Last week I sped up to Portland to pick up the YM from college. Yes, he has completed his freshman year of college. I can’t believe it! Time has flown. Stay tuned about whether he finished successfully. I am sure he did, but…. well, you know.
I drove up in two days, which is hard. It is about 700 miles and that is two full days of driving. Of course, I stopped at a couple of quilt shops along the route – Ocean Waves Quilt Shop in Eureka (always a favorite and reviewed previously) and Forget-Me-Knots in Bandon. I was in Bandon in August on my way back from dropping the YM off and reviewed the shop at that time. Both are great shops and I didn’t see anything that would turn me off from visiting again.
The Young Man had some errands on campus on Friday regarding his fall schedule and I needed to not turn right around and drive 350 miles, so we did his errands and then went our separate ways for a few hours. He needed a nap and I needed to see some quilt shops. I had to drive but it wasn’t flat out highway driving.
First stop: Cool Cottons. I had heard about this shop and tried to find it last time, but we missed the exit. I checked the directions again and found that the hotel we stayed in last time was farther south than the interchange we needed, which was the problem. As a result, mom and I got lost on our way there and gave up. I was determined this time and found my way.
I was a little scared by the owner when I arrived, but she turned out to be very nice and very chatty. We talked a little about the transformation of the house where the shop was located. Of course, we also talked about projects.
The store is the bottom floor of a Craftsman style house. The transformation was very well done. It was also sensitively done, which is nice for such an architecturally interesting house.
I loved their fabric and wanted almost EVERYTHING. I restrained myself and tried to buy things that I needed. I found some of the background fabric (see below) for the quilt I started in the Victoria Findlay Wolfe class. I wasn’t even looking for it, but when I saw it – well, what I think it the right color since I didn’t have a swatch, I bought enough for a background. If this isn’t the right color, I have enough for a background on another quilt. Buying this fabric means I have to actually work on that quilt! 😉
This shop has mostly modern fabrics, though not so many of them are the big prints. I saw lots of tone-on-tones / blender type fabrics as well as the various fabrics with motifs that come in lots of different colors like the Lizzy House Pearl Bracelets, the Timeless Treasures cross hatch fabrics, etc.
The shop had a lot of GREAT greys. I resisted, though I didn’t want to.
The selection of blues and turquoises was fantastic. They had a lot of in between colors, such as aqua, blue green, dark blue (like that StudioE blue I like so much) as well. Again, I was tempted to get one of each. Again, I restrained myself.
The stairs are used as display space for some of the solids, which was a great idea. In general, I thought the space was used very well for fabric. It was functional, appealing and very light.
The shop carried American Made Brands of solids. Yay! I didn’t see any Konas, but there could have been some.
I also saw an almost-full, if not full line of Peppered Cottons by Pepper Cory. Frances has talked about her and her fabric on the Off Kilter Quilt podcast. I hadn’t seen them in person before, so that was nice.
I would have bought more if they had had the fabrics I wanted in fat quarters. I know I go back and forth on fat quarters, but I am in restraint mode, so I am going with FQs some of the time lately. I am not complaining at all about the fat quarters at all. There were plenty of FQs in the shop, just not the ones I was considering. Also, I didn’t ask if they cut FQs, which I should have done to make this a complete review.
I was also pleased to see a really nice selection of sale fabrics. The two at the bottom of the photo below were both on sale. I will use the blue for the next food quilt and the pink was just interesting. There were also sale FQs.
Prices were $11-12 per yard, which I have found to be normal in urban areas.
The neighborhood is interesting. There weren’t a lot of traffic lights, so I got some steps in by walking a few blocks to a signal with a cross walk. There is a nice looking bakery for non-GF people, a couple of interesting vintage shops and some boutiques. I had coffee at a place called Coava after my fiber expedition.
This shop was stuffed with fabric, but didn’t come across as messy. There were shelves of fabric, nicely arranged, in almost every available space. This is a shop I will definitely visit again.
Above is my art shot of coffee and fabric. 😉
Cool Cottons
2417 SE Hawthorne Blvd
Portland, OR 97214
coolcottons@hotmail.com
503.232.0417
Monday: 10 – 6
Tuesday: 10 – 6
Wednesday: 10 – 6
Thursday: 12 – 8
Friday: 10 – 6
Saturday: 10 – 6
Sunday: 12 – 5
I know you are so happy to have your boy home! Mine arrived yesterday, and it is the best feeling to have them all back under one roof just in time for Mother’s Day.
This looks like a lovely shop. I’m a little jealous since I was unable to take the time off work to make the drive to Lexington and pack up MMC’s dorm room. There are several quilt shops along the way that I would like to visit or revisit.
I hope you have a happy Mother’s Day!
I really enjoy seeing shops in different areas. The fabrics can be so different.
Perhaps you can schedule the time off for next year now, though the end of freshman year is special.
My mother’s day was nice. Hope yours was as well.
This looks like a very nice shop. I have to keep it in mind for one day when we go to visit the West Coast again. Hope YM pitched in with the driving on the way back! Was it all highway, or did you have to take local roads? Just curious… The longest I ever had to dtive by myself was from Virginia, about 300 miles… I can’t imagine being in the car for 2 days. Hope you had a chance to listen to some podcasts 🙂
The YM does not know how to drive so it was all me. I think it would have been more comfortable if I had a newer car, but that will come. We took Hwy 101, which is longer than 5, but also has less traffic lower highway speeds and gorgeous views along the Oregon and California coasts.
Why did I think he has his licence?
Most kids at his age have their license?
I guess… And I remember Sandi’s daughter starting to drive so I automatically thought YM must be driving already… Did he not want to get a licence, or he just simply didn’t need it?
Isn’t ready, though he is more ready than before. Most of his friends and cousins don’t drive or learned to drive later.