2024 – Artquiltmaker Blog

Portland: Bolt

Bolt is a shop I have visited before. It is not in the same location. Since the last time I visited, a few years ago, they have moved twice. The last shop, on the same street, was tiny. This shop is much larger and has a lot more fabric. It is not specifically for quiltmaking, but they have quite a bit of quiltmaking fabric. I think they have more garment and bagmaking fabric and supplies.

I was pleased to see that the shop seems to be doing well.

The entrance to the shop was open and welcoming, but also sucked me right into the love that is fabric. This image gives you an idea of the size of the shop.

I immediately saw some canvas that I loved. I really tried hard not to buy it. I have a lot of bagmaking fabric already. See below whether I succeeded or not.

I was amazed at the amount and variety of notions they had. I only took a photo of one side of the display. There were also a number of other types of stitching notions to my right. The number of Sashiko thread colors they had was amazing.

In the shelf on the bottom (right) is a lot of interfacing.

I thought their book choices were interesting as well. I didn’t see the standard C&T books. Most of them were new to me. I really liked the idea of the Feel Something Make Something** book. I deal with stress and my emotions by sewing, so this is very apropos. I’ll see if they have it at the library and take a look before I buy it.

The section behind the books was home to most of the quiltmaking cottons. Closest to the books was a rack of toweling cottons. I was surprised and pleased to see so many different options at many of the shops we visited. I wish we had the variety in the Bay Area.

In the area behind the toweling fabrics were the other quilting cottons. I saw a number of fabrics that I had also seen at Sewlarium including the new Ruby Star.

Bolt - Quilting Cottons — Bolt – Quilting Cottons

I was pleased to see a very few Martha Negley vegetable fabrics. Unfortunately they had taupe and beige backgrounds. As much as I love Martha Negley, I don’t want those colors in my palette. Some of her fabrics had beautiful purple and aqua backgrounds and I long for colors to return.

The photo shows some wools, some bags and some solids.

There was thread, buttons and zippers on the other side of the shop.

Bolt also carried a lot of fabric on rolls. Some of these were various garment fabrics and some were other heavier fabrics. I know there was some canvas on rolls, too.

The button selection wasn’t as good as Josephine’s Dry Goods, but they had most uses covered.

Bolt fabric and supplies - 2024 — Bolt fabric and supplies – 2024

I bought some fabrics to make some bags. Yes, I succumbed to the canvas! I am thinking I will use the Superbloom tote bag pattern. That could change as the fabrics would be great for a Poolside tote.

As you can, maybe, see these are canvas fabrics. The fabric on the left will be a bag for my aunt and the fabric on the right will be a bag for me. Perhaps I will solve my going-to-class tool tote problem. I have to think about what my aunt would like and would use. As for me, I still have the idea that I want to make a Sheffield tote for myself.

Bolt
2904 NE Alberta St.
Portland, OR 97211
503.287.2658

**N. B. : Obviously, you should shop at local quilt shops and small businesses. However, if you are too busy or can’t find what you need there, I use Amazon 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.

Pantone Design #2

I slapped more blocks on the design wall, still without my ideas handy.

There are some elements I find interesting and want to keep (hooray for cell phone cameras!), but this still isn’t right overall. I may need to make a few more blocks, if I want to finish off some of the design elements. I’d rather work with what I have, but we will see.

Portland: Josephine’s Dry Goods

I know I talked about Sewlarium the other day, but Josephine’s Dry Goods (JDG) was actually the first shop we visited. In comparison to the other places I know in Portland, I am not sure where it was. I let Amanda drive and I just entertained her. 😉

JDG is described as a luxurious fabric boutique. This shop reminded me of the first shop, Satin Moon at 23 Clement Street, I visited in the City when I first started to sew. Both shops are not just quiltmaking stores. They are sewing stores with a tendency to specialize in garments and garment fabrics.

Gardenia by Sally Kelly - border print — Gardenia by Sally Kelly – border print

JDG had quiltmaking cottons, including some designs I hadn’t seen or colorways I hadn’t seen. One was Gardenia by Sally Kelly from Windham. Unlike many quilt shops, JDG did not have the whole line. I thought the border print was gorgeous. With a black bodice, this print would make a fantastic dress. The colors of the flowers were so vibrant and lovely.

