The other shop I visited in Portland was Bolt. It is near a really nice neighborhood that reminded me of Berkeley.
I have heard about this shop, but I don’t remember where. I wasn’t sure what to expect and was pleasantly surprised.
This is a small shop and a number of my photos were blurry, so you’ll get a taste of the shop then you’ll have to go and visit yourself.
The shop has a respectable amount of quilting weight fabrics. They also have interesting garment fabrics including rayon, knits and non-garment fabrics like laminates.
I saw a lot of indie patterns as well. I think they were mostly garments, but I am sure there were a few bags and quilts as well.
Bolt
I was thrilled to find that they had wool felt. Real wool felt. I have seen it online, but have never felt confident enough to buy any without feeling it and/or seeing it in person. I bought two pieces to make…something.
The shop also had a wool-rayon blend felt. I bought a number of pieces of that in order to make a kind of garden scene. I got an idea in my head and will run with it when I am done binding Flowerburst.
Bolt
Bolt
2136 NE Alberta St
Portland, OR 97211
1-503-287-2658
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.
Cool Cottons – front of the store
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.
Cool Cottons – front room
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! 😉
Cool Cottons – enclosed porch
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.
Cool Cottons – Stairs
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.
Cool Cottons – back room
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.
Cool Cottons – back room
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.
Coffee and Fabric
Above is my art shot of coffee and fabric. 😉
Cool Cottons
2417 SE Hawthorne Blvd
Portland, OR 97214
I couldn’t resist the alliteration. College Pillowcase Progress did not have the same ring to it. Clearly, I am easily amused.
Back-to-School Pillowcase
I made three pillowcases for the Young Man, though one may go to his cousin. First, was the Back-to-School Pillowcase, which I almost didn’t make until I found the fabric. It wasn’t babyish and he approved it. I talked about the fabric the other day in the Random Bits and Bobs post. The fabric is still cartoony, but ok enough for him not to be embarrassed.
I thought yellow would be a good cuff and found this Reflections yardage, into which I had NEVER cut (bad, Jaye, bad!). It is a really good yellow and that is perhaps why I was saving it. Off it went. I cut a piece for FOTY 2015, so I can remember I had it for a million years before I used it.
I did send the Back-to-School pillowcase along with the Minkee pillowcase off in his first care package. He hasn’t received it yet, that he has told me so that is more news for later.
Next on the pile was a Pokemon fabric. I think I mentioned that the YM saw it and generously thought that his cousin would like a pillowcase out of it. He said that he has so many great pillowcases already. Hhhmm.
Pokemon Pillowcase #1
It was a fabric I chose for one of the months where themes for the College Pillowcase Project were difficult, such as February. His pronouncement put a monkey wrench in my plan. I wasn’t planning on using Pokemon fabric in a quilt, so I made a pillowcase and figured I could decide where it would go later. If nothing else, it would be a donation. It turned out that I had enough for a pillowcase and a cuff, so I made two and one will go to the YM anyway.
Again, I used the Reflections fabric for the cuff. It is a similar color to the Pikachu character and it was off the shelf, so handy.
In looking at the fabric, I can see why the YM might not want it as a pillowcase in his dorm. I am having, and have had, a hard time getting my heart and brain to realize that he is a grown up now.
Pokemon Pillowcase #2
The Pokemon Pillowcase #2 uses a solid as the body of the pillowcase and just a Pokemon cuff. Hopefully, this bit of Pokemon fabric will not embarrass him. If it does, he doesn’t have to use it.
Festive Trees, Makower UK
Next I want to make him a Christmas pillowcase. I found some festive and not too trite or girly fabric that may be his Christmas pillowcase. There is a lot of pink, though, so I am on the fence about a cuff. Not pink, for sure. Perhaps that gold shown in the center tree or the light green right above it towards the top. If it doesn’t end up as suitable for the YM, then I can use it for another niece or nephew. There is some prep, but this pillowcase could be a leaders and enders project as well.
I went to a number of shops, but some of them are not getting their own post because I didn’t buy enough, take enough pictures or I had been there before pretty recently.
