Bend Shop Hop: BJ’s Quilt Basket

I couldn’t go to Sisters without visiting local quilt shops. It’s what I do.

BJ's Quilt Basket
BJ’s Quilt Basket

The second one we visited was BJ’s Quilt Basket in Bend. Don’t worry, I’ll get to the Stitchin’ Post.

BJ's Quilt Basket Interior 1
BJ’s Quilt Basket Interior 1

The shops in the area are LARGE and have a lot of fabric. BJ’s was no exception. The shops in the area were benefiting from the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show and all the related events, so they had extra staff and specials going on. They also had a cooler out front full of free water, which was nice. It was fairly warm, so it was a nice gesture.

BJ's Quilt Basket Interior 2
BJ’s Quilt Basket Interior 2

I am not used to such large shops, so it felt a bit overwhelming. BJ’s had a section of repro fabrics, a section of 1930s prints, a few aisles of batiks, blenders (tone-on-tone) plus a lot of new stuff right up front. It was kind of shocking to see so much fabric in one place. Delightful also.

BJ's Quilt Basket Interior 3
BJ’s Quilt Basket Interior 3

I was pleased to see a lot of batiks in the area. Near me, people eschew batiks even though they are lovely. BJ’s was no exception. The shop had tons.

I saw the Tula Pink dots and stripes at The Stitchin’ Post, but I didn’t buy them. I couldn’t resist a few bits at BJ’s.

They also had lots of Kaffe prints. I bought a few at each of the shops at which we stopped.

BJ's Quilt Shop: purchases
BJ’s Quilt Shop: purchases

BJ’s Quilt Shop
Address: 20225 Badger Rd, Bend, OR 97702
Phone: +1-541-383-4310
Hours: 9:30am-5:30pm

Bend Shop Hop: The Stitchin’ Post

Julie and I did not have classes on Thursday. I highly recommend taking a day off from the intensity of learning when you are at an event like Sisters/Quilter’s Affair.

We got up at our normal 6:30 because of that crazy window, but had a leisurely breakfast, sat around a bit and then got ready before we left at 10:30 to go to some quilt shops.

The Stitchin' Post
The Stitchin’ Post

First stop was the Stitchin’ Post. It is a 7-8 minute drive from where we were staying. I would be thrilled if I had a quilt shop that close to my house. I’d be in trouble, but thrilled nonetheless.

Okay, the Stitchin’ Post is actually in Sisters, not in Bend, but I am calling this series of posts the Bend Shop Hop regardless. Bend “Area” is too long (take a look at that URL already!).

Stitchin' Post Interior 8
Stitchin’ Post Interior 8

We went into the Stitchin’ Post at least twice, but the Thursday visit was the day we planned to look around at everything. I think we might have been there closer to 4 times, but who’s counting?

Stitchin' Post Interior 1
Stitchin’ Post Interior 1

It is a gorgeous shop. Huge! High ceilings, bright paint, plenty of staff, lots of great fabric and samples. Prices were ‘normal’ – $12-13/yard. The stock was depleted early in the week and by Thursday, our shop hop day, it was hard to find things. Not horrific. It wasn’t like the shop was empty, but a lot of notions were sold out and their fat quarters were a bit thin on the ground. Still, I found plenty to buy.

Stitchin' Post: Kaffe prints
Stitchin’ Post: Kaffe prints

The Stitchin’ Post had a gorgeous Kaffe corner. I bought a lot of Kaffe on the trip, though not as much as I could have. I will use one of the pieces to make a nightshirt.

Stitchin' Post Interior 4
Stitchin’ Post Interior 4

This was the first shop at which I saw the Tula Pink Dots and Stripes. They are gorgeous. Nice sized dots and stripes and interesting colors. I really wanted all of them, but the lines for cutting were daunting at times when there was enough to cut 24 half yards. You can see them in the photo above behind the dress.

There was so much to look at in that shop! they had a lot of different fabrics, some of which I hadn’t seen before. I saw lots of batiks, which we don’t see here anymore very much.

There was a small section of household gifts – soaps, tea, mugs and some interesting pincushions. I wanted to get one for Julie, but I couldn’t while she was there and when I came back to get it, someone else had beaten me to it.