JDG- left of the front door — JDG-left of the front door

Much of the fabric was on rolls, which I always find interesting. There were velvets, silks, a lot of Liberty lawn, linen – a lot of linen, suiting fabrics, some chiffons and all manner of other garment sewing fabrics.

A number of the garment sewing fabrics were set with a drape of fabric flowing off of them, the way House of Fabrics used to display fabric, but you don’t see in quilt stores at all. I think it shows the drape of the fabric. Not all the fabrics were displayed that way. I think they displayed the fabrics as required for the type of fabric. I think that shows a thoughtful owner or manager.

Just out of the photo, above, behind the fabric, was a couch where two men (husbands?) were parked.

This photo captures the front of the shop to the left of the front door. You can see some of the fabrics in the photo above from another angle.

You can also see some of the finer fabrics that were on rolls. The green in the top roll was amazing! It was a velvet, but not a thick one, so, perhaps, velvet-like. I would love a dress made out of it.

In the back of the photo, against the wall, you can see some silks and various Japanese fabrics. I think most were either silk or linen. Right in front of the leftmost wall display are the Liberty fabrics.

JDG - left side of shop — JDG – left side of shop

There really was fabric everywhere and there were also a lot of customers on a Thursday when we were in the shop. I was kind of amazed.

The photo, right, shows many more of the rolls of fabric. I thought that would be a good place to find some oilcloth that would go well in my dining room, but no luck on that front. I did see a linen stripe in teal that, in a different color, might be great for reupholstering my wingback chairs. Mom didn’t like the width of the stripe.

From where I was standing above, I could turn and see towards the front of the shop. This was an aisle of notions. The button case is on the right. It reminds me of the button wall at Britex before they moved. So many buttons! I was tempted to buy some crystal and rhinestone cluster buttons. I don’t have a project, so I passed.

In the back of the photo is a rack of garment patterns by independent designers. The way the patterns are displayed makes it hard to see the front of the pattern, which means it is hard to know what kind of pattern you are looking at.

JDG - cutting counter — JDG – cutting counter

The front of the shop has a nice big counter. I would LOVE a cutting table like the one they have.

They rip all of their fabric and that sounds always makes me cringe. I know why they do it.

Above the counter, probably for their website, they have a camera setup that looks pretty sophisticated.

I didn’t buy anything. I might have bought the Gardenia border print, but I didn’t have a project plan, so I restrained myself.

____________________________________

Josephine’s Dry Goods
2609 SE Clinton Street
Portland, OR 97202
P: 503-224-4202
Info@JosephinesDryGoods.com

Portland: Sewlarium

Sewlarium - Portland — Sewlarium – Portland

As is my habit, I went out with Amanda to fabric stores while I was in Portland last week. She found some shops which we had never visited.

Sewlarium is a new shop in Portland. I visited twice, once with Amanda, once with Julie.

It has been open since January and is owned by a young man named Zachariah. That’s right! A YOUNG MAN. He said that he is active in all the local guilds and his business has been slowly growing.

One part of his business is quilting. He has a longarm and is getting more longarm clients as people get to know him. He got his longarm about a year before he opened the shop and is still building his skills. The longarming he does is hand guided edge to edge using pantographs. He practices a lot on charity quilts from local guilds. Zachariah has a relationship with other longarmers if someone needs more sophisticated custom quilting. It seems to be normal to have a longarm in a shop now. It seems reasonable that small businesses need as many income streams as possible

Sewlarium - entrance — Sewlarium – entrance

When we walked in, we saw patterns and notions. He had a whole rack of Elizabeth Hartman patterns. I don’t want to make her patterns, but I always enjoy looking at them. The ideas are so funny. There were some I have never seen, such as Cats in Pajamas.

Around the patterns were a basket of toweling fabrics in various holiday motifs. There was also a display of Guterman thread. He also had some Aurifil in neutral colors near the cash register. Just out of the picture was a new display of new Ruby Star Society fabrics and some Alison Glass-looking fabrics from Moda right near the front door. Zachariah also had some notions near the front door.

Sewlarium - front of shop — Sewlarium – front of shop

I noticed that he had some of the Dropcloth Sampler kits on the wall with the notions.

There was fabric tucked everywhere, including under the cutting table. The fabric in the shop was very well curated.