The best thing about visiting all the quilt shops I visited, aside from being distracted from leaving my Y.M. in a strange city all alone, was that I saw a lot of different stuff. Different colorways, different fabrics, different motifs. It made me realize how much fabric I never see. I suppose that is a good thing.
I found a big list of all the quilt shops in Oregon and we kind of followed that one.
Ocean Waves, Eureka, California
Ocean Waves, Eureka, Calif.
I usually visit this store when I am on the North Coast and this trip was no exception. The last time I visited was in February.
The Young Man and I drove up on Tuesday and we had kind of short driving day. We should have driven farther, but we didn’t. We arrived in Eureka, checked into the hotel and I called the quilt store. They were open for another half and hour so I hightailed over there and looked around. While I was there, I texted the Y.M. with a picture of a not-too-juvenile back-to-school print and asked if he wanted a pillowcase out of it. He said YES so I bought it. I also bought some more dress fabrics. You know those Philip Jacobs will be on body in the not too distant future. 😉
Ruth’s Family Fabric, Waldport, Oregon
Riley Blake Awning Stripe
This is an upholstery shop and quilt fabric store. I may just bring my wing chairs there to be recovered. It will force me to drive by. The price is right and the Fabric Depot in Portland had some great upholstery fabric.
I may have found the perfect fabric at this store. I have never seen this Riley Blake Awning Stripe before. The stripes are about an inch wide. I would upholster an entire room in this fabric if I had a sunroom or a boudoir. I love this fabric so much. It is an older fabric from the La Creme Basics line. This should seriously be in their lineup all the time. And WHY did I have to go to Southern Oregon to find this fabric? Why didn’t I ever see it before? WHY?
It was also in red and another version in black, but I restrained myself. I have to make something that I will use all the time. I don’t know what yet, but something great.
By My Hand, Brookings, Oregon
The lady who was manning the store (pretty sure she was the owner) was super nice. Mom barely looked at anything in this shop because she really hit off with the owner and they just chatted the whole time.
By My Hand light grey
The store is yarn and fabric, but more yarn. I looked for light greys for my Flying Geese project throughout the trip and found a good one here.
This shop was hard to find. It is in a kind of strip mall, but the sign is impossible to see if you are driving. Quilt and fabric shops MUST have a giant sign near the road if they want out-of-towners to visit.
We passed about 3 shops up because we simply couldn’t find them. One was in the same town as this shop and we drove by where it should have been twice and we still couldn’t find it. Another thing, shops should have navigation tips on their websites. If they are near a giant department store their website should say “we are just before Super Giant Department Store if you are going south.”
We did stop at a wonderful cafe in Brookings called Blue Water cafe. It was down by the water and little hard to find, but totally worth it. They had gluten free bread and the service was excellent. The lady was very friendly. The place was also clean and had a very interesting Hawaiian/surfing/tropical theme.
Missed Shops
I drove right by Cool Cotton, Portland. It is, supposedly, a modern quilt shop. I was looking for exit, but didn’t see it. I’ll make it there next time.
Country Keepsakes was impossible to find.
We were shopped out when we passed the Quilted Angel. It isn’t that far from my house so, theoretically, I can go almost any time.
We found a list of Oregon quilt shops ** on the web and used it quite a bit. Mom was really good at directing me to the various shops. I think I have a bit of DH in me (he has trained me, more likely) after all these years of traveling together. I tend to stay in the car far too long whereas mom needs to get out and walk around. I have to say that getting out of the car was easier when we did it more often. I didn’t feel like I needed a crowbar to get myself out of the car.
There are a lot of quilt shops on the Southern Oregon coast! It is amazing that every hour or so you can get out and take a look around a quilt shop.
Quilter’s Corner – no life sucking beige
Quilter’s Corner was bright and cheerful. I love the paint on the outside of the shop. I am not particularly fond of the color on its own, but with the white, yellow and stainless steel flower tubs, it really works. It looks so welcoming and cheerful.
The inside of the shop was bright and cheerful as well. The people were friendly. They had a great selection of notions and fabric.
Quilter’s Corner batiks wall
To the left when we walked in was a wall of batiks. There were a lot of bright and cheerful, clear colors.
