I love to shop for quilting supplies and Blue Box Busselton is a fine example of the kind of LQS I go looking for. I had started a hand-piecing project in 2017 that seems to be coming everywhere with me. Don’t we all start out with the best of intentions to get projects finished as soon as possible?
Hand-piecing & Travel
When I am settled, machine sewing is my slam. On the road, a small hand-piecing project makes total sense. I am writing this blog article from Western Australia and I packed my 2017 project as a way to coerce myself into finishing it. Click here for a picture of the project. I needed to find a new fabric to go with this French General by Moda fabrics. Perhaps something neutral. Before I left, I auditioned a bunch of options from my stash but nothing was singing back at me.
Quilt Shops in Western Australia
To solve my dilemma, I searched for quilt shops in Perth, where I stayed first on this trip. Not much in the way of options. I had my rough itinerary sketched out and searched along the route.
I looked for stores with an online presence so I could see if they had French General or Pondicherry lines of fabric. The very first person to get back to me was Deeanne from The Blue Box in Busselton. This was on the road to Margaret River in Western Australia and it was added immediately to my list.
The Blue Box, Busselton
The wall hanging on the outside of the store bodes well as the Crochet Artist who made it was unafraid of colour (like me)! It looks like this was fed on to a large metal ring and I think this is such a great idea.
I drove through Busselton in the height of summer, 18th February, and the weather was glorious… low humidity and in the high 20s Celsius. It took no time at all to find The Blue Box (good signs!!) and there was a parking spot right outside the door. The crafting gods were looking after me!
Layout
The shop covers the three main groups of crafts that I love (and a bunch more). They had heaps of patchwork fabrics, yarn and supplies for knitting and supplies for crochet. I spotted embroidery, cross-stitch, baskets and felt-making too.
This boded well! I love the design – is that a metal ring used as a sleeve? So cute.
It’s hard to know where to look as there’s a tonne of things to look at. Sometimes it’s a blessing that I travel with only hand luggage as it reduces my temptation to overbuy.
Deanne at the Blue Box
This is the lovely Deeanne who took the time to make sure I found what I needed.
Getting Help
Deeanne remembered me from our email conversation and she helped me make some colour choices. We auditioned some plain colours first. She did have a sort of stonewashed Essex Linen in stock, but the weight was much too heavy for my paper pieces.
I suspected I was heading for a neutral Pondicherry and she had some of these on hand. I was pleased to get some objective ideas about which options gave me the tonal variation I was looking for.
Isn’t that rainbow afghan a tonne of fun?
I’m looking at this wall of yarn a long time after I was actually in the Blue Box, Busselton and I see a few options I’d love to pull for a mitre-square knit blanket I started.
Who could resist wandering around such a great place. I’ve continued to follow the girls on Instagram and they’re still going strong (last update to this page: late 2022).
Thanks Deeanne – loved visiting your store!! Incidentally, I went for lunch right after this visit, why not read that report by clicking here?