Sewlarium - Eversew — Sewlarium – Eversew

Speaking of that, I saw a lot of the ‘Start to Sew’ and ‘Start to Quilt’ box kits around the shop. I think those kits might be related to EverSew machines which he also had in the shop. Full service!

I also saw quite a few panels. The second time I went in Zachariah was working on a panel kit making a monkey backpack. It was very cute.

I only saw one quilt kit (Tula Pink, of course).

Sewlarium - Tula True Colors — Sewlarium – Tula True Colors

Zachariah had good fabric. He had the new Ruby Star line, as mentioned, and most, if not all, of the Tula True Colors. He was also knowledgeable out fabric, which made me think he he has been quiltmaking for awhile, though I forgot to ask.

All over the shops we visited were Bigfoot. As you can see there is a panel hanging over the True Colors. This is just one of the various Bigfoot fabrics we saw.

Sewlarium - from front to back of the shop — Sewlarium – from front to back of the shop

Sewlarium - behind the longarm area — Sewlarium – behind the longarm area

Sewlarium - sale and interfacing room — Sewlarium – sale and interfacing room

Sewlarium - back notions area — Sewlarium – back notions area

Sewlarium - pre-made binding — Sewlarium – pre-made binding

Julie showed me some pre-made binding that actually looked cool. Aside from it not being washed, I think the pre-made binding would be a good option for some quilts. It would certainly save time.

I really liked this shop. It was open, clean and fresh looking. Zachariah was really friendly and chatted with us, but not too much.

The best thing about the shop was the wall of zippers! He had about 30 coils of #5 zippers on the wall. You could choose the one you wanted as well as the amount. It was fantastic. No online shopping required, though he does have an online shop if you are not in Portland.

He had a few zipper pulls, but I think he needs to stock up on a greater variety. I am sure that is in the cards.

The thing about these zippers is he said he was a bag guy, as in he enjoyed making bags. He lamented the fact that he has only a few bag patterns and no samples. I told him I knew he will get to adding more bags and more samples. I suggested having a Friday night bag club like the guild has after meetings. Poor guy has a lot on his plate so we’ll see.

I bought a few fabrics to make bags I have in mind plus some of his fabulous zippers!

Sewlarium
3236 N Lombard St.
Portland, OR 97217
Daily: 11am - 7pm
CLOSED TUESDAY
(971)400-0446

More Travel to Portland

As you might have noticed, I visited Portland last week. I am off of my January and October schedule, because of work. However, I finished my contract last week and have a little time off.

Again, I took my mom so she could have a rest from her caregiving duties.

We drove up, spent the night in Medford, then continued on to Portland. We try and stop at a wide spot in the road for a cinnamon roll for my sister. The bakery has amazing pastries, most of which I cannot eat, but my sister LOVES. It is a cheap thrill for my sister (the one setting up Recovery Ranch Sanctuary), so I try and stop. There is nothing else there except a gas station. It has been a scary place to stop in the past. They have completely rehabbed the gas station since the last time we visited and now the area doesn’t feel as scary.

We stopped in Cottage Grove for a break. My mom is a terrible navigator. Google Maps and she do not get along, so we got lost. We saw this cool painting, however as we meandered through the old part of Cottage Grove.

We are not staying at our usual AirBnB, but are staying closer to my sister. We have settled in pretty well. The house is cute and clean. The kitchen supplies leave a lot to be desired. We like to cook together, which I suppose other vacationers don’t do, so we are making do.

We also came up to help the YM settle in to his new apartment. Unfortunately, he hasn’t moved yet, so we couldn’t help him. As a result, we didn’t do very much beyond seeing friends and family and visiting quilt shops. I visited Josephine’s Dry Goods, Sewlarium, Bolt, Feather Your Nest, Knitted Wit, My Quilting Loft, Just for Fun (Vancouver, WA).

We did go out to Scappoose where my great-grandmother lived. We tried to find the house my mom remembered. When we found ourselves on a gravel road heading into a tree tunnel I put a halt to the expedition. The town looks REALLY different that my Mom remembered. I only remember riding a pony in my great-grandmother’s front yard, so I was no help. I was disappointed I couldn’t help take Mom down memory lane, but it is possible the house was so extensively remodeled that it would be unrecognizable. It was bad enough that the town was so different.