I think the light along the southern Oregon coast must be similar to the light we have at home, because I didn’t see a lot of country/Civil War themed shops. Most of the shops had bright and cheerful colors. Granted, we did not visit most of the shops on the list.
Quilter’s Corner notions etc
You know I love looking at notions and this shop, as I mentioned, had a lot of interesting notions. I had seen, that morning, a post on Instagram from Moda Fabrics about a finger light for handstitching. Before I left I had been working on the Food Quilt #2 binding, and stitching black on black was hard to see, so I was interested. They were on my mind when I was checking out. There was a basket of the lights on the counter, so I picked out one for me and one for my mom. It is so awesome that I didn’t have to hunt around for weeks for one to try. They were only $2 and the counter lady said she liked them. DH has been out of town so I haven’t been sitting with him and stitching, but I will give a full report on this little light later.
Quilter’s Corner books etc
There is a certain ruler for which I am looking. I don’t know if it exists, but it is about 5″ or 6″ x 12″. I looked at all the shops we visited, but haven’t yet found exactly the ruler for which I am looking. They had a good selection of rulers at this shop. I spent some time looking at them and really wanting to get back to the sewing machine. I envy OzzyPip for taking her machine with her on her trips. Of course, I would not have had time to machine sew on this trip. I did have some handwork with me, but as I drove most of the time, I didn’t work on the project (EPP). Not making much progress there.
Quilter’s Corner fabrics
One thing I noticed in a lot of these shops was the sea theme. They didn’t have it all over the shop, but had a section of fabrics with a sea theme or panels (such as the lighthouse panels you see, right). I didn’t buy any of these, but it made me think of the Michael Miller Ocean fabric I bought a few years ago. I think these must be for tourist quiltmakers who come and want a little something to remember their trip.
I also saw the nationwide row by row challenge in full force in many of these Oregon shops. Daisy mentioned this challenge experience in one of her recent podcasts. The theme there is something about the sea and each shop had a pattern for a row. These were free, but they also had kitted up the pattern with fabrics and those seem to run around $15.
I am not one for challenges, but I do like the idea of getting different rows from different shops and putting the rows together in your own way. It seems like a very neighborly thing to do, especially if people were doing it together. I could have collected a lot of rows on this trip, but, again, not my thing.
Quilter’s Corner fabric displays
The shop really had a lot packed into a little space and they still had the opportunity for displays using antiques like the sewing machine. Sometimes I feel like such displays are taking away valuable space from fabric, but I didn’t in this case.
After we had been there for a few minutes other ladies started to trickle in. We found out that the local quilt group was coming to meet and 30 ladies would be there in about 30 minutes. We didn’t rush, but since we were almost done anyway we finished up and got out so someone else could have our parking space. I do like it when quilt shops offer space to quilt groups. It is worth their while as, in this particular instance, several ladies handed over bolts of fabric to be cut and bought fat quarters for an exchange they were having.
I never cease to be amazed at how different quilt shops can look. This shop is well worth a stop if you are heading to the Oregon Coast.
Location: 335 7th St, Port Orford, OR 97465
(541) 332-0502
**Nota bene: both shops on this list in Tualatin are closed, as in no longer exist.
I stopped in Corvallis, Oregon on my way home at a shop called Quiltwork Patches. This wasn’t the largest store I visited, but it was one with a very good selection of fabric etc. Their excellent selection of fabric also included colorways that I hadn’t seen. They had some of the latest Moda charm packs and mini charm packs and really great selection of sale fabrics.
The ladies in the shop were friendly, but not too pushy, so I felt ok looking around, which was great, because I wasn’t feeling that well*.
There was a ton of fabric in this shop and half of it was sale fabric. The other part was really different, as I mentioned.
Quiltwork Patches front to back of the store
I liked the displays as well. They weren’t too cutesy and didn’t get in the way of the fabric. The displays facilitated the display of the fabric.
This was the first time I really liked those little benches in a quilt store. They, again, facilitated the display rather than overwhelming the display.
Quiltwork Patches back to front of store
Quiltwork Patches FQs and Sale Fabric
If this looks like a lot of fabric, it is because there was a lot of fabric in this store. Their website says 4000 bolts and I believe it.
