Tikki Patchwork, London

I had a quick trip to London last weekend to visit family and friends. I stayed with my sister in Richmond so I planned a trip to visit Tikki Patchwork shop, a beautiful quilting shop based in Kew so it was a must-stop! Wow, I was completely blown away! Almost floor to ceiling with fabrics, carefully arranged in a rainbow colour co-ordinated fashion; a real treat for the eyes! I don't get the opportunity to visit many 'real-life' quilt shops so I'm always a bit giddy when I get to see and touch fabrics in a proper setting! OK, I know I have my own shop, but it's a little different from the spare room setup ;-) Yes that's a picture of me below! Not really sure why I decided to do a hand on hip pose, I never do that!? :-/

We had a very warm and friendly welcoming from the glamorous Tiina, (whose image above I have shamelessly stolen!) the owner of the shop. We'd met previously at Fat Quarterly Retreat in London last year, so it was nice to see her again. We visited on the Saturday as Tiina mentioned Hen from HenHouseHomemade blog was teaching a class that day, so after perusing the lovely wares on offer we went downstairs to the class area and said a quick hello to Hen! I've long been an admirer and fan of Hen's blog for years now so it was great to chat and meet in person :-) 

Like myself, Tiina is a big fan of the reproduction prints and has a lovely selection available in store.  I couldn't help but notice the amazing quilts dotted around the shop too, lovingly made by Tiina, unfortunately I didn't get photo's of anything really because I was too busy chatting and drooling over the fabric on offer! After a lot of deliberating I came out with this little selection, which I think is very restrained, don't you agree?! All very vintage, and pretty, just my cup of tea. I particularly love the two civil war repro's at the bottom, I'd love to do a quilt with a civil war palette some day as well, so I'd better collect a few more! A great excuse for more fabric hoarding of course. I also got a new-to-me book on Cross-Stitch quilts or postage stamp quilts - or if you're a 'modern' quilter, the pixelated quilts! Whatever they are, I love the look of them and  I've always wanted to try out a design some day, so hopefully now I will. So if you're in London for a visit, be sure to stop by!