Elephants snacking & cooling off in their house

One elephant going to different play and snack stations

We also went to the Oregon Zoo (formerly the Portland Zoo). I am always anxious about visiting zoos, because I feel bad for the animals if the enclosures are terrible. This zoo is amazing. There was a path that visitors could follow through the Pacific Northwest ecosystem. The animal enclosures were placed strategically so you could see where they fit in. While still enclosures, they are pretty amazing – large and full of interesting elements and toys, places to hide and play. The elephant enclosure is enormous. It winds around a large area of the park so they can wander, if they want. They have a house where they can go to cool off. There also a couple of pools and lots of space to walk. It isn’t the wild, but they also don’t have poachers shooting at them. The black bear enclosure was similar. The bears could run around, go up and down hills, in and out of various structures and hang out in pools. One bear took a drink then sat in the pool so his feet and rear end got wet. It was funny. I also enjoyed all the walking, though I had to hold Mom up when it was time to go. She hadn’t walked so much in a long time.

The Zoo had an exhibit near the Condors with this wonderful sculpture.

This piece is made from plastic garbage that washed up on a beach somewhere. There is an organization, Washed Ashore, that is trying to bring awareness to the problem of plastic garbage. They work with artists to make various artworks. The artworks travel or are installed somewhere to help bring awareness of the longterm problems of plastic and garbage to people in an accessible way.

'Antique' store finds — ‘Antique’ store finds

While out with Amanda in Gresham, we stopped at an antique store. I was sort of looking for postcards to send, but the ones I found of Oregon sights were too expensive for my purposes. I found a small selection of other places that were only $0.25 each and I bought a few. I also found a red Tupperware storage box that I have been looking at on Etsy. It was a good price, in good shape and I didn’t have to pay shipping.

In the window of that shop was the oddest looking quilt. I couldn’t see all of it, but it was a definite mishmash.

I see a large 9 Patch piece, then some appliqued hearts above the 9 patch section. There are also a few hearts on top of the 9 patches. There is a vine piece in the corner that may have been for another quilt. In the left hand corner is an elephant. I couldn’t tell if it was a panel or appliqued as there was too much glare. The very sad part was that this quilt was being sold for $59.99. 🙁 As strange as it is, it definitely has a story to tell.

We both needed outfits for my niece’s wedding, which is coming up this weekend. We saw a Lesley Evers shop and were both able to get lovely looking and unique (not weird) outfits for the wedding. I have shoes. SIL#3 wants us to wear hats, so I have to figure that out, but it was such a relief to get that chore (mostly) off of my list.

New Cane Chain

I fixed the Cane Chain. Well, really I remade the Cane Chain using new fabric, but the same hardware**. I am not confident that it won’t fail again, but we will see. Stay tuned for a review from Mom.

What is This? The 70s?

I am not sure what I was thinking several months ago when I started looking at needlepoint kits. Yes, you read that right NEEDLEPOINT. I found a cushion cover design I really liked, mostly because of the turquoise background.

I didn’t buy it right away. I actually waited several months, but kept going back to it and looking it. I finally bought it last week. I haven’t started it yet as I want to finish a knitted scarf on which I am working.

I think I have to re-learn how to needlepoint as I have very little idea of what to do to follow the pattern. I am sure YouTube has something.

The kit came with the pattern painted (or printed) on canvas. It also came with a lot of yarn. With cross stitch, I would make a card with holes and labeled with the numbers of the yarn. I would loop the yarns through the holes and have everything well organized. I don’t know if I should do that as I don’t have a chart that tells me which colors go where. I just have the canvas. I think I need to get some advice from someone who does needlepoint.

Love for my Garden Cushion kit - back — Love for my Garden Cushion kit – back

I have all of the yarn. It is all separated into these little bundles.

Cross your fingers for me. I’ll let you know when I start it.

Pantone Design #1

I finally started putting the Pantone blocks up on the design wall. I was itching to do it after I saw Julie putting some of her blocks up.

After I finished the last batch, which Friend Julie received the day after I sent them (!), I couldn’t help but slap some of the blocks up on the design wall.

I didn’t have my ideas handy, so I just put the blocks up. This will not be the final quilt and it may be that I don’t keep any of the elements in this arrangement. It was fun to put them up on the design wall.

What’s on the Design Wall?

