I was fortunate that Amanda had some free time and we were able to hang out a little. Of course, we went to quilt shops. I didn’t have a whole day to spend as I was working while I traveled.
Pioneer Quilt Shop – Creepy View
We definitely made time to visit Pioneer Quilts again. I wrote about it a little while ago. The shop had refreshed fabrics and had moved some things around in the lobby area, but was otherwise the same great shop. I looked for ideas for the wool felt I bought last time. I refrained from buying more wool felt, though I was tempted.
I saw some pincushions I could make and also some table runners, though they used black as a background (patterns from Primitive Gatherings). I don’t want something that dark or folk-arty, which is why I was thinking of buying some wool felt yardage. I didn’t as I got the idea to cut overlapping ovals (or another another shape) from what I have and putting them together to make a table runner for the buffet. I’ll check the wool felt I have at home and see if I can make something large enough with the wool felt I have.
Pioneer Quilts door handles
Pioneer Quilts door handles – detail
I never noticed the door handles before, but they were beautiful. I took a picture thinking that I might be able to use some or all of the design for something.
Pioneer Quilts purchases 2022
I also bought a few things, including a new Yoko Saito bag book. The shapes of her bags are amazing! Look at that one on the cover! The ribbon is another Renaissance Ribbon that I hope to use the ribbon on another bag soon. Pioneer Quilts was the first place I saw that type of ribbon in person.
The pinks on the bottom right might be great for the Friesian Pouch with those great pink zippers, especially the circles. I have some of that fabric in a different colorway. I haven’t seen that colorway before.
Pioneer Quilt Shop
3101 SE Courtney
Portland, OR 97222
503.654.1555
info@pioneerquiltshop.com
We stayed with Mary in Ashland overnight on our way to Portland. This area is a quilt shop mecca, but I want to use fabric not buy much more, so I had to balance my love of quilt shops and quilt shopping with my bursting fabric closet.
Green’s – Bags with patterns
Mary directed us to Green’s Sew & Vac, which is a sewing machine and vacuum sales & repair shop with a HUGE selection of bag supplies and 2000 bolts of fabric. They had one of the best selections of bag making supplies I have seen. They also had bags made up – A LOT OF BAGS – and hanging near the patterns, so shoppers could see what the bag looked like and how big it would be. I liked this store even before I talked to Vickie, the owner/operator of the part of the store where the bag making supplies lived.
Green’s – from left to right
I didn’t pay much attention to the machines, but I saw Janome, Babylock, and Bernina for sale. I think that one in the front is a M7 Continental. I am still enamored of that machine, but can’t buy it now. There was also a whole room of vacuums, which I didn’t explore.
Accuquilt display
The shop has so many different aspects. The first thing I saw was a 70% off sale of Accuquilt. You bet I looked at what they had. One thing they that I would have bought in a second was a die for a bowl cozies. I still want to make bowl cozies as gifts for DH’s cousins. Sadly, it was only for the Accuquilt Big not the Accuquilt Go!**, which I have. I might have been tempted to buy an Accuquilt Big, but they didn’t have one. Probably a good thing. I don’t have anywhere to store it at the moment.
Green’s fabrics
In terms of fabric, they had a good selection of quilt fabrics, but also more canvas and heavier weight fabrics like canvas than I have seen at other stores. I didn’t see any of the Echino canvas like I bought in Ashland at Sew Creative last year.
They don’t consider themselves a quilt store, which Vickie made clear to me. They consider themselves to be a bag making store. I think that is a good business model as there aren’t a lot of stores that specialize in bags. They had a lot of quilt-adjacent supplies and the fabrics could, mostly, be used for quilts as well as bags and other projects.
One thing I saw was a lot of embroidery supplies: Kimberbell**, thread, interfacing and things on which to embroider such as tea towels. I didn’t recognize the interfacing brand and I wasn’t in the market so I didn’t investigate.
Bag making supplies
Some of the bag making brands available were Sallie Tomato, Emmaline and ByAnnie. I haven’t actually seen Emmaline in person before, so that was a mini-thrill. The shop carried a lot of hardware, much of it I had never seen in person. I was thrilled with what I saw and wanted to buy everything.As you know, I like online shopping, but there is something special about seeing bag hardware (and fabric) in person.
They have just started this part of the venture, Vickie said, so are adding supplies slowly.