Quiltwork Patches across the front of the store
Location:
212 SW 3rd St, Corvallis, OR 97333
(541) 752-4820
I kept catching Mom in my photos!
*Nota bene: Mom and I ended up with what we think was food poisoning. We can’t figure out where we got it, but I was sicker than she and it was unpleasant.
If you have been playing along you know that I was in Portland (Oregon) with my DH over the weekend dropping our Y.M. off at college. It was a whirlwind adventure filled with moving in, then 2 days of orientation, some picking up the slack and then letting him go off on his new adventure living somewhere else and fending for himself. Sending children off to college is weird! One day they live with you and you are telling them to pick up their socks and the next day they live somewhere else.
Fabric Depot, Portland, Oregon
My mom flew up to drive back with me and while I was waiting to pick her up at the airport, I went to a shop that Tanesha mentioned, in one of her podcasts, called Fabric Depot.
OMG! This place is so enormous, I couldn’t even, while I was in the store, understand how large it was. Conservatively it was the size of 3 Safeways. I think. It was so big that I couldn’t even begin to think about seeing everything. Truly. I am not exaggerating.
Truly enormousTruly enormousTruly enormous
The three pictures above are the view from where I was standing when I walked in and got past the husband area. The three pictures show the vastness of the space. It is a store you have to go to with a bag lunch and plan out to look at one corner, then go back that next week with the same idea in mind.
They had everything new that I have been hearing about. I saw April Rosenthal’s Meadowbrook line, which I thought I would buy, but I ended up not buying any. They had charm packs and layer cakes, but I didn’t like it enough to have the desire to make something with it.
Draping fabric
The other thing I noticed is that they drape the fabric like House of Fabrics, etc used to do. It is a great idea, because you can really see a lot of the motifs on the fabric.
The fabric shown left is a row of batiks. There were about 10 rows of batiks that I saw.
Hallowe’en fabrics
Julie would be thrilled with the Hallowe’en selection they had. I never saw so many interesting Hallowe’en fabrics! I bought some panels to make the Young Man and his two (yes, TWO, count ’em two!) college roommates Hallowe’en pillowcases. I already made the YM a Hallowe’en pillowcase, but hopefully he will change his sheets more than once in October.
There was a little boy with a 4 week old puppy walking around the store showing off his puppy. He wanted everyone to pat the puppy. I got to pat the puppy twice. The boy was about 4. OMG! They were both so cute.
Color Kits
In addition to a zillion pre-cuts, they also kits made up from their own designs or from local designers.
There were a lot of different ideas in this area and they all used solids.
The store had an excellent selection of solids. They had the ubiquitous Moda Bella solids as well as the Kona Solids. They also had the Michael Miller Cotton Couture solids and a few of the American Made Brands solids. It was great to see such a selection of solids.
There were also packs of solid colors with color related patterns prepackaged and ready to grab and go.
Moda Modern Mixers
I saw a group of fabrics called Modern Mixers. I love the name of these fabrics and wanted them all. They reminded me of Half Moon Modern (and that I have to find something to do with those fabrics!). There may have been some that were in the Half Moon Modern group.
I did buy a couple for some more Political Wifery/work outfits.
The store also had some great displays. I loved the quilts they had hanging up including one from Dr. Who.
Dr. Who etc Display QuiltsFabric Depot Display Quilts
I have noticed the Jack’s Chain pattern (above quilt with green background) showing up in shops and on the web lately. I have loved that pattern since I saw it in the Cotton Patch a thousand years ago. Perhaps it is time to make it?
Fabric Depot Purchases
I didn’t have a lot of time, but it is probably good since I would have spent more money. I bought a few things, mostly they are earmarked for projects. Fabric Depot had a great selection of zippers, which were on sale. I took the opportunity to stock up on a few for dresses so I don’t have to go rushing around when I need them.
The store was definitely worth a visit and I will go there again when I am in Portland another time.
I got a bug in my ear to take a long drive. I wasn’t sure why, but the buzzing wouldn’t go away.
