This past weekend brought another trip to the Twin Cities, this time for our nephew’s wedding at the Como Park Conservatory:
A stunning backdrop for a wedding, and I personally couldn’t get enough of the gorgeous flowers:
Once upon a long time ago, I had house with a yard, and a garden, and I grew hydrangeas, foxgloves, roses, etc… I miss my garden, but I have to say, not having a garden to tend to does give me more time to sew!
As always, a trip to a fabric store was in order. On your next trip to the Twin Cities, might I suggest a stop at Treadle Yard Goods, on Grand Ave., in St. Paul:
They are celebrating 36 years in business this week, so everything was on sale. They have cotton quilting fabric from freespirit, Riley Blake, Dear Stella, and many more, but what I really like about this store is their specialty fabrics that I can’t always find locally, such as the “great wall of silk”: 
Liberty of London tana lawn, that I probably could have stood around and petted all morning (seriously, it’s like silk!):
Specialty silks, velvets, and even feather fabric!
Just inside the entrance are rolls and rolls of laminates and oil cloth, this is just a small portion of the laminates they carry in stock:
I came home with 50% off Soul Blossoms rayon (Amy Butler) for a summer dress, 30% off Loulouthi voile (Anna Maria Horner) and Tula Pink voile for summer blouses, and just one piece of a new Riley Blake line for quilting fabric.
The drive also afforded me some time to work on hexagon blocks, and tomorrow I’ll post an update of how far along I am (exciting!):
Parting shot of the Conservatory as darkness descended:
made by a brunnette 
Wow. That conservatory is absolutely amazing. I really love the hydrangeas. LOVE! That fabric store must have been amazing. Sounds like a great trip. I can’t wait to see the hexi quilt. You know I adore it.
I went to Treadle Yard Goods last year and I loved that store. I couldn’t believe all the oilcloth and voile and other designer fabrics they had. I would love a store like that in Des Moines. I might have to take a trip up there again soon.
I’ve been there twice, and each time I dream about opening a store like that here… not sure if DSM could support it though. The overhead would be CRAZY high on all that specialty fabric.