The kindness of Quilters world wide, and our travels to date.

When standing in line waiting to enter at Nantes, a lady beside me asked if l
was Linda Collins? She admitted she was taking a risk but worth the question.
She is a Belgium reader of my blog and had seen my picture. Of course, we
chatted some, then when she mentioned she lived in Gent in Belgium, we declared
we were visiting that city soon. The morning after we arrived in Gent we rang her, 

and she came into the city to meet us, take us on a tour of her city, 

then drove us all back to her home for coffee, cake,

 and an afternoon of stitching and exploring her sewing room.

Thank you Francoise for taking that risk. 

We sure enjoyed meeting you and seeing that quilters around the world are the same. 

Generous and giving.

This castle in the town of Gent was worth exploring.

We had hot chocolate, the Belgium way.

Francoise showed us some of her PHD's.

 Then it was time to leave Gent and head off on more adventures in Tilburg.
Our first stop, Quilt it and Dotty.

Here we were welcomed most happily by Dorry and taken to her kitchen for coffee.

We were also here to meet with Jeanneke,
who showed us  her Building houses from Scraps  progress, among other quilts.

This one is a replica of an antique owned by An Moonen.

This is also a replica of a quilt owned by An Moonen.

Jeanneke sells patterns for her small quilts and her patterns can be found here.

After a very pleasant visit, we moved on again, to an appointment we had with 

An Moonen to see her and some of her antique quilts at a guild meeting nearby.

Imagine our delight to see the original antique quilt that inspired Jeannekes  reproduction.

Back in the car and off to the windmills at Kinderdijk.

In a small fishing village nearby we saw more mushroom varieties than l believe existed.

A women in traditional dress.

Plenty of cheese, dutch style.

These pretty flowers for sale. Orange of course, 

to commemorate the Queens birthday holiday on Monday.

Our next stop.

Petra Prins Quilt Shop in Zutphen.

This shop is a must visit if you are near by.

Bursting at the seams with reproductions fabrics and inspiration.

Then on into Amsterdam.

Where this is the scene that greats you in almost every direction.

Bikes of all kinds.

Even more flowers.

And boats of every kind.

Our main destination?

Den Haan & Wagenmakers!!

Where we all bought the most divine dutch chintz fabric

And had the chance to chat with Petra, Reiko Kato ( who was there teaching) Nel and Elspeth.

Our journey together was coming to an end.
And what a journey its been. So much fun and wonderful times shared.
 Bev and Claire have left for a few days in Prague, before returning home,
and here in this shop l said goodbye to Randi, who was heading home to Norway,
to prepare for our visit in a few days.

Back in the car with Petra and a return to Zutphen,
the next day held a workshop with Reiko.
This was the project we all worked on, and l must say, my applique skills
definitely improved while working on these small pieces.

l was fortunate enough to sit next to Janke, who showed me nothing but kindness and friendship
all day and spoke English to me, while the room around us reverberated with Dutch.
She also gave me a gift of local tea, which is the Queens preferred tipple.
( You can see it in the yellow packet)
 Thank you Janke, and l hope our friendship continues.

Then a chance to meet for coffee with a dear friend Helen, who lives in Holland.'
 ( Janke, she took me to the shop where the tea comes from)

After finally meeting up with my DH, who had been doing his own tour of Europe,
it was time for a final ice cream.

And that brings us to an end of our grand  European vacation.
 Tomorrow, we catch a plane to Norway, where our grand Scandinavian vacation will begin.
Thanks for coming along on our journey.
Its been fun, fun, fun from start to finish.

Linda.