Like many of you, I can’t just jump in the car and leave, so I got my ducks in a row, then I headed north. The first two days were all driving. I was just in the car with my thoughts. The first day I didn’t get out of the house until 11am. I went to gym and took the Young Man to school, then packed and cleaned the house before I started to drive.
My ultimate goal: Seattle (where TFQ lives)
First View: Golden Gate Bridge
The first view was an extremely lowering sky over the Golden Gate Bridge
First, I stopped at Colleen’s to drop off the Disappearing Pinwheel. I know I barely finished it before I got it out of the house, but I really wanted to get it out of the house and save myself another trip to San Rafael. Because of the quick turnaround, I didn’t have a chance to make the binding. I decided I would get it in Colleen’s queue and send the binding along later.
Heavens Let Loose
I stopped there for about half an hour, heard about Colleen’s weaving class and then really got on the road. I am pleased to say she thought weaving was boring and won’t be giving up quiltmaking to become a weaver. I apologize to all you weavers out there, but I am GLAD!!!
It rained hard from San Rafael through Healdsburg: headlights on, white knuckles, wipers on high kind of hard raining. I found out that I really needed new windshield wipers. Oops! In fairness, I did ask my mechanic to change them and I am not sure he did. He might have and just gotten a bad pair. It happens. I told my dad when I called him and he was all over changing them. I decided to see if he knew a guy to clean out the inside of my car, too, which after 14 hours in it seemed like it needed a good cleaning. Don’t worry, I didn’t do anything gross in there, but notice the dirt!
Cool Clouds, Rain Lessened
After Healdsburg the rain lightened up. All the way to Fortuna, it just rained on and off. Sometimes it rained hard, sometimes light. The sky was gorgeous. The light was gorgeous. The clouds were gorgeous and I really enjoyed the drive.
In the light rain, I couldn’t use the wipers. My only during that leg was in Willits to get some water and peanuts. I listened to Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro on this leg.
Despite my late start I got to Fortuna at about 5:30pm. I tried to get some FitBit steps in by walking around the hotel complex, but I also worked on my blog posts and read my email. I went to La Costa in Fortuna for dinner. They have great food. They make their own tortilla chips and tortillas. I wrote for a long time in my journal while I waited for my food and enjoyed my chips. Awesome and relaxing.
Across from the Hotel
This field is the view across from the hotel in which I stayed. I really like that field.
I was rudely awakened at 6:45 by a bigass truck idling right outside the window of my room. It wasn’t just starting up and driving off, but sitting there rumbling for 10 minutes. ERGH! At least it wasn’t 5am. I needed to get up anyway.
North Coast Ocean View
Day Two: Fortuna to Portland
Day Two was, again, all about driving. After breakfast, at about 9am, I got on the road. Tuesday was a long drive day, longer than I like, and it was going to be a little longer because of the jog over to Interstate 5 from Highway 101. To my good fortune, the drive up the North Coast to Crescent City was unbelievably gorgeous. I can’t even describe the beauty of the water, the sky and the clouds. I just wanted to take pictures of every curve in the road.
I cut over to Interstate 5 from Highway 101 via Highway 199. The highway is built alongside the Smith River and it was also a gorgeous drive. The river was a beautiful green color. That was part of the Siskyou National Forest and the trees were a gorgeous green. Now that California has gotten a little rain, the trees seem much healthier (from far away in a moving car). Again, I couldn’t take enough photos.
Crossing over to Oregon was a shock. I thought Oregon was all about conservation, gorgeous vistas and rain. Right over the border, in southern Oregon, was shockingly ugly. I saw people burning trash, clear cut sides of mountains and front yards filled with garbage and junk cars. I will be using the backs of papers for scrap paper after seeing that devastation. They have a lot of paper production there. That is not to say that I didn’t see garbage-y front yards in some parts of California, but the trifecta was a shock *to me*.
I continued up Interstate 5 and closer I got to Portland, the nicer the views looked. The fields were green and pretty. The Interstate 5 was a lot nicer to drive on than it is in California, though there were a lot of trucks that I had to keep passing. That is one thing I don’t like about driving up Interstate 5.
