Saturday, March 24, 2012

Quilting in Cuenca

Buenas dias!
This is a post about sewing some fun things and quilting in Cuenca.  Most of my fabric stash is fabric from the United States.  I will admit I'm a tiny bit of a fabric snob in that I really like well manufactured fabric with colors that don't run in the wash and edges that do not ravel easily.

I also love the variety of patterns, designs, textures that one can find in many fabric shops in the US.  Recently I was shopping in Cuenca for tela - espanol for fabric - and batting.  I have a couple of projects where I need the puffy polyester batting I have never used.  But it seems it is not sold in tela tiendas (fabric shops).

My friend and I visited 4 tela shops of fairly good size in the historic shopping district without finding any batting.  It was only the 4th store that had stuffing, like for pillows, and a roll of batting that was not for sale to individuals - it was about 20 feet long and the roll was about 3 feet high.  The word for pillow stuffing...hmmm..Cannot recall that word in either language.  Oh, like polyfill only I found some made out of ostrich down machined into layers. And also the polyester stuffing.

We found a lot of interfacing of all weights so if you need interfacing, it is here in Cuenca in abundance.

APRONS are back in style with a demand to match in the US. Will that fashion come to Cuenca soon?  I bought some fabric to make a few aprons - just a fun project to see how much work it is- and some oven mitts to match.  Here is the fabric I got here in Cuenca:

I especially like the watermelons.

And here are some fabrics from the US I'm putting together for a 3 tier ruffled apron with contrasting layers.






Quilts, Quilts, Quilts

I recently had the pleasure of hanging some of my quilts and complex quilt blocks at the private art gallery of Gary Myers and Arie Atlas in El Centro.

It was a celebration of the conclusion of the first drawing class Gary taught in Cuenca.

It was an incredible honor to have the quilts there to share the spotlight with the drawings. It was a wonderful evening. Classes are taught by Gary Myers    Contact  garymyersartist@gmail.com  Gary has taught all ages and all levels of art, as well as being a wonderful artist in his own right.

Have a fabulous new week!

3 comments:

  1. Hello. Thank God! I am a quilter and we are planing a move to Cuenca in a few years. We have visited several times, and my concern has been how would I feed my fabric and quilting addiction? We plan a visit in September. I may have to look you up! In the meantime, I will follow your blog. Lee Ann Schutz Wahi, Burnsville MN.

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  2. Those are going to make some great aprons! I especially like the green and orange fabric with the flowers, super cute!
    :0)

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  3. Hello,

    Stores are different here, aren't they? Sewing notions are another thing that is NOT sold in fabric stores. There are separate shops for that.

    My suggestion would be to take a piece of batting with you (if you have one) and visit some of the furniture reupholstery places on Baltazar de Calderon. They might be able to give you a source.

    I have seen rolls of batting for sale in a shop that specializes in upholstery fabric but, of course, not consisitently!

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