One of the bonuses at this shop was their YouTube page where Vickie has a live session, called “How Vickie Does It”, every Thursday. She told me that she focuses on bag making in these sessions.
Green’s purchases
I bought a couple of things. I am not going to embroider on the tea towels. I am just going to use them in my kitchen. They are perfect for my decor.
I bought the small triangular pieces. Sadly they didn’t have the corresponding lobster clips.
Green’s Sewing & Vacuum Center
1017 Knutson Ave., Medford, OR
Tel: (541) 779-3411
https://greensdirect.com/
https://readysetsewclasses.com/
No masks required
**Obviously, you should shop at local quilt shops. However, I use affiliate links and may be paid for your purchase of an item when you click on an item’s link in my post. There is no additional cost to you for clicking or purchasing items I recommend. I appreciate your clicks and purchases as it helps support this blog.
I don’t know if I am sewing the pieces in the most efficient way, but my method is working for me. It is also just evolving. On this piece, I started sewing a whole section together. You can see that on the top towards the right. It didn’t seem to make sense to me to do that way; it seemed awkward somehow.
I tried to think of the pieces in the Hearts and Cones configuration I talked about before. I couldn’t see the pieces that way and nobody in the La Pass/Pink Door FB group made any suggestions. I decided that getting the black diamonds in place would get them out of the way and they would be less annoying to sew on their own. They are to see because of the black table, but they are in between the butterflies.
Later, I wanted to sew while the YM cooked, but I didn’t want to bring my entire kit into the kitchen so I sewed the mineral (acid green fabric) pentagons into sets of two then added them to the Month 7 rosette later. I haven’t added them all yet, as I am trying to alternate the sewing the star points with sewing other pieces. Once I get all of the mineral pentagons then I will just sew chunks of small pentagons and star points to the piece.
I am still enjoying this project. I can’t wait to get back to it later today.
I decided to use the leftover improv strip blocks for one donation quilt. I just slapped them up on the design wall so I could see what I had. I will definitely do some kind of colorwash effect in the final layout.
There area lot of colors missing, so I will make some more blocks in the missing colors. I think I need about 28 total blocks to make a reasonable/useful sized quilt.
I bought the templates to make this pouch and is coming up fast on my list.
Sometimes I buy a pattern and it languishes for awhile, then all of a sudden I have a bug in my ear to make it. This happens all the time with Sara’s patterns since buying a Minikins set means that I get 12-13 patterns at once. That is what is going on here.
Fun Pink Zippers
This is an interesting pouch because of the way the two sides flap down when you unzip them. As shown in the photo, the front and back of the pouch would be a good place for fussy cutting some great fabric. In my case, I want to make one for myself and, possibly, use those fun pink zippers Julie gave me.There are some black zippers, too, so, maybe a pink and black theme? I thought of pink and turquoise to go with the A Place for Everything Bag, but I am not sure that Philip Jacobs fabric would go with the black zippers. I think I would really like those zippers to pop since they are so awesome.
This makes me think of the Pink Kaffe Quilt. That uses a lot of his fabrics and they go with the pink sashing. Perhaps solid pink for the center and some of the Philip Jacobs fabric for the outsides?
I might make two of these at a time – one for a friend who has been super kind to me lately. I could make few and get gifts ready for later in the year. We’ll have to see.
The pouch is from Sara Lawson’s Minikins Season 3 group of patterns. Sara Lawson owns the Sew Sweetness website and pattern company. She was kind enough to allow me to use her photo while I muse on fabric choices for this pouch.
I know that you know how much I like her patterns. You can see how many of the Minikins patterns I have made. They even have their own page!
I made another scissor cozy the other day to give as a hostess gift. As I said when I made Maria’s and Gerre‘s, I like making these. I don’t know if they are useful, but they are kind of a unique gift and something not everyone makes.
For once I remembered to quilt the piece before cutting it out. It was quite a bit of quilting, but I think it looks nice.
I can’t quite decide how long to make the leash, so this one is pretty long.
I used some fabric I have had for ages, which turned out well.
Ends n.12 is another in the series of quilts I am making using the cut off edges of quilt backs. This quilt, as mentioned, uses Pop Parade, the never-ending fat quarter pack.
This was mostly done. I had to sew a piece or two on, but mostly I had to make the back.