I got gas near a town called Cottage Grove and almost jumped out of my skin when I young man appeared at my shoulder and told me he had to pump my gas. I don’t remember the last time I had full service at home, if ever since I started driving. I would have preferred that he come around the front of the car, though. It isn’t really very service oriented to scare the living daylights out of customers. Dad said that those jobs are the lowest of the low and they don’t teach any customer service. Hhmm.
Dad’s Cook Shak
While stopped, I looked on Google Maps to see how to get the rest of the way to my Dad’s. I was shocked when I saw his ‘Cook Shak’ on Google Maps! Dad’s Cook Shak is basically a large deck/platform with a roof that is completely outfitted with an outdoor kitchen, nice dining table and a jacuzzi. It was hilarious to see it on Google and I wonder if he gets people showing up for dinner after seeing it on Google. It was nice to see my dad after awhile. He had some great short ribs ready for me. We ate dinner and watched American Pickers. I have never watched that show before and was fascinated. It was somewhat horrifying in a fascinating kind of way to see the junk (to me) that people collected. I don’t really judge people’s collections, but I call the stuff I saw junk because it was rusted in heaps in yards and under collapsed sheds. As I said, horrifying and amazing.
Day Three: Portland
Dad took his tour guide duties very seriously. First stop: Harbor Freight. Dad needed a grabber to pick up some sticks that fall into his driveway. Don’t ask. 😉
VooDoo Donuts
He stepped up his game on our next stop: VooDoo Donuts. Dad got two donuts, I can’t eat their donuts as they didn’t have anything gluten free. Still I enjoyed seeing the place. It is a wild ride and well worth visiting. Just go early.
Then Powell’s. Powell’s is the bookstore of all bookstores, the mother lode of all bookstores. Since the last time I was there, they have really spruced it up. It isn’t such a rabbit warren and, apparently, they fixed the roof leaks. They had a fantastic collection of quilt books. They had probably more than I have seen in one place ever. They even had a Judy Martin Block Book. That is an awesome book and you can probably buy it online. There were a couple of books in which I was interested, but I wasn’t in the mood to buy so I left with nothing. Dad bought a couple of fishing books.
Pittock Mansion
After a brief stop at Whole Foods, we headed up to the Pittock Mansion. “The Pittock Mansion is a French Renaissance-style “château” in the West Hills of Portland, Oregon, USA, originally built as a private home for The Oregonian publisher Henry Pittock and his wife, Georgiana.” (Wikipedia) I loved that house. It really seemed more like a house. Of course, it was a mansion, but it felt like a really good place. The colors were light and there were a lot of curves. For the time, there was a lot of innovations and top of the line technology as well as innovative ideas implemented throughout the building. The views were also wonderful.
Entry Floor
There had not been much opportunity to be inspired for quiltmaking, in any real sense, but the Pittock Mansion provided me with one. The entry hall floor was a Mariner’s Compass. The thing that made it seem a little different was the framing around each of the spokes.
Next stop was an ice cream place, Salt and Straw in Stumptown. I hadn’t had breakfast, though, so I was determined to have a meal before dessert. There was a Mexican place across the street, so we stopped in and had some tacos. The food was ok. The ice cream made up for it, though. The flavor I ate, salt and caramel, was fantastic and the service was excellent.
We didn’t spend as much time in Portland as Dad expected and he was full after the tacos and ice cream, so he wanted to head home.
I cajoled him into stopping at a quilt shop near his house called Quilting Delights. I wanted to stop at another, but I think I was pushing my luck with one. Oregon has a very nice list of quilt shops by city, which made it easy to find shops on the way to his house. I talked up longarm machines as we drove and was pleased to see they had one, which was interesting to my dad. I don’t think he realized how much machinery we quiltmakers use.
