For the most part, the first 3000 miles of our cross-country road trip this summer followed the Lewis and Clark Trail. The culmination of that leg of our journey was our visit to Fort Clatsop, where the explorers wintered before their return to St. Louis. As we explored the museum, I (Teri) was thrilled to see this quilt, commemorating the exploration of Lewis and Clark, made by an eighth grade class. As a former teacher, this project warmed my heart!
Corps of Discovery's Journey Quilt
"As one unit in their 8th grade U.S. History class, these students researched individual topics about the Corps of Discovery's journey to the Pacific. After Visiting Fort Clatsop, each student chose a discovery or fact to research, compose an essay and then present their findings. The work culminated in the creation of a quilt square representing their topic. Their teacher, Mrs. Kraft, pieced the squares together. These students are now sophomores at Warrenton High School and are proud to present the completed quilt for viewing. A special thanks goes to the members of the School House Quilter's Guild, Sali Diamond and Jacki Holland for their volunteer hours spent working with the students. Also, Amy Keeling for machine quilting our quilt."
What a wonderful project! I applaud the teacher for her creativity, the volunteers who spent countless hours helping to produce this historical quilt, and the students for all their hard work. I am certain that the information they learned will not soon be forgotten—and perhaps a few quilters may come of it.
We spent several days in Portland, so of course I took a day to explore some quilt shops. The first that I visited was Pine Needles Quilt Shop, an amazing showroom of McKenna Ryan's designs. It was as much like a museum of her stunning work as it was a quilt shop; indeed, it had quilts galore, AND fabric, patterns, and kits! McKenna Ryan heaven! Enjoy!
I have always loved the way McKenna uses fabric, and I have several of her fabrics in my stash. You can see how they would work in her landscape quilts, just looking at them here on the bolts.
This laundry basket full of "scraps" drew my attention. I spent a fair amount of time seeing how much fabric I could fit in a bag; I am certain that I touched every scrap in that basket. My appliqué scrap stash has grown with some lovely fabrics!
Her Row by Row block is a mini-quilt on its own, celebrating the Portland area. I may have to make this block to remember my trip.
What creative ways to display blocks, if you don't want to put them together in a quilt! Everywhere I looked, I saw some inspiration—in design, color, and presentation; this shop had everything.
How adorable is this?!
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My next stop was Pioneer Quilts, located in the Historic Broetje House. Being a lover of flowers, I knew I was in for a treat when I approached the house and saw the stunning gardens. I may have spent as much time outside as inside!
A cheerful greeting
What a charming shop! On one side of the vestibule, there were sale fabrics and a lovely classroom area. The main shop was on the other side, and it appealed to all my textile-loving senses: brightly colored Kaffe Fassett and aboriginal fabrics, reproduction fabrics, and shelves arranged by color. The nook filled with a variety of embroidery threads and ribbons, as you can guess, made me happy inside, as did the section filled with beautiful hand-dyed wool. They even had a selection of notions; I purchased some adorable needle threaders, because one can never have enough of those!
Ribbons and threads!
Wool
The historic building and grounds were the perfect backdrop for this shopping experience.
Garden beauty!
Thank you for joining me on my quilt shop hop through the area around Portland, Oregon. I have one more place to share from my road trip this summer—stay tuned!
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