New Bolts of Fabric

It has been awhile since I have had a chance to go "bolt" shopping. While we were on the way to Puyallup, WA for the Northwest Quilt, Craft & Sewing Festival this weekend, we stopped at the EE Schenck warehouse. This was my first trip to that facility, and it definitely won't be my last. It is 80,000 square feet of fabric, notions, batting, books, and patterns. All I was interested in was fabric, and believe me that was overwhelming in itself. I'm glad that was all I had to worry about.

EE Schenck Warehouse in Portland, OR

I was looking for some fabric to finish up a couple models for our booth. I wanted some to have on hand to use in future samples and some just to sell as 1 yard cuts.

I knew I would have limited time, both because I needed to get to Puyallup and because Alan has a limited amount of patience for things like this. He doesn't get as excited being around all those gorgeous fabrics as the rest of us do. So I went online before we got there. Found the fabrics I was interested in  and made a list. Once I got there I found out that it doesn't really work that way. That just means they carry those fabrics. They might not be in stock. So my great plan went out the window. With rows and rows of fabric to now look at I was BRIEFLY overwhelmed. Then I took a couple deep breaths and started walking the aisles.

I found things that I knew were perfect right away. I grabbed those. Made notes of things that I thought would work. Things that I added to a "Wish List"for later. 

I also had to audition fabrics to finish up my Friendships Garden Quilt. Here are a couple pictures of that process. I think I finally got the winning combination but I was so busy writing down the SKUs and other information that I forgot to take a picture. 

Option 1

Option 2

I'm still thinking about it though. At first I thought the red was overpowering, now I'm not so sure. There is red in the blocks and it is just going to be in some of the cornerstones of the sashing. So maybe it isn't as out of place as I originally thought. What do you think? Leave me your suggestions in a comment.

I'll finalize the fabrics for Friendships Garden this weekend. Then I'll order them after Thanksgiving. I'll get to work on them right away so I can get the quilt finished during my break between Thanksgiving and the second week of January. Fortunately the blocks are all done. All I have to do is assemble the quilt top, quilt and bind it.

Here are the fabrics that I came away with yesterday.

I'll cut some of these up tonight and they will be for sale in the booth tomorrow. I'll put them on the website after the show.

Happy Quilting,

Carol

PIQF Traditional Quilts

There were so many gorgeous quilts at this show. While many shows seem to be leaning toward art-type quilts, there were many traditional quilts on display. The piecing and quilting on some of them was extraordinary. This post features what I consider Traditional quilts.

This one is a Log Cabin quilt. I love how the dark blue blue logs accentuate the blocks. But even more I like the illusion of curves. There is a quilt in the From Marti Michell Log Cabin ABCs Book that has that same illusion.

Here is a beautiful pink floral wreath applique quilt. I really like the colors used in the flowers. The lime green  accents add some sparkle. The quilting compliments the design nicely.

These on point star blocks take something relatively simple and turn them into something so much more. I think the striped fabric used around each block and in that small inner border adds a lot of interest to the quilt. The quilting between the block form quilted sashing  and cornerstones adding another design element.

While the shape of this quilt may make you think art quilt, the piecing of it says traditional.

The center of this quilt reminds me of something you would see looking through a kaleidoscope. I really like the striped border and especially the mitered corners. So many times a border like this is done log cabin style but in this case the mitered border really adds to the quilt.

These stars really caught my eye.

When I looked closer, the quilting in the pastel colored stars made me take a second and third look at the quilt. Again, the quilting really complimented the quilt nicely.

Close Up of Quilting

Here's another eye catching quilt. I love the colors in this one. You have to appreciate all those perfect points.

Talk about precision piecing; this quilt was incredible! You can get an idea of the size because I have the award winning ribbon in the picture.

 At first I thought it was a single fabric for the center and the points. But on closer observation, those are individual, tiny diamonds. The workmanship was absolutely amazing!

Close Up of Piecing and Quilting

These are only a sampling of the quilts on display.Watch for future posts of other quilts from the show.

Portland to Tucson Adventure Part 3

Set up for the Tucson Quilt, Craft & Sewing Festival was on Wednesday. We always get to the venue early so Alan can get a prime unloading spot. Then we visit with our friends or I sit in the truck and work. If we're close, like this time, I will often try to get some work done before set up. Since set up wasn't until noon, I decided to stay at the hotel and do the laundry and take care of some things I couldn't do during our three days in the truck.

After he'd been gone for an hour or so Alan called and prepared me for more vehicle related bad news. One of the truck tires had a bubble in it. No one in Tucson had a tire. So he found someone who would get one and it would be ready to put on the following day.

Throughout the day on Wednesday and Thursday, Chris from Bulldog Emergency Repair kept in touch with us. It was going to take a few days so we just decided to stay at the hotel for the weekend, rather than drive all the way to Blythe on Friday or Saturday to just turn around and go back there again on Sunday.

Over the course of the day on Wednesday and Thursday we learned that one of our fellow vendors had their truck stolen a couple weeks before. Fortunately they were doing a class for a guild and all of their product was with them. But still, that isn't good any way you look at it. Another vendor had to leave their vehicle and rent another one because their transmission broke.