I liked Quilting Delights. It is a big shop. I didn’t think they had a lot of fabric, though I did find some yardage to buy. 😉 I had hoped to find one of the Mod Century prints to use for the Disappearing Pinwheel binding, but no luck. They had a full line of Accuquilt cutters, cases, dies and will be having Go! Academy in a few weeks. They explained that they will be teaching people how to get more out of their Accuquilt Go!. One thing they will show is the hexagon die where you can cut the papers for EPP and the fabric at the same time. As I said after the Flower Sugar Hexagon was complete, I am done, for now, with hexagons. I love the idea, though. It is very clever. The woman I spoke with really wanted me to come, but I don’t think I am up for the drive a second time this year. The concept is great and I would love it if one of my local shops would do the same thing. My phone was dead so no photos. You’ll have to visit yourself. 😉
We had an Austrian dinner: cheese, crackers, a variety of meats, some grapes and we watched American Pickers again. 😉 George Barris was on it. He is the guy that designed and built the Batmobile, the car the Munsters drove, James Dean’s Porsche. His shop was near where I grew up and I remember driving by it frequently. I would love to get my hands on that archive and catalog and organize it, digitize it and make it available online. I am not moving to SoCal, but a girl can dream.
Day 3: Portland to Seattle
Basically, I drove to Seattle and took most of the day to do it. Before I left Dad’s, Dad and I also cleaned out my car at his ‘urging’. It was fairly disgusting, which I never really noticed since, max, I’ll spend 20 minutes in my car at a time on any given day. We washed all the windows inside and out, vacuumed the interior, we Armor All-ed the dash. He cleaned all the dips and divets with soap and water. The car was very happy.
The drive was nice. I have done that drive before, but didn’t really remember it. It rained, there were big trucks. I listened to Love Walked In. No mishaps or mayhem.
I felt a big sigh of relief once I got to Seattle. Seattle and I get along well. Yes, TFQ is there and that is HUGE, but I love the city as well. There is something about it that is comfortable and relaxing. It is a good place to visit to escape my life.
I picked up TFQ from work and we went and had Italian food at a place that has a complete gluten free menu of Italian food. We go there almost every time I visit. I love that place.
Day 4: Seattle
The first thing we did was go for a 3.7 mile walk. Despite my gym efforts, TFQ was kicking my butt. I had 10k steps before 9am. The rest of the day was gravy.
TFQ’s UFOs, Finishes and In Process Quilts
When we returned, we looked through TFQ’s quilts. She is plowing through her UFOs and donating a number to charity. It is really fun to see my fabric in her quilts and quilts that we have worked on together. Please note that my contributions are small. She does beautiful work.
We went to the neighborhood restaurant for breakfast and I had an egg bake with sausage and tomato sauce. I think it was called Alla Bracaiola, but I am not sure about the spelling. It is a lovely place. Very homey. TFQ bought some walnut flour cookies which we ate for lunch/afternoon snack and were so delicious, I almost fainted from sheer pleasure.
We discussed the Super Secret project and will hopefully finalize part of it this trip.
We visited Quiltworks Northwest, a fabric and quilting shop in Bellevue. The people were super nice and I did find a few good lengths of fabric, but I was disappointed. Their fabric selection seemed old and there wasn’t very much of it. They had a whole new bead selection, which wasn’t there the last time I was in. TFQ said it felt like the beads were taking over the shop. Kind of disappointing.
We tried to go look at couches, but got frustrated with the parking and just went home. The rest of the day we sat. I unpicked part of a border on a great Sawtooth Star quilt that wasn’t working. I was happy to get my mitts back on some fabric – something to work on. I think the walk made us a little tired. I had over 15k steps by the end of the day.
Day Five: Seattle
Day 5 we sewed. First we walked another 3.45 mile look around the neighborhood. I like walking around Seattle neighborhoods. I like see what colors people paint their houses and what shapes the houses are. I also like seeing the shops. We ate breakfast at a place called the Barking Dog. Luckily there was no dog was barking. I had Eggs Benedict. The chef was kind enough to make it on GF bread. I was a happy, happy girl.
Then we sewed like demons and worked on finalizing the Super Secret project. You’ll hear more about this later, so be patient.
We went to a tavern with supposedly good Mexican food for dinner. I think both of us were underwhelmed. TFQ thought it must be bar food (very small portions). It gave us a good excuse to get ice cream afterwards. 😉
Day Six: Seattle
Lots of sewing today. We worked on the Super Secret Project again. I also helped TFQ finish a gorgeous GORGEOUS quilt top she named Pink Lemonade. I just sewed on two borders, then she made the back while I worked some more on the Super Secret Project.