I looked at the yarn a lot on Sunday and, as mentioned, bought a couple of skeins to make another scarf. Since I didn’t bring needles with me, I had to buy needles as well.

First Stitchin' Post purchase
First Stitchin’ Post purchase

This shop is absolutely worth a visit. I had a great time. If you are in the area, head to Sisters and visit The Stitchin’ Post.

Stitchin' Post purchases
Stitchin’ Post purchases

The Stitchin’ Post is located at:
311 W. Cascade St. (Hwy 20/126)
in Sisters, Oregon

Mailing address:
P.O. Box 280, Sisters OR 97759
Phone: (541) 549-6061
eMail: stitchin@stitchinpost.com
Store Hours:
Monday – Saturday 9-5 (9 – 6 in the summer)
Sunday 10-4

Sisters Retreat – Quilt Show

Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show 2018 -Street Closed
Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show 2018 -Street Closed

Saturday July 16 was the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show. The show starts early in the morning with teams of volunteers, including the local fire department, hanging quilts from everywhere.

Oregon State Highway 20 is the main road that goes through town and that road, much to my amazement, was closed except for cross traffic in some places.

We packed the car (Julie did most of the work!) and parked near downtown at about 8:30 in the morning. This was a day for a lot of amazement. This time I was shocked and thrilled that we could find a parking place within a block of the first quilts available to look at. After that, we just wandered around looking at quilts, going where our feet took us.

Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show 2018 -Stitchin' Post
Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show 2018 -Stitchin’ Post

The Stitchin’ Post was decked out in all of its glory. The quilts on the front were just a taste of what was inside and on the side.

We couldn’t resist taking photos of ourselves in front of the display on the side of the shop.

When I said the quilts were everywhere, I meant almost everywhere. They were hanging from buildings, awnings, sides of buildings, backs of buildings. There was other art on display as well. I’ve seen a robot like that before somewhere and may have even posted it here. I am a sucker for leaded glass and these were great. I also love public clocks and think there aren’t enough of them.

Sadly I only took pictures of individual quilts not the entire displays on walls. I’ll know better if I go again. People on Instagram posted a lot of photos, so take a look at the hashtag for a better view.

Sisters Retreat-Class Day Three

Wednesday – Day Three of the Rosalie Dace class

Who Am I? with grid
Who Am I? with grid

I started out the day with the ribbons applied.

Construction again. I drew out some letters and started cutting them out of fabric on fusible.

I am pretty happy with the letters. I started out with a ‘J’ I found on the web. I wanted all of the letters of my name to be beautiful. I didn’t have an entire alphabet, so I extrapolated out from that one ‘J’. I used the slant and thickness of the letters to make up the other letters. I also used the stem of the ‘J’ to make one stem of the A. I don’t know if they are beautiful, but I think they are beautiful.

I wanted some, not all, of the letters on the overall piece to be beautiful.

I started working on the letters. And also the placement. The last day was much slower than the other two days. I made good progress, but the pieces were smaller and more detailed. I worked on the placement of the Jaye and the Anne. I thought my names would be the first two lines, then I realized that I was my mother’s daughter before I was anyone else’s anything.

I used fusible, ribbon and some zig zaggy trim for the various letters. Each group of letters required at least one ‘rewrite’.

Sisters Retreat-Class Day Two

Tuesday – Day Two of the Rosalie Dace class

Who Am I? background
Who Am I? background

I got the background done pretty sharpish when I got to class Tuesday.

Yes, this is the background. It is the essence of who I am. I guess. I am not exactly sure why this is the background.

The biggest problem with art quilts is construction. To achieve the design goal, the construction can be challenging. the background you see was pretty basic piecing except for the spot where the top of the M comes together at an angle.

For the moment, I am leaving the -v- for later. Rosalie said that she couldn’t see it, so I decided not to worry about it right at the moment.

Who Am I? grid in process
Who Am I? grid in process

The next step was to get the ‘ladder’/grid motif appliqued on. I tried strips of fabric, but eventually landed on some ribbon that I have been saving for …something. This is the something. I laid out the ribbon where I thought they should go and looked. I moved them around and looked some more.

