absolutely beautiful surroundings. Today we’re going to take a trip to Split, in the Dalmatia region of Croatia and probably one of the most effortlessly beautiful places I have ever been.
As an embroiderer, it’s often difficult to find shops that stock more exciting thread than just the standard DMC/Anchor floss ranges. It can even be difficult to find places that stock embroidery-suitable fabrics that are more exciting than 14 count Aida in white. This is why it’s always so exciting to find a place like The London Bead Co., which while formally being a shop for all things small and shiny, has one of the most beautiful thread collections I’ve ever seen. I think only Old World Designs comes close!
One of the nice things about being in Switzerland, as well as the beautiful scenery, perfect trains and wonderful cheese, is the number of Bernina stores dotted about the place. Some of them are in surprising places, it often feels like you’ll see one in every small village, but they are usually excellent haberdasheries as well as sewing machine technology wonderlands.
I’ve been debating for a while when would be a good time to publish several of my posts that have been languishing from trips I took back when international travel was still a routine part of my job. As things tentatively start to open up, in those countries at least, perhaps now is a good time to give some airtime to two truly excellent fabric stores in Italy.
When I heard there was going to be a special exhibition on orchids at Kew Gardens, I knew this was an exhibition I would happily make an effort to see. For those of you not familiar with Kew, it is a UNESCO World Heritage site home to over 50 000 plants and has one of the most diverse plant collections in the world. For the embroiderers, it is a beautiful botanical garden situated nearby Hampton Court palace if you want to sneak some stitching!
It’s very easy to feel that you’re in the middle of nowhere in Switzerland. Even Geneva, which is the second most populated city in Switzerland, has a population of less than two hundred thousand. The five biggest cities represent 40 % of the total population, making it relatively easy to ‘escape to the countryside’ where there are some excellent hidden gems of craft shops.
astitchornine 