Its amazing where you can meet another quilter.

Regular readers of my blog will remember my DH and I visited Laos towards the end of last year. We also spent a few days in Bangkok.

Now, this isn't going to be another ho hum travel post......

While we were browsing in one of the larger department stores in Bangkok, I spied in the distance some sewing machines. I thought, lets head over and see what else I can find....maybe even some quilting fabric!

There was lots of wool and haberdashery, then DH spotted a quilt! We wandered over to admire the quilt and one of the shop assistants approached us. DH can speak some Thai, so they struck up a conversation. He told the lady I made quilts and was interested in all kinds of stitching.
Well, two hours later we were still talking quilts!!! My new friend showed me her samples in the shop (she teaches classes there) and via her tablet, lots of photos of her work at home. I gave her the address of my blog and showed her some of my work.
I speak not a word of Thai and Gulratida speaks not a word of English, but with the help of my DH translating we formed a friendship through a love of sewing!

Gulratida asked if we could come back to see her the next day.

Well, the next day we spent more than an hour chatting about quilts again, and sharing photos of our sewing, with another of the shop assistants also.

We exchanged gifts.

Gulratida gave me this cute little draw string pouch that she made. She also shared some sewing and quilting patterns with me.  Gulratida gave us directions of where we might find some other shops with fabrics and haberdashery.

Off we went in search! Two train rides and lots of walking later we found a market that sold, amongst many other things, some fabric. I bought the elephant fabric, above. (We didn't actually find what we were looking for, but we had fun exploring another part of Bangkok)

Yesterday I got out the patterns and made some blocks.

This block is called Starry Path.

I plan to make a small quilt that will be dedicated to the friendship that quilting can bring. A chance meeting in other country, online conversations via a quilting blog or meeting in a regular stitching group can lead to wonderful friendships growing and the sharing of quilting inspiration.

Thank you Gulratida!!

Thank you all for your inspiration and friendship!!

For me, 2014 will be a year for continuing some of my long term projects and the start of a few new projects. News of some of these in my next few posts.

Happy New Year everyone!! :)


Thinking of everyone contending with weather extremes: whether its 47 plus degrees celcius in New South Wales and Queensland, flooding rains in UK, or well below freezing temperatures in USA.


Lastly, on a very sad note, please spare a thought and prayer for Lisa and her family.