Vancouver and Ketchikan: The Shops

My little family just returned from a trip. We started in Vancouver for a weekend, and then headed on a 7-day Disney Cruise of Alaska, and wrapped it all up with one last day in Vancouver before heading back to Indiana.

It was an incredible trip, which I will definitely share more about later, but for right now, I want to tell you about the shops I visited while I was there!

First off, we went to Our Social Fabric in Vancouver. I’m pretty sure that our Lyft driver thought we were very strange tourists who wanted to be dropped off at a warehouse, but it was worth the trip! It was my first time at a creative reuse shop, and it was AMAZING. It was much bigger than I expected, so well organized, and just a delight to see that all of these materials were having a chance at a second life. I was impressed that they had even made samples and had mannequins.

I especially loved some of the vintage patterns that I came across. I didn’t buy any, because they unfortunately were not the sizes I would need (and also, my daughter has already been a Ninja Turtle for Halloween, so I doubt she’ll pick it again). And really… Captain Planet was ahead of his time.

I was specifically on the lookout for quilting cottons in shades of blue for a quilt pattern that I am working on. Any blues I bought had to be approved by my daughter, so we ended up settling on only three blue fabrics, though I could definitely have purchased more. But given we were going to have to carry it with us for another week of vacation, three was probably the right number anyway.

When we got off the ship in Ketchikan, I was delighted that one of the first shops I encountered was Whale’s Tail Quilt Shop! They had some neat Alaska-specific fabric, and also some that were related to animals we had seen on our trip. We ended up buying all of the seal fabric in the photo below that they had. I plan to use it for the backing of the new blue quilt design.

We continued to meander through town, and happened upon Parnassus Books, an absolutely fabulous book shop. My daughter picked a couple of books to buy. I spent most of the time trying to talk myself out of buying the adorable needle felting kits they had, and admiring their craft book section.

I was also completely stopped in my tracks by this calendar, though I didn’t buy it. Every page a different man with a different quilt - I love it! Lol. (Also - if you look to the left in this picture, you can see an adorable gnome needle felting kit!)

What is more delightful than a fantastic bookstore? A bookstore that is literally next door to a yarn shop, that’s what. And Parnassus happens to have Fabulous Fiber Arts and More as a neighbor! This shop was totally gorgeous and had some really amazing Alaskan offerings. Since I just indulged in so much yarn at Hoosier Hills and already have a to-knit list a mile long, I didn’t buy anything. But I would still highly recommend checking out this shop if you’re in Ketchikan.

And that is how I got my crafty fix in Vancouver and Ketchikan! All great shops that are worth checking out if you’re ever in the area.