I spent 10 days in Portland and arrived home a few days ago. Of course, I went to quilt shops and will talk about some of the new ones in future posts. I did quite a bit of sewing, which was nice and rested a bit, though not as much as I wanted. I also visited with friends and family.
I got to spend quite a bit of time with the YM. He has a new apartment since I was there last time, which I got to see. I was also able to check in with “The Beast” as he calls his cat, Penelope.
She was quite happy until I got out my phone to snap a photo, then she got this “no papparazzi” look on her face. She accomplished this by slightly moving her ear back.
I was over at the apartment three times, but she only showed herself this one time. No amount of coaxing could get her out the other times. Oh well. She is a good companion for the YM.
The YM had a set of used Elfa (sp?) baskets that he was using as a dresser. He wanted a ride to IKEA to buy new dressers. We looked through the whole store and he ended up with two Gullaberg tall dressers. They are nice white dressers with a lot of drawers. He thought two was too much, but I said that other stuff besides clothes could be stored there as well: games, tools, etc.
We did a few things that were not quilt related. Shocking, I know.
I have been trying to go visit local sights when I am in Portland. My non-quiltmaker friends and family don’t understand how fun it is to visit quilt shops. They seem to be disappointed when I say I only visited quilt shops! LOL!
This time I went to the zoo. Friend Julie was great for planning outings. She checked the weather, which meant we didn’t walk around outdoors in the rain. The zoo has an 10 month old baby elephant and I had to see her. She is adorable. I took about 100 photos. Very worthwhile to go and see.
The zoo is fabulous. While it is a zoo, the enclosures are the best I have ever seen. The first time I went the bears were running around their enclosure under the bridge we were standing on. They looked super happy. This time one was digging for something. I couldn’t see what.
We spent a lot of time with Rose-tu and Tula-tu. Tula-tu is still learning to use her trunk and that was fun to watch. Rose-tu is a great mom! She gently nudged Tula-tu this way and that. We speculated that she was ‘talking’ in a range we couldn’t hear, because Tula-tu kept changing course or doing what Mommy wanted. I think we spent about 20 minutes watching them. The video I took is very calming to watch.
The sea otters (or sea lions??) were also awesome. Watching them swim around their enclosure was also very calming. I was so calm I forgot to take a video, which I regret now. It gives me a reason to go to the zoo again.
In the Arthouse, we set the sewing stations similar to how I did the setup last time. We had two sewing machines, so I had to use some different strategies to lay out projects. it worked fine, partially, I think, because I was well organized.
We had to eat meals on the coffee table, because the beautiful dining room table was a full on sewing worktable. Nobody complained. 🙂
The ironing station was, again, in the kitchen. We used Julie’s small iron, because it is an Oliso v.2 and has a cool headlight feature. It might be a hotter iron, because we had to stack up a couple of ironing pads for when the iron wasn’t in use. I didn’t have to do that last time I was there. Later we found a full sized ironing board in the closet by the front door. I am not sure I have ever looked in that closet! Good to know for next time.
As usual with cutting fabric, we had schnibbles. We ending up putting them in a bowl to keep them corralled.
I had a lot of cutting to do, so the bowl was overflowing by the time we left even though I cut quite a bit at Mary’s house as well. I always see the amount of schnibbles I produce as a marker of how much I am accomplishing.
We went to Pioneer Quilts again. You can read my last post about it where I complained about forgetting to take a new picture.
I took one this time, though the gardens were not as gorgeous as last summer. It is a really nice store and you should go and visit.
I saw this gorgeous purple berry a couple of times. This photo was taken in front of Pioneer Quilts. I really love the color. Someone said they thought it was poisonous. I didn’t see any birds eating the berries.
I think the color is fairly well represented in the photo. I am not sure I have fabric that color, but I’ll have to look. It is very inspiring.
Leah, my hostess, has a new studio in downtown Portland. I am in LOVE. I want a studio like hers. I’d have to start selling quilts or bags to make the rent. She has worked for 10 years to get this studio, working first in her garage, then sharing a studio. She has now graduated to her own 3 room studio where she can have all of her paintings in one place, stand back from her work and see it, do packing and shipping and all the things that a business requires.
She has rented out her garage studio to a young artist. While looking at her work, I saw this table. If I can’t have Leah’s studio, perhaps I can get a table like this?
It would be great for storage and I could use it as a worktable or cutting table. The issue with getting a new table is I have to decide on the size. If I get a large table, I won’t be able to put it in the closet when I need to tidy up. I have to decide whether I care about that.
I only went for one walk while I was gone. Yes, I am getting back to my daily walks now that I am home. While I was on that walk I saw this sign. It mimics a joke I have been telling, though my joke was about quiltmaking. I am thinking about making a sign and putting it on one of the sites to create passive income.
We went to a shop on NE Alberta called Collage. It has craft supplies and stationery. My sister turned me on to it, though she likes to visit Salt and Straw after checking out Collage.
I bought some googly eyes to put on the back of my travel sewing machine. Whoever is across from me at Sew Day will have some eyes looking at them. LOL!
One exciting thing we did was go to a laundromat! I know it sounds crazy. I hadn’t been to a laundromat in YEARS, but we had to go as nobody has suitcases big enough to carry clothes for our whole trip. This place was sparkling clean, but didn’t feel sterile. It had a monitor-person to answer questions and help with the machines. She was very friendly with all of my stupid questions (no, I did not have the app!) There was a cafe with excellent coffee, though Friend Julie said the scone was yucky, having too much baking powder, a clean restroom and comfy places to sit. it was definitely a much better experience than when I last visited a laundromat.
All in all it was a fun trip and I am planning to go again.