We left at about 7:30 on Sunday morning, heading to Southern CA for the Pomona Quilt, Craft & Sewing Festival. We stopped at Zip Travel Center this time.

I got my chocolate chunk cookie. These cookies are made by Prairie City. I like to put it on the dashboard so it gets warm and the chocolate is gooey. It tastes like it just came out of the oven. Yummy!

We got to Blythe and picked up the trailer. Chris from Bulldog Emergency Repair was very thorough and helpful throughout this whole ordeal. We are very grateful for all he did for us!

Bulldog Emergency Repair in Blythe, CA

We arrived at our home in Southern CA at about 3:30 on Sunday afternoon. I am always glad to be home but this time it was such a relief after so many little mishaps. Here we are parked safe and sound.

I always say a little prayer at the beginning and end of every day when we're on the road asking for and giving thanks for a safe journey. While this has been more of an adventure than I'd like, things could have been so much worse. No one was hurt. We weren't in an accident. Nothing caught on fire as a result of all that smoking. This was all just things, and money going out, but those aren't the important things in life. We have been on the road doing shows for 8 years and this is the first really major issue we've ever had. I feel very lucky and blessed to be able to say that. 

The End

Portland to Tucson Adventure Part 2

We drove from Williams to Boron, CA on Monday. Since we got such a late start we drove until well after dark. We drove through Tehachapi, CA. My husband Alan's dream is to watch the trains in the Tehachapi Loop. That wasn't an option this time; it will have to wait for another trip.

We left early Tuesday morning. We didn't get as far as we had hoped because of our problems on Sunday, but we figured if we left at about 6:00 am we would make it to Tucson between 4:00 and 5:00. That would still give me some time to get laundry and other things done.

We made it to Banning, CA without incident. Then Holly, our friend from Quilter's Cove who was following us called. This time her travel trailer had a flat tire. She called AAA and they were there in less than 30 minutes. The driver got her tire changed and we were back on the road again.

Next stop is the Zip Travel Center at the Vicksburg Rd off ramp in Salome, AZ. It's a great place to stop for gas and a little snack. They have some delicious chocolate chunk and peanut butter chocolate cookies that I love. I shouldn't eat them but they just call my name every time we stop there.

At 1:20 Holly called again. Our same back travel trailer wheel was smoking again. Unbelievable! We were in the middle of the desert 31 miles into Arizona and about 15 miles from our planned stop at Zip. It was 105 degrees and the sun was shining right in my window. Needless to say it was time to call AAA again.

Since we were in the absolute middle of nowhere, miles from anyone who could help us, getting help was even harder than when we were stuck on Sunday in Maxwell. The AAA operator was so helpful. She found a tow service and tried calling several tire places to see if she could find someone to help us. She pretty much struck out for immediate help. The tow service could get a truck to us at 6:00 pm but she gave us their phone number so we could see if there was anything else they could do for us.

Alan talked to Robby from A Toe Truck which was the company AAA referred us to. He had a truck big enough to tow us but couldn't get it to us before 6:00. He was nice enough to make some phone calls on our behalf. He found a place in Blythe, CA that would help us.

Chris from Bulldog Emergency Auto Repair drove all the way from Blythe, about 45 miles to take a look. He told us on the phone that he would try to help us so we could drive it back to Blythe where his shop is. But if that didn't work, we'd have to wait for Robby's tow truck.

 I was terrified to get out of the truck. Every time I got out I could just hear the rattlesnakes, whether they were there or not. So unless it was absolutely necessary, I stayed inside with the air conditioner running. I got a lot of stitching done on my third Santa Trio block. I did get out to start getting things out of the trailer that I thought we would need because I knew we were going to have to leave it for at least a day or two but I planned for the entire weekend. Bless her heart, Holly took some of our perishable food and put it in her refrigerator so we wouldn't have to throw that away if we couldn't plug in at the garage.

Chris arrived at about 3:00 and was able to take the wheel off, it pretty much just fell off again, and jacked up the trailer. He put some blocks underneath to hold the trailer up. I wasn't about to get down on the ground to see what it looked like to take a picture. But this is what it looked like later.

I took this picture later because of course this happened on the driver side

Now we had to drive all the way to the next off ramp, which was the Vicksburg Rd off ramp, turn around and drive all the way back to Blythe; it was about 60 miles or so. Holly followed us to the off ramp then she went on to Tucson. We didn't even stop (so I didn't get my cookie) we just wanted to get to Blythe without incident. It took us 2 hours to get there. We arrived at about 5:30. It was obvious after Chris took a good look that we were leaving it there pretty much all weekend. So that meant I had to get more stuff out of the trailer, including the laundry. We were so full inside the cab that the laundry had to ride between the two front seats all the way to Tucson.

We grabbed a quick dinner at McDonalds (not my favorite dining spot but it was food) and headed to Tucson. We were able to get a room at the show hotel, Red Roof Inn right across the parking lot from the Expo Center, and arrived there at 10:30. That was 16+ hours after we left Boron that morning. But we made it.

To be continued (unfortunately).....