We had to go back to the quilt store for more fabric for the Super Secret Project. I don’t know what I was thinking when I bought two yards for background and borders. DErrrrr. First we went to Pacific Fabrics, which has a fantastic selection of quilt fabrics. I could have bought almost everything as everything was right in my color arena.
We also dropped Pink Lemonade off at TFQ’s quilter. I enjoyed meeting Janet last time and love her house. She has the loveliest studio under the eaves of her house. We had a lovely chat and she showed us some of her projects. She is very friendly.
We went to a Japanese place where we have eaten before. I think we may strike this one off our list as everything was covered in soy sauce (NOT GF) and both of our stomachs hurt about an hour after we ate. I took some enzymes, so I didn’t have a terrible reaction, but still.
Day Seven: Seattle
I was on my own today as TFQ had to go back to work. I sewed a lot and got my project to a point where it will be pretty easy to finish once I get home. I need a few more cool squares as I am completely out. One of the fabrics didn’t work with the background so I couldn’t use it in the borders.
I refrained from going back to Pacific Fabrics and buying more fabric. The fabric madness has to stop sometime. I did run about million other errands including getting food for dinner. We decided that I would cook while TFQ weeded a part of her garden.
Day Eight: Seattle to Ashland, Oregon
This is another driving day. I planned to drive farther south so my middle day wouldn’t be as much driving when I jogged over to the coast, but I decided, kind of at the last minute, to drive south on Interstate 5. I don’t like driving Interstate 5 as there are a lot of semis and in Oregon they hitch two and three trailers to the truck and it is scary to see. Traffic rules do not allow that in California so it is very odd to me.
I thought I would just split the difference and drive for a couple more hours, but the lure of home is strong so I drove for about 9 hours, only really stopping for a few minutes at a time. I finally ended up exhausted in Ashland, Oregon. I would have really liked to have passed straight through Oregon, but I was about to drop and couldn’t really go any further.
Interstate 5 is much prettier and more well tended than Highway 199. I noticed and thought that they must have put money into the road that most people travel. I am glad to see that southern Oregon isn’t a complete disaster.
I missed seeing my Dad again. I thought I would stop and have a coffee with him, but I passed the exit to his office and was too far down the road to make backtracking practical. Next time.
Day Eight: Ashland to Home
I stayed at the Best Western Windsor Inn. It was nice. Not fancy, but the bed was comfy, the room was big and there was a restaurant next door made a very tasty Mexican chicken salad. The BW didn’t have anything I could eat for breakfast so I went back to the restaurant for breakfast as well.
Dad was right. I left around 9:30 and I didn’t stop for long, but I did take frequent breaks. I made it home by about 4:30. The drive was hot and I had the air conditioning on most of the day. I guess the rain is gone. Oregon to home sounds far and it is over 350 miles, I think, so I feel like I accomplished something.
I stopped at two quilt stores and didn’t buy anything. Shocking, I know. Wooden Spools in Yreka had all of their fabric for $6/yard. They are closing their store and will only do shows in the future, which is sad, because it is the only fabric shop in the area. The owner doesn’t want to sell the shop to anyone because she has seen too many businesses fail that way. I hope someone is able to open a shop up there. It sounds like there is a big quilt community (3 guilds in the area!) who could support it.
Closer to home I stop at the Quilt Shop in Vacaville, A Quilted Heart. I went there (and wrote about it) last year after Grand Parlor. I walked into the middle of the first day of the shop hop. I couldn’t see any information about how to join the shop and was a little stunned at the festivity of the event. They didn’t seem to have a lot of fabric, so I didn’t buy anything. I think I am also still on the Pacific Fabrics high from the other day.
I knew I was close to home when I saw the huge fog bank over the Golden Gate Bridge. It was hard to miss.
It was a great trip. I saw people about whom I care and don’t get to see often enough. I saw some great sights, bought some great fabric, and sewed. I am glad to be home. I am ready to sew in my own space and happy to sleep in my own bed.
