Spring Quilt Market Schoolhouse

I can't believe it's over! Four days of non stop fabric goodness and my head is still spinning. There are so many inspiring new lines coming out I'm sure you've already seen photos on Instagram, Pinterest, or blogs but I'll share my version of the weekend and see if we can come up with anything new. Market started for me on Thursday with Schoolhouse. Schoolhouse is from 10-6 and has 15 class sessions offering 270 different classes. You get your schedule in the morning and pick out which class you want to take for each session. There are a lot of choices and it's pretty overwhelming but so fun. It's a great way for shop owners to learn about new products and techniques but there are also designers and authors previewing their lines and books coming out. 

Anna Maria Horner Mother Goose quilt from her Welcome to Spring Schoolhouse.

Wonderful catalog with Field Study Linen releases, new Tapestry kits, and AMH Books and Catalogs.

I also attended Amy Butlers Spring in Bloom fabric release for "Belle" and "Forest" organic fabrics. Below is Amy holding up her husband David's Skullduggery Quilt from his new fabric line "World Tour".

Another highlight of the Schoolhouse Series were Tula Pinks talks. Below she is showing quilts from her new book Tula Pink's City Sampler 100 Modern Quilt Blocks. I am not a big book person, although I have collected a few too many, but this one is pretty amazing Tula has put so much thought into the book it's really inspiring I'm going to have to get my hands on one!! 

Social media was everywhere! 

Detail from Tula's new line Acacia, will Racoon's be the new Owl?

Other Highlight's were Kathy Miller's Color Trend talk which I also saw at Fall Market. Friend Violet Craft launched her new line Waterfront Park with Michael Miller Fabrics which is  beautiful. Anything Aurifil is good and Tula Pink among many other designers have coordinating thread packs coming out. Oh Aurifil how I love you more on that later!

Stay tuned for Part 2 of Quilt Market from the floor!

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Getting Ready for Market and Eats Tips

Spring Market is coming up here in Portland and I'm excited to attend for the first time in my hometown! Here's my recap from Fall Market which was a blast. I've been busy getting ready for the weekend and I'm looking forward to seeing friends coming in town, it's going to be crazy!!  
 Being from Portland and loving food there are so many amazing restaurants here to share but during Market who's really going anywhere?! I thought I'd share a few places to go if you are in town for Market and want to get some good food that's not too far from the Convention Center just a 4 minute drive, 16 minutes by transit or a 23 min walk according to google maps try the SE Industrial Area...

Boke Bowl so good!! The warm brussels sprout salad with an egg or pork belly on top is amazing and they have a Miso Iced Coffee that is addictive.

Bunk Bar is next door if you are a sandwich person, they have a big Portland following. 

Clark Lewis is across the street for something a little fancier. It is a prime example of Portland farm to table eating. 
 There is also Hair of the Dog Brewery, restaurant, and tasting room if you want Pub fare.

When you are done with lunch head around the corner to  Water Ave Coffee to get your caffeine fix before heading back to Market. 

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p.s. I almost forgot if you do drive parking can be a pain but you'll find something and Clark Lewis does have their own spots. 

Student Quilters

Twice a year at my son's school they have an all school in-service day. The kids can choose from different organizations and they spread out all over town. There are activities like pulling weeds at the Audubon Society, playing music at the hospital, or making a quilt for the Raphael House just to name a few. Of course I couldn't pass up the opportunity to come in and sew with my son and 19 other middle schoolers some of which had never sewn before. Learning from the last time I helped on this project I asked for some (very last minute) help from fellow quilters and PMQG members and Suzanne was kind enough to join in and was such a big help. It ended up being only one teacher and Suzanne and I so I was glad she was there! I led the project and the kids jumped right in creating a 12 1/2" finished block comprised of 3 5" wide pieced strips. I brought in some fabric but the school already had so much donated fabrics it was anything goes. The kids were really fearless and great at helping each other. Headbands and a tunic were made. My old machine which was in need of a tuneup really is in need of one now but it made it through the day. 

We ended up with a twin size quilt top that will be donated to the Raphael House. The Raphael House is wonderful domestic violence agency in Portland that the Portland Modern Quilt Guild has done work for in the past so I am happy the school is supporting them as well. 

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April Bee Block

For April PDX Bee we're making a block for Megan. When I got her packet I knew it would be right up my alley. Megan had provided us with some of her carefully organized scraps and one solid for us to make improv blocks. The only stipulations were to use every print at least once, add one solid if you liked, and the finished block could not be square. Even better I had a lot of Lotta Jansdotter scraps in my bag! 
 I was about to start sewing Saturday night and through the magic of Instagram saw Heather (check out her Spring Mod Block!) about to do the same so she came over and we spent the evening working on our blocks. 

Heather's is the one on the bottom in this photo.

Here is my finished block, I added the teal solid. You can see some of our other blocks on Istagram #PDXBEE they are going to look great together! 

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Quilts Everywhere

Have you ever heard of MineCraft? I think if you have children above the age of 6 you probably have. Somehow my kids got in on the Beta version so it's been an obsession around here for awhile. How does this relate to quilting you say? My son called me down to the basement the other day to show me a new room in his house.

He had made quilts for all of the beds and a quilty floor! I couldn't be happier. These could easily be made into real quilts.

But quilts are seeping into our children's pop culture in other ways as well. This was on Adventure Time yesterday. 

The Quilt King!

 Soon us quilters will be everywhere! Have a great weekend.

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Changes

It seems there are a lot of changes in the air with myself and friends. I don't know anything about astrology but it wouldn't surprise me if the planets were playing hopscotch right now. Some things are easy to understand like I'm still working on my dream of becoming a textile designer or my machine going from this...

 she's so tiny

to this squee!

My son is a 12 year old now talk about changes! New life, I will be making some baby quilts again soon (not for me thankfully) it's been awhile since I've made one, oh I love a baby quilt!!  

 Other changes can be harder. I have epilepsy and after 20+ years I'll be changing my medication. It should go smoothly but it's a little scary. I have been so fortunate to have medications that work for me when many struggle to be seizure free. I think it's good for people to learn about epilepsy and I don't mind talking about it but when you have a seizure you are left feeling very vulnerable and it takes awhile to recover emotionally. 

 This is all the tip of the iceberg! It's left me struggling to post some days mostly because I am so busy but also because I find when I am not sharing something with you I find it hard to share at all. Luckily I have some fun things on the horizon I'm teaching a group of friends a beginning quilt class, my Bee blocks, and the baby quilts 3 of them! 

 My 8 year old daughter is an amazing writer (maybe she should start a blog) and wrote this recently

 "I sat on the grass watching a beetle climb a lump of dirt. That beetle is just like us I thought always struggling up but then we reach the top." 

 Thanks for sticking around through this slow period! 

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Color Study Quilt Top

We had a wonderful time up on Mt Hood for Spring Break and finally things are getting back to normal around here. Well I don't know about normal but you get the idea. I finished up my quilt top for my entry into the PMQG Special Exhibit at the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show. This will be our third year at Sisters and it's always so inspiring.  

I wanted to focus on some of my Architexture scraps and groups of color at the same time. This was all improv piecing which is a nice break after following a few patterns for my auction quilts. While Jen tells me this is how I work a lot of the time, it's funny how people can see things that you don't, this is really the first larger piece where I was truly winging it and I had so much fun. 

I am so excited to quilt this it will be my first free motion quilting done on my new machine!! I don't think I've mentioned it yet but I did come home with one of the Janomes from QuiltCon and I can't even believe the difference it's made. More on that in my next post though, she deserves her own post! 

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