Monday, June 27, 2011

The Quilt Shop, Santiago, Chile

You can tell life has been crazy when it takes you 2 weeks to blog about something you really enjoyed. But as many of you know, that is my life. I hope it will settle down at some point, but for now, I will take it as it comes :-).

All this to say, that I am really excited to share a surprise that I stumbled upon in Santiago, Chile 2 weeks ago. The Quilt Shop! That's right. I was in Argentina and Chile for business so of course I went looking for a quilt shop. Although I searched the web and asked around, I found nothing in Buenos Aires, Argentina. No one there even knew what I was asking about. But while browsing the web for a shop in Argentina, up popped an article about the owner of a shop in Chile, who had single handedly brought the art of quilting to Chile!  Pilar Donoso I., a Chilean woman who had lived in California for twenty years.  You can read the whole story on The Planet Patchwork site here.

But Pilar, did just that. She opened the only quilt shop in Chile, she has her own line of patterns written entirely in Spanish and she teaches classes to a growing number of Chilean Quilters. They even had their first show last year! The shop on Vitacura, is tucked behind a large tree but is quite welcoming, with brightly colored quilts hanging throughout the shop. All are class samplers and as Pilar says, making samples for classes means less time for her personal quilting, but it helps to promote the shop and where quilting is heading.

Visiting the shop, you van see why Pilar has been so successful. When I entered with a co-worker from Mexico, she got up from her machine and chatted with us for quite awhile, helping to share the art of quilting with my co-worker, who had no idea why I dragged her off to find a quilt shop before we could eat dinner :-).  Before she met me, the co-worker had no idea that people cut up fabric, only to sew it back again.

Pilar and I chatted about quilting in Latin America in general and Chile in particular until another customer came in. I browsed the fabrics, while she gave the new customer the same warm welcome she had given us. I made my selections, seeing many fabrics I recognized from shops here in the states, but as always supporting the LQS I visit. Pilar made sure she gave me one of her signature The Quilt Shop bags to carry my goodies home.






Yum..  Yumm...  I have a clown quilt to make for a baby, so these fabrics are just perfect :-).

Thanks Pilar!


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

These are beautiful Renee!
Can hardly wait to see the clown quilt.

Great night at mini group too.
Teri

Blue & White Wear said...

I have lived in Santiago for almost two years and just found out about this shop today. It is fairly close to where I live. Looking forward to visiting it!

Renee said...

Hi Blue & White Wear... first thanks for visiting my blog! Hope you have a good visit at the Quilt Shop!! Please tell Pilar I said hello :-).