Amsterdam

Last Friday me and my friend Caroline went on a day trip to Amsterdam. It's a little under an hour by train from our hometown of Rotterdam. Our first stop was the Stedelijk Museum. At the moment they have a great Matisse exhibition on, called 'The Oasis of Matisse'.  In the afternoon we did a little shopping. We always visit the Kitsch Kitchen store  on the Rozengracht when we're in Amsterdam. They have lots of oilcloth and pretty, colourful homewares. Another favourite spot to shop is Exota/King Louie in the Hartenstraat, vintage and retro style clothing. I bought a Panda Bear dress in the sale :)

Birdblocks Quilt Shop, photo taken from their website as I forgot to take a photo...

We were on our way back to the train station, when we found a great little Quilt/Fabric store on the Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal 99 called Birdblocks. Quilt shops over here tend to be fairly traditional (think 'beige' and 'batik') and, quite honestly, a bit scary to visit. Birdblocks on the other hand is a shop where you feel welcome. It has a great selection of mostly modern fabric designs. I picked up a few fat quarters: a versatile lettering print, super cute Tula Pink Deer fabric and Heather Ross' Unicorn fabric in green from the reprint of the 'Far Far Away' line. I mostly buy my fabric online (not much lately though!) but it's so nice to be able to see the colours and prints in real life before you buy. Especially in such a friendly place. I'll definitely try and visit Birdblocks again, next time I'm in Amsterdam!