Again construction was an issue. The first piece, a piece of thick ribbon that looked like mosaic tile, went on like a dream. The next piece, which was much thinner would not go on. It bunched up, slid around and was generally a pain. I finally put batting on the back and sewed through the ribbon, the background and the batting. This is not ideal, because I have to worry about when to put a backing on and how to quilt it all again. Still, I was in class and had to make do.

Who Am I? grid
Who Am I? grid

The grid, which is kind of like a second background, came out ok. The ribbons aren’t perfect, but they fit with my design.

I got back to my schedule and finished the ribbons by the end of day two. Next up: letters.

Sisters Retreat-Class

Sisters High School / Quilt Class Retreat Center
Sisters High School / Quilt Class Retreat Center

Monday started in bright and early with class. Julie, Kathleen and I all took the Rosalie Dace class. I signed up when Kathleen and Julie did because I was OBE. I really had no expectations.

This was a three day class with the title “Word for Word.” I brought some text fabrics and threw in some greys and a large piece of a dot print as well as some embellishments, ribbon and some fancy sewing machine feet.

This was one of the best classes I have ever taken.

Rosalie teaching
Rosalie teaching

First, we talked. Rosalie showed us slides of art that included words. There were quilts (think about the Temperance movement), graffiti, one piece that depicted the words escaping a box and many others. She talked about creating and design. The talk went on for awhile, but the most helpful thing to me for my design was when the students introduced themselves. We had to say why we were in the class in one sentence. People talked about their names as well, but I can’t remember if that was part of the question or just evolved. One fellow student talked about how she had many names – nicknames, names she called herself or wanted to be called, names others called her. She has a long and girly name, so the permutations are endless.

Who Am I? piece
Who Am I? piece

This got me to thinking about my name. My name has no nicknames. None. That made me think about my roles. Even if I have no nicknames, I have roles. I decided to use my roles as a basis for my piece.

This idea gelled into place so quickly that it was frightening. Because of the speed, i was really unsure of the whole concept. I talked with Rosalie about it and she loved the idea, so I went for it. Every staged gelled, so I just kept working.

I don’t agonize over my pieces constantly. Yes, I do agonize a bit , but in this case, I kept asking for a bit of feedback from Rosalie and moving forward.

I got the background almost done on Monday. My goal was to get the background done On Monday. I know that if I get a lot done I can continue when the class is over. I needed momentum.

I had only two more seams to go on Tuesday to finish the background.

 

Sisters Retreat

Packing for Sisters
Packing for Sisters

Last Saturday Friend Julie and I packed my car and headed off towards Oregon. We made a quick stop at Colleen’s to drop off three quilts, as mentioned and then settled in for a long drive.

We made stops at Granzella’s in Williams (mob scene with a great taco salad) and Dunsmuir (yummy lemonade), ending up in Klamath Falls for the night. We saw haze, but other than that we weren’t affected by the fires raging throughout California. If we had  left a day earlier, we would have been stopped at the border by a fire that jumped the freeway after a girl with firecrackers started it. DH encouraged me to drive the entire way in one one long day, but that is too much sitting in the car for both of us.

We had a good night’s sleep and set off again. After a few errands, including having to wash the car (tons of ash), we got on the road. The car wash was hilarious. It was one of those U-Wash-It type places and we wash and rinsed the car with giants wands. We decided to make a detour to Crater Lake. It was on the way and we had plenty of time.

Julie had been there before, but I hadn’t as an adult. I might have been there as a kid. I don’t remember. Being summer, the place was pretty busy. We were still able to enjoy the amazing view. AMAZING.

We spent a good hour or more as t Crater Lake then stopped at a small diner in Chemult for lunch. No amazing taco salads and kind of a flare when I asked about gluten free buns.

Stitchin' Post
Stitchin’ Post

We wanted to stop at some quilt shops on Bend, but time was short so went straight to the Stitchin’ Post to checkin for classes and get our packets. We did look around the shop, which is gorgeous!

Yes, I bought some yarn, needles and some yardage of a Philip Jacob’s print. It was getting late and we were tired. Our housemates were waiting and we still had a stop to make at the grocery store, so we left with our few purchase. We plan to go back and really inspect everything later.

Kathleen had dinner ready for the whole gang when we arrived, which was fabulous. The house is great-comfy and plenty of space. It isn’t too far from town or too far from the classes. We can walk to both. I looked forward to the week.