Portland Quilt Fest 2007

I am back driving short distances - very carefully. I went to physical therapy on Friday, where I received exercises to do three times a day to prevent frozen shoulder. The therapist told me I didn't have to wear my sling all the time - hooray! I can't reach my right arm up far enough to hold the wheel where I usually do, but I can hold it firmly enough in the 4:00 position that I feel it's safe for me to drive. Painful, but safe for short distances.

I was able to drive myself to the place designated for meeting five North Star Quilters friends so we could head to Quilt Fest in Portland. We had a marvelous time. Dozens of spectacular quilts to view, as well as one of the traveling Hoffman Challenge collections for 2007. Several dozen vendors also - something to excite any quilter alive. I took over 80 pictures so will be able to share many of the amazing quilts during the next few weeks.

Lucky for me, my budget, my will power, and my crowded shelves, most of the vendors had little to interest me. Not to say they didn't have wonderful things to buy - I'm just not into batiks, hand dyes, brights, shabby chic, Asian, African, or any of the beautiful bright prints by the young designers of today. It was fun to see what they had but I wasn't tempted. Only four or five of the booths presented any danger, and I was able to be good in all but two. I bought a Bare Roots pattern in one booth - a neat stitchery of a quilt shop, quilts, and other quilty things.

Then I reached the booth for my favorite quilt shop - Momma Made It. I already knew I was going to spend money there because I'd asked her to reserve a kit for me that I'd seen when my friend Kim and I visited the shop shortly after I hurt my shoulder. This is a design by Lori Smith - one of her Seasonal Quilts collection called Spring Baskets. Sharon has such a marvelous way of putting fabrics together. The other thing I really like about her kits is that they are more a collection of fat quarters and yardage to use in the quilt than an actual kit. No instructions on what fabrics to put where - she leaves that up to the quilter. So there is still lots of room for personal choice and each quilt will look a bit different depending on where the quilter uses each fabric. She'd also just gotten in the Civil War Dressing Gown collection by Judie Rothermel, so of course I had to have a set of those fat quarters.

So that was the extent of my purchases - a collection of fat quarters, a collection of fabrics for a particular quilt, and a pattern. I could have been swayed to purchase so much more if I'd allowed myself to do so, so I was actually pretty happy with myself. We had a marvelous morning - what's better than time spent with quilty friends?