Well not much of a tale. Just a treasure trove of unique shops that I discovered on the way home from the Midwest Weavers Convention in St Paul last month. What mostly had me yell STOP to my poor hubby, was seeing an assortment of rugs hanging outside a shop called Cultural Cloth In Maiden Rock. Serious jackpot; that made my fiber lovin heart, skip a beat. The delightful owner Mary Ann Wise has an obvious passion for supporting women artists from developing countries around the world. I ended up going home with a felted rug picturing a folk art horse made in Afganistan. I would love to go back for one of their classes. The rug hooking one coming up this weekend looked particularly wonderful


For a good blast of color the shop across the street should fill you up. From the riot of flowers outside to the to the uniquely artistic Mexican icons and mini shrine to Frida Kahlo, Secret Heart Gallery Is a joyful place.


Stockholm is the next town down the road, with the ever popular Stockholm pie Co., a lovely gallery (name forgotten) which had some of Kelly Marshalls weavings for me to go all fan girl on, a cool salvage shop and to top it off a Scandinavian shop. We are lucky we made it home at all.


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