Ends n.12 (Pop Parade) – back
The back uses the rest of that Italian Restaurant fabric I talked about recently.
This will go to Peggy at the next Sew Day.
See all of the Ends quilt on their own series page.
I started this Rainbow pincushion after receiving the pieces and parts as part of the Happy Box from Sew Hungry Hippie.
The Happy Box is a subscription box, but not a fabric and projects subscription box exclusively. I received my first one towards the beginning of the month and really enjoyed the contents.
One of the things it included was a kit for this rainbow pincushion. The top was foundation paper pieced, which gave me the opportunity to try the Quilter’s Select FPP paper in a small way.
All of the pieces were cut and ready to sew, so I just started making it. I don’t really need another pincushion, but WTH? It is cheerful looking.
Lee Ann brought Tim’s quilt back to the guild for donation. It was part of, what Peggy called, the Bind-a-thon. I think the last time I talked about it was in July.
I had totally forgotten about it (out of sight, out of mind). I am glad it is finished and it on its way to some needy person.
I cut and basted a few of those damn triangles at a couple of meetings last week, but did the bulk of the work at Sew Day. I divided up the different shapes and alternated the skinny triangles with all the other shapes. I got the basting done and was able to do a bit of stitching before Sew Day was over.
I also sewed in the evening, so I have a good start for Month 8.
I have wanted to make a Feathered Star quilt or, at least a block, for a long time. It has been on my Dream/Future Project list for a long time.
I first got interested in the Feathered Star design when I heard Marsha McCloskey speak at a guild meeting. She has worked with the Feathered Star design for most of her career. She has also written books, designed fabric and created tools. Most Modern quiltmakers have probably never heard of her. I consider her to be one of the greats.
Feathered Star 1
Feathered Star 2
Recently, I received the two EQ Feathered Star Add-ons as a gift. Now I have no excuse for not making SOMETHING with this design.
As another sign from the universe, I saw a Barbara Brackman blog post where she talks about Feathered Star. I think some of the blocks would appeal to modern quiltmakers. The way the dye has faded gives them an interesting asymmetrical look.
I am thinking about making a Feathered Star laid out like a Lone Star – one block very large. I also plan to make it as complicated as I can stand (like the large red/blue option in the Feathered Stars #1 above) so that it looks impressive. I have looked through the EQ options, but only cursorily. I need to look at them further and decide.
Do you have any experience with Feathered Star quilts or blocks?
I am leading the door prize team again this year for the guild. I finally got around to organizing all of the things I have. What I do is lay them all out, sort them by month and then put them in ziploc bags with with the month written on the outside. I try to create themes, like red or hearts for February, but I don’t mandate what my team members make, so sometimes I have to make due. Nobody has ever complained.
When the month comes along, I can grab a ziploc, stuff it in a bag and go to the meeting. Usually, I have to do this in advance so I can take a picture and send it to Maria. She needs info in advance for the hybrid part of the meeting. Theoretically, I can put the bag together at the last minute and just go, but I almost never do that.
BAM Door prized organized
I used the fabulous Poolside Tote that Angela made for me as a thank you for organizing the officer gifts for a few years. I love that bag. It is great for this purpose. Sometime I’ll use it for something else, but for now, it works really well for this purpose
Carrie’s contribution
Carrie is a fantastic team member. She recently put together zipper pouches for the monthly prizes that are super useful.
These items arrived in a zipper pouch, so all I had to do was toss the zipper pouch in my plastic bag. I did take one out so I could take a photo. I think having an extra pair of scissors is always useful.
Drawstring bags by Sue
Sue G sent along some small drawstring bags she made. You can see some of Sue’s in the picture at the top, but I mentioned them when I received them. She did a great job fussy cutting.
Sue G’s Drawstring Bag
Drawstring bags are popular this year as I received a large one from Cyndi for March, then I received another one from Sue G. It is really pretty. I love the piecing. The ties are also perfect. I believe both Sue G and Cyndi used the In Color Order Drawstring bag pattern.
Cheri never comes to meetings, but she always contributes to the door prize bags as well. This year she made some gift bags like I make for holidays.
Canvas Jane Market Tote (outie)
Sue S donated some canvas bags I can use to carry all the gifts and the recent French canvas bags I made are for door prizes.
