Textile Procurement Excursion

Seoul Korea

We left Shanghai at 1:00 on Friday afternoon. Our departure was a little nerve racking because Beth got to the airport with her sons passport instead of her own. And...although she and her son both have brown hair we did not think it was going to work. Beth lives on the other side of Shanghai and it was a race to see if her passport would arrive before the plane departed. Thanks to a fast taxi driver and her Ayi the passport arrived and she made the flight. The rest of our trip was very smooth!!!

We arrived in Seoul, bought a shuttle ticket to our hotel, and waited only a few minutes before the bus arrived. The trip to the hotel was just over one hour.

First impressions of Korea....much cleaner, traffic was very organized, and it seemed a little more international with many English signs.

We checked into our hotel and then took a taxi to dinner. Susan's friend took us to a traditional Korean dinner....and I forgot my camera so you will just have to imagine the interesting food we ate. The food was good but very different from our "western" food.

The next morning we were up and ready to shop for fabric!!!

Saturday morning.....lounging in the hotel lobby enjoying our coffee and pastries.
Sights in the hotel....can't resist the flower arrangements that are 10 feet tall

Leaving the hotel....anxious to get our hands all that fabric!
Susan, Jackie, Joanne, Sheryl and Beth

Mr. Happy Quilt (that is our name for our friend at the fabric warehouse because his business is called Happy Quilt) arrived with a car and kindly drove us to the warehouse saving us a long train and taxi ride. It took about 1 hour 15 minutes to reach the warehouse.

In front of the warehouse...ready.....set....Shop!!!!!

The row of fabric in the middle of the warehouse are cut into 2 yard pieces and then put into a plastic bag. There are two rows with three shelves under each row. If you don't find what you are looking for or want larger pieces....just wander around the rest of the warehouse and find the bolt you want...they will cut it to any length.
Mr. Happy Quilt gave us yellow baskets to collect our "treasures". Then we took our baskets outside in the light....(the weather was beautiful)....and organized our piles of fabric and made the final decisions about our choices.

Beth in her glory!!! We all think we died and went to heaven!!!
More decision making...and then counting and paying our bills. One yard of fabric cost about the same price as a fat quarter in the US. Wow!!! Did we have fun!!! Susan told us that 3o packets of fabric (or 60 yards) weighs 10kg. The normal check baggage weight in Asia is 20kg. Two of us used mileage points and upgraded to business class just so we could check 30kg. Weight was the determining factor in how much we could take home with us. We brought disposable everything so we would not waste precious "fabric space".

The happy shoppers exhausted after making all those fabric decisions. We all stretched our weight limits (carry on bags are also good places to stash fabric packets) and then Mr. Happy Quilt gave us all extra fabric packets as a gift!!!!
Our fabric was very heavy so Mr. Happy Quilt's co-worker took it to our hotel for us. The car was so full of fabric only two passengers could fit. So....the rest of us happily took the train back to......another fabric market!!!! The train ride was just under two hours....it was a very different experience from the Shanghai subway.....WE HAD PERSONAL SPACE!!! What a luxury!
This market is about 10 minutes taxi drive from our hotel. Mr. Happy Quilt has a booth at this market so we went directly to his space to see if we missed anything at the warehouse.

Several booths had quilting supplies and we all found more treasures!!!

We managed to squeeze in a few cultural experiences amid our shopping frenzy...
This is one of the very old (like 5000 years old) gates to the city...very beautiful!
Sights on the streets...

Lots of people crossing the streets...
Canal area with walkways of both sides....this was really pretty! We crossed this bridge as we walked to find coffee and a resting place...
Our bags of fabric were waiting for us at the hotel!!! We could not wait to bust them open and "play" with our fabric.

This is our collection of fabric. Not to worry this is just fabric for three people.....the rest was in the other room with Joanne, Jackie, and Susan.
Think of all the quilts we can make!!

Ah....a well deserved break after all that shopping.

We had dinner in the hotel and then it was back to our rooms to pack and weigh our bags of fabric. Sheryl was a bit over weight so she cut the salvage edges off several large pieces of fabric....Desperate times require desperate actions!!!

You may have read about the protest in Korea a few weeks ago. An older gentleman was unhappy about his retirement wages and set fire to one of the 5000 year old gates. Oops!! This is the spot where the gate lived. They put up this wall while it is being restored.
Stickers anyone??
Sunday morning we walked to another market just down the hill from our hotel. Korea has beautiful gift wrap paper and other "scrapbooking/cardmaking" notions. This market had two places that captured my interest...
Candy shop

Gift wrap...walls and walls of gift wrap
It was stunning paper...some were two sided and others had gold leaf.
Need a tie? The price is 3 for 10,000 Wan. Sounds like a lot of money but it is just $10.

Food in the market
The market looked like markets in Shanghai except they were not smelly and they were a bit cleaner.
Ah....look we could have just bought a bunch of quilts and saved ourselves a lot of time....But....where is the fun in that?

Bottles of ginsing.....and...other organ looking things that we could not identify...
More food for sale...
A bit different from McDonald's...eh?

Okay...here is the most interesting food item I found....the top left is a bucket full of....larva. No kidding...they looked like they had been sprinkled with salt or sugar...I decided not to sample them to find out.
Back to the hotel for check out....
Fountain in the hotel....

We were all a bit nervous checking our bags at the airport...

All our bags were a bit over weight but no one hassled us or weighed our carry on bags so our fabric made it safely on the plane!

Tim greeted me at the airport with a wheelie cart to help we tote my heavy bags.

Monday morning it was back to quilting!!