Small Design Wall - June 2024 — Small Design Wall – June 2024

There are three big projects on my design wall, but a slew of littler bits and pieces as well.
It looks really messy, but there is a method to the chaos. I am still looking forward to getting some of those projects off the design wall, so the projects that are left have a little breathing space.

Small design wall - June 2024 - numbered — Small design wall – June 2024 – numbered

1. That is a lone turquoise and red 4 patch. I really like it and keep trying to think of how to use it or whether I should make a bunch more. I don’t currently cut 2×2 inch squares, so that would be an addition to my cutting chart.
2. That Rock Star block from Sew Kind of Wonderful is made with the Wonder Curve Ruler. Unfortunately, I was not able to find a link on their website to the sampler. I guess they never made it into a pattern. Too bad. I am planning to make a ruler sampler to fulfill part of the BAM President’s Challenge.

3. That is the black improv piece that will be a donation quilt, but I haven’t gotten back to it. It has grown since I last mentioned it in April, but it isn’t finished. I think I will clear out the green bin, then see if I have enough black to get back to this quilt and finish it. I made one small piece that will be added. I actually made it for the grey improv piece (#4), but decided it was too dark and will add it to the black piece.
4. That is the grey improv piece that will eventually be a donation quilt. I haven’t gotten back to it. It has grown since I last mentioned it in April, but it still isn’t finished. I plan to clear out the green bin, then see if I have enough grey to get back to this quilt top and finish it. I made one small piece that was too dark to be added. I like the lightness of the grey piece. It won’t go to waste. I will add it to the black improv piece.
5. Pantone Project blocks. All the blocks are now done and I am about to start putting them on the design to arrange them to make a quilt. I drew some ideas, which I thought were pretty exciting. I can’t wait to see how they translate to a quilt, or IF they translate to a quilt.
6. These are the rest of the green strip blocks that are not currently on the large design wall. I have enough to make another quilt of green strips blocks and then will have 1-2 leftover for the next Rainbow strip donation quilt.
7. Random piece of grey fabric from the Scrappy Celebration quilt. I LOVE this background and wish they still made it. I think this is my last piece.
8. This is the start of some green 16 patch donation blocks. I got sidetracked by the green strip donation blocks. Scraps win over 2.5 inch squares every day.
9. The start of the green improv donation top. It is emerging as I run out of strips and just have small scrap pieces of fabric.

More Mette Rings

I enjoyed folding the Thanksgiving Mette Ring I talked about a couple of weeks ago, so I made some more with a pack of paper I had purchased….sometime. I might as well use it, right?

I am planning on an installation(?) for the Fair, so I need a few more of these. I am working on a larger one with some larger paper and we will have to see how I can connect these.

The other thing is that I am a little sick of these and may want to make another kind of paper wreath. We’ll see.

Best Wishes for the 4th of July

On Wikipedia, this holiday is described as “Independence Day, known colloquially as the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the Declaration of Independence, which was ratified by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, establishing the United States of America.”

My wish is that people reflect on what it meant to write the Declaration of Independence. It did not mean, in my reading, tell lies and do whatever you want to get people to do your bidding.

Let’s be kind, work together, have robust but civil discussions and respect the choices of others.

Cane Chain Fail

I gave the Cane Chain to Mom and got it back fairly quickly as it had failed. I was upset as that was not my intention and she fell once (before not as a result of this fail-whew) trying to retrieve her cane. Fortunately, this fail did not cause any accidents.

Along with the item came instructions. She didn’t like the feel of the webbing and she needed it an inch or so longer.

Now I plan to make another, but use the same hardware, if I can. I plan to make it out of fabric and make the spot where the hardware clamps on thicker so it doesn’t pull out. I may use some Decovil or the thick Pellon interfacing.

Stay tuned.

Pantone Blocks

I finished work on Friday and spent the weekend on some cleanup projects, one of which was the Pantone blocks.

I finally finished all the blocks for the Pantone Project. I am excited that I can start playing with the layout, especially after I saw what Friend Julie was doing on her design wall!

These have been hanging around my workroom for a few weeks now. Last weekend was really the first time in a few weeks I had uninterrupted time to sew. DH was out and the house was quiet so I could concentrate. Fortunately, except for one fabric, I had picked out all the fabrics previously so all I had to do was cut and sew. I did choose some of the easier blocks, but I tried to choose blocks I thought I could use in the overall quilt design. Now to just get these to Julie at some point soon.