It’s a bright sunny day in Portland and Quiltie Ladies (and men) from all over the world have converged on the Portland Convention Center. The ballroom is a buzz as we wait for the opening session of our Schoolhouse Day.
Schoolhouse is a day where shop owners get a preview of all the new goodies from designers and manufacturers. A chance to hob-knob with the quilt elite while we elbow for chairs in each mini-session. A total of 226 classes are offered between 15 sessions. You can’t possibly hit them all in this day of stimulation overload.
First Up Me & My Sister Designs
We learned about their mini-charm tablet patterns. You can make mini table runners or crib quilts to make the pattern to size or you can expand the size by making multiples of the quilts.
Amanda is a great pattern to make out of holiday fabric to make a quick and easy decoration! They have been making patterns with Layer Cakes as well. We will visit them at their booth!
Ooh – I ran into Alex Anderson in the hall – she said “Good Morning” to me.
Next up Darlene Zimmerman fabric designer, author, and gadget maker.
I’ve met Darlene before so we caught up in the hall. She will be talking about her latest 30’s line from Kaufmann. We will be joining her Clothesline Club, so this will be exciting!!! I got a really fun sweet treat fabric goodie just for coming to her class!
Check out these awesome projects!
We got bumped out of Mark Lipinski’s class (he is the crazy Quilter’s Home magazine guy). SOOOO many shops here, there must have been about 100 of us that didn’t get in. He is such the rock star! We will see him tomorrow in his booth. He has a great new fabric collection with Northcott. I can’t wait to get it!
Instead I popped into Eleanor Burns’ Victory Quilts session. OHH what a treat! Eleanor was in classic style and had a whole multimedia spectacle put together to showcase her new book. She was in costume as Rosie the Riveter. A little history, a little song and dance… and 20 great blocks make for some awesome quilts.
After lunch, Erin McMorris introduced her new line with Free Spirit, Park Slope Inspirations. A textile designer for over 15 years, Erin is breaking out on her own with her second fabric line. I love her use of fabric. It is such a
great way to get those non-sewers into quilting. She uses raw edge appliqué without fusible web to create soft “organic” designs with pillows, wall art and other home dec items.
Local favorite Kim Schaefer was featured in the Andover classroom. Andover Fabrics has one of the best classrooms, each attendee receives a great fabric goodie bag out of the class featured fabric designer. Her husband Gary did most of the talking while she showed off her latest fabrics and patterns. I just LOVE her snowmen. Her latest is Cottage Blooms (which we have in the store right now). Plus we got a preview of her winter and upcoming children’s line. I didn’t win the door prize of a fat quarter bundle… better luck next time.
Schoolhouse is a day where shop owners get a preview of all the new goodies from designers and manufacturers. A chance to hob-knob with the quilt elite while we elbow for chairs in each mini-session. A total of 226 classes are offered between 15 sessions. You can’t possibly hit them all in this day of stimulation overload.
First Up Me & My Sister DesignsWe learned about their mini-charm tablet patterns. You can make mini table runners or crib quilts to make the pattern to size or you can expand the size by making multiples of the quilts.
Amanda is a great pattern to make out of holiday fabric to make a quick and easy decoration! They have been making patterns with Layer Cakes as well. We will visit them at their booth!
Ooh – I ran into Alex Anderson in the hall – she said “Good Morning” to me.
Next up Darlene Zimmerman fabric designer, author, and gadget maker.
I’ve met Darlene before so we caught up in the hall. She will be talking about her latest 30’s line from Kaufmann. We will be joining her Clothesline Club, so this will be exciting!!! I got a really fun sweet treat fabric goodie just for coming to her class!
Check out these awesome projects!
We got bumped out of Mark Lipinski’s class (he is the crazy Quilter’s Home magazine guy). SOOOO many shops here, there must have been about 100 of us that didn’t get in. He is such the rock star! We will see him tomorrow in his booth. He has a great new fabric collection with Northcott. I can’t wait to get it!
Instead I popped into Eleanor Burns’ Victory Quilts session. OHH what a treat! Eleanor was in classic style and had a whole multimedia spectacle put together to showcase her new book. She was in costume as Rosie the Riveter. A little history, a little song and dance… and 20 great blocks make for some awesome quilts.
After lunch, Erin McMorris introduced her new line with Free Spirit, Park Slope Inspirations. A textile designer for over 15 years, Erin is breaking out on her own with her second fabric line. I love her use of fabric. It is such a
great way to get those non-sewers into quilting. She uses raw edge appliqué without fusible web to create soft “organic” designs with pillows, wall art and other home dec items.
Local favorite Kim Schaefer was featured in the Andover classroom. Andover Fabrics has one of the best classrooms, each attendee receives a great fabric goodie bag out of the class featured fabric designer. Her husband Gary did most of the talking while she showed off her latest fabrics and patterns. I just LOVE her snowmen. Her latest is Cottage Blooms (which we have in the store right now). Plus we got a preview of her winter and upcoming children’s line. I didn’t win the door prize of a fat quarter bundle… better luck next time.
We saw the coolest thing with the latest from Lunn Studios Artisan Batiks. Using simply the elements of the fabric, foundation piecing 6" diagonal strips of ONE fabric side by side, they created a quilt. No horizontal seams in this quilt. It is unbelievable! I can't wait to make one.
Last but not least we made sure we stopped by the Blue Underground Ladies session. Janine and Amy have great new designs to share with us! I can't wait to show you!!! The quilt shown is done in Dupioni Silks. 
1 comment:
Lots of pretties!!! Have a GREAT time!
Michelle
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