Bolt Fabric Boutique

Another Fine False Spring Day

Dear Liza,

Spring hasn’t really come to Portland yet, but last week we had a perfect day. Sunny enough to make sharp shadows, warm enough to be out in but cool enough appreciate going inside, and full of things to do.

First, Auntie Bridgett and I headed north to Bolt Fabrics to get some backing fabric for the Crazy Quilt. We were early, we stopped in at New Seasons for some bee pollen and horseradish. We walked around Alberta Street, looking in windows and seeing what was going on.

We saw some happy folks painting new trim on a store that will open soon called “Golden Pliers Bicycle Repair.” I love to see new businesses opening up!

The murals of Alberta are always beautiful, but the sunshine really makes them smile.

When Bolt opened, we hunted around for the right color to back the super-busy super-colorful crazy quilt. Our friend Cynthia joined us and added her ideas. Black? Too strong. Bronze? Not enough. How about this purple?

Perfect! It will get washed and ready for the quilt very soon.

We headed to The Great North for a snack, but they had nary a chair available. Cynthia suggested “Just Bob”, down the street. It was stunningly friendly, funky, and comfortable.

A delightfully retro mix of chairs and sofas had room for us, with chai and coffee and even a light lunch for me. We chatted and ogled all the decor.

“Bob” seems to be a unicorn, and his likeness was everywhere. Small statues and figurines filled every shelf, and Bob the unicorn had been added to several old landscape paintings.

After our snack and seeing Cynthia home, the day just kept being busy.

I met MJ at the Blair Community Garden to do some early spring weeding. The Lesser Celestines are invading the parkway outside the garden gate, and need to come out with all their roots, so they will stay gone.

An hour and a half later, I was done, done, done. Home for a rest and a chat with Grandpa Nelson, who had been out walking in all the pretty weather and was home to crash, as well.

And after a nice dinner at Ankeny Tap and Table, we watched a very silly Alfred Hitchcock movie and fell happily asleep.

I’m glad I had this perfect sunny day…. Next week we get more winter!

Love,

Grandma Judy

Saturdays are for Fabric, Coffee, and Art

Dear Liza,

After we had our usual ZOOM chat with you and your folks Saturday morning, Auntie Bridgett and I headed off for an adventure. We drove up to Bolt Fabric. I needed to have my scissors sharpened and to pick up some new fabric for the ongoing crazy quilt.

The store has moved since November, and it took a while to find it! The new shop is at Alberta and 29th, and is a larger store, with lots more selection and fun displays. I left my scissors with Sharpener Marc Matis, who has a shop on Sandy called Sharpening 4 U, and we looked around a bit.

I was feeling a little light headed, so we found The Great North for coffee and pastries across the street. This place is also new, and very bright and sunny. And delicious!

We found the fabric I needed, along with some thread, since I have been going though a lot of it with the quilt, and picked up the nicely sharpened scissors from Marc. I love that his business sticker is on a bandaid!

On the way back to the car, we found a tiny new art gallery called The Blind Insect. Pepe Moscosos displays his art as well as other artists’ work. I like Pepe’s work, though they were hard to photograph because of the strong afternoon sunlight. He has traveled to photograph deserted places in the U.S.and then uses the photos as the basis for story-evoking multi-media art. I enjoyed making up stories about them.

When we are done, and done in, we drove home and I washed the new fabrics.

Some will work for the Crazy Quilt and some won’t, but they are all pretty… and certainly won’t go to waste!

Have fun, dear Liza!

Love,

Grandma Judy

Tickled Pink About Babies

Dear Liza,

I love making baby quilts. They are small and quick and you can get creative with the colors, since they don’t have to match any sort of decor. The last baby quilt I made was yours, ten years ago, and I thought my baby quilting days were over.

But life keeps handing me surprises, and a dear friend has just become a parent. So that friend, their spouse, (and their little girl) get a quilt. Our trip to Bolt Fabric Boutique yielded lots of pretty pinks. I think The Barbie Movie has given the color a popularity boost.

I browsed online to get pattern inspiration, and came up with this interpretation of a windowpane pattern.

Using a rotary cutter and careful measurement makes all the pieces straight and even and makes piecing a dream.

It took me one evening to cut the pieces, the next afternoon to sew the pieced blocks, and another morning to get the black borders added.

I am very pleased with the top, and am still deciding how I ought to quilt it. Should it be hand-stitched and folksy? Or Machine straight lines, to follow the window shapes?

I love creative decisions!

Love,

Grandma Judy