My quilting students are very diligent workers...Kandy is basting her quilt
Ceyda is pieceing her last rows...
Beth is practicing free motion machine quilting.

After quilting class I raced home to unpack my new "stash" of fabrics!

Hmmmmmm....I think I need to buy another cabinet to hold the new "stash".

I am back in Shanghai...had a fantastic trip to Korea and brought home 269 yards of fabric. I bet you are thinking that is the total yards for our whole group...NOT....that is just my purchase. Total yards of fabric purchased this weekend was about 850 yards!!! I think it is a new record and we were all a bit anxious as we checked our bags for our return trip. They might have been a little over the normal weight allowance?!? I have pictures to share but the internet is being stubborn tonight so look for pictures tomorrow!

Exciting news for Abi....she got a two week internship at Jean Georges at Three on the Bund. Jean Georges is a very famous restaurant in Shanghai and she will have an opportunity to work in both the pastry kitchen and food kitchen. This will be a "real world" test to see if she really wants to be a pastry chef. We are all very excited for her!!!

I am headed to Korea tomorrow and Pat and Arvin are headed to Singapore and Sri Lanka on Saturday. I am going on a "textile procurement excursion" and Pat and Arvin are heading south for a "little" side trip while on this side of the world. I will be back on Sunday with (hopefully) many many yards of new quilting fabric! Stay tuned for pictures.....

Today we had to be back to our apartment for the "stinky feet curtain men". As part of our re-decorating project we get new drapes! The men came a few days ago to measure the windows. While they were here a strange odor started to permeated our house. ......and guess what...it was their feet!! They took their shoes off at the door....a very nice thought..but the smell was soooooo bad we could hardly stand it. I am not joking!!! Tucker came into the living room while the "stinky feet curtain men" were here and said....What is that smell?" As soon as the curtain men left we opened the windows to air out the place. A while later Tim and I went out of the house but I swear I could still smell that awful order. Tim said..."We opened our windows and now all of Shanghai smells like stinky feet!" We started laughing and could not stop. Later that night Tucker and Abi went to the fabric market via taxi and Tucker asked Abi if he smelled like the stinky feet guys because he swore he could still smell it. I think the smell penetrated everything it came into contact with. It was really really bad!!!! AND...today they came back to hang the drapes.....The "stinky feet curtain men" return! AAAhhhhhh!!!! I warned Pat and Arvin and as soon at they arrived I opened the windows....but....it was no help!!! They have been gone from the apartment for seven hours and I still get whiffs of that odor.....I feel like I need a shower and about 10 gallons of Fabreez!!!

We took the ferry to Puxi today for a tour of Yu Garden and part of old town. On our way to Zhonghua Road we passed the fire station. Today the firemen were practicing.

Firemen doing drills outside the fire station.
Beside the tea house at Yu Garden
Grandma getting measured for a silk blouse.
Fabric for the blouse....very pretty!

We started our day with a walk around the "hood". We toured the clubhouse, the park, and found the international ATM....a very important item to get cash for shopping!! We went to the local supermarket and then walked to the bird and flower/wet market. Pat bought a beautiful blue vase and we all browsed the little shops in the alley.

Pat and Arvin at the Wet Market...
Then...we drove to JinQiao to have lunch with Tim. After lunch we went on a tour of Carrafour...China's version of Fred Meyer.

Our next stop was the clinic....Pat has a very sore toe and it got worse after sitting on the airplane for 12 hours. The doctor have her two options....(Option A) remove part of the toe nail TODAY!! Yikes!! OR....(option B) take some antibiotics and see if it improves....then she can either have the toe nail removed in China when they come back from Sri Lanka or have it removed when they get back to the US. She choose option B!!!

We picked up Abi from school and came home to Xiao Zhang's warm chocolate chip cookies! We are soooooooo spoiled!

Pat and Arvin arrived safely last night. Yippee!! Let the adventures begin!!!

Quilting Class #5

Quilting the Quilt!! Hand quilters and Machine quilters unite!

I invited a guest instructor, Rose Brunais, to teach us hand quilting. Rose is an amazing quilter...she hand stitches all her patchwork pieces AND hand quilts her quilts!! She can hand stitch as fast as I can machine stitch! The world is getting smaller...Rose is from Portland Oregon! Who would have guessed!

I have great students!!! They listen intently to Rose as we learn how to maneuver the tiny quilting needle. The proper size quilting needle is about 1 inch long...no kidding!! And...the eye of the needle is ridiculously small....glasses are a must if you have any hope of getting the thread in the needle!!!

Ceyda piecing her quilt....

The second half of our class was spent learning how to machine quilt. After the demonstration everyone practiced free motion quilting! Even Rose tried it and got the "quote of the day " award. She said "I may never hand quilt again!" We all laughed...

I finished my class quilt last weekend.....I think I will call it Fiesta!!

Just another day at the Spoffords....

I came home this after noon and there was a man hanging out our window! Two men came to fix a few water leaks around the windows. OH MY GOSH!!! Remember we are on the 36th floor of the building. This guy has a rope tied around his waste and his partner is holding the rope. His "saftey line" is strap that went out one window...around the front of our apartment...and then back in the other window. Tim and I are wondering how they got the "safety line" around the front window. The ledge he is standing on....or has one foot on is about 8 inches wide...
I hope this guy does not let go of the rope!!! One time I walked into the room and Xiao Zhang was also holding the rope....I was totally freaking out!! I could not watch and I think they were happy I was not in the room with them!!
Okay..now he is leaning out the window....it is a good thing I was not here when they were doing the front window. You will be happy to know he climbed back into the apartment and there were not "incidents"!!