Sunday Stash #255 – LIS

Lisbon! I shouldn’t tell you this, but you need to stop your lives and get to Lisbon pronto. It was a sparkling highlight on our tour, and I would gladly pack up everything and move to a countryside Portuguese villa to quilt the rest of my beautiful life away. I’d need to bring my entire stash as the crafting shops are a bit sparse, but I think that could be arranged. I could even have a quilt retreat at my villa, with Santiago serving us all refreshments. Yes, divas, we must surely consider this. Mr. Sparkles is on board, so he’ll be running the Gardens of Earthly Delights while we entertain ourselves with our wares. Are you ready?

While you ponder, I’ll show you a few of the pieces (but not all!) I gathered up at Retrosaria right near the city centre. It was literally a five minute walk from my guesthouse, so I didn’t mind picking up a few things for the stash. None of them are explicitly Portuguese, but they were all rareities I don’t encounter often on my worldly travels. Below are four indigos that have a very light weight which would be so wonderful for that summer quilt I’m always wanting. Pair these with some silver slingbacks, and girl, you’ve got the full value range from shiny to navy!

Speaking of shiny, this picture doesn’t represent it well, but the top fabric is all iridescent in the white sections. Both of these are Julius Holland wax prints from the Netherlands. I must say I don’t know a lot about the wax printing process, or the origination, but from what I’ve gathered, they are created/inspired/copied (?) from African prints. These really excited me because they are unlike anything else in my fabric stash. They also give me a Zandra Rhodes vibe which I’m always down for. I don’t normally work with such large scale prints, but I need items like this in my collection to inspire me to push my own buttons! I wanna make them go POP!

These two are undeniably Kokka from Japan-land, but I really couldn’t say no to their simplicity. No flowers, birds, bees, foxes and the fruits of the forest that sometimes populate the Kokka fabric landscape. Instead, just some really wonderful graphic shapes, on the expected linen/cotton blend. These are only fat quarters, and they were definitely a bit pricier than I would have paid in Nippori Textile Town, but when you’re in it, you gotta get it! I want a lined pencil case from this black and natural number immediately!

Retrosaria was such a gem of a little shop, and I feel like I pillaged what small amount of fabric they had. Most of their trade is catered to the yarn addicts, and from what I could tell they had it dialled up in spades. If you find yourself in Lisbon, it’s definitely worth a pop-in to see what latest bolts they’ve managed to put on their shelves. Otherwise, you may have to just come shopping at my make believe, but wannabe quilt villa just outside of town! Someday, Glitterati, someday!