Portland, Oregon: Spring Quilt Market 2013

I am not much of a flyer....the views are gorgeous but that nagging, "we could drop out of the sky at any moment" thought is never far away.  The circle crops were mesmerizing and came in so many formats: green, brown, circles with pie wedges, circles with fun lines drawn in them.  I had to figure out my phone for airplane mode so I could take pictures.  Of course, I am such a rule follower that I didn't get a pic of the double rainbow out our window during landing....SO beautiful!

So after 2 stops (KC and Albuquerque) and 9 hours on a plane, Welcome to sunny Portland.  I had to have the pic to prove to my husband that the sun really does come out.  We lived in Oregon for 2 years once and according to him, the sun came out once in 2 years and it never got above 70 degrees.

To be honest, this pic looked completely different in 20 minutes:) 

One spire of the Convention Center

My booth: NESTLINGS for Autumn

Jillily Studio Booth: Can I have this in my Living Room?

Do you see my mug on the Generation Q magazine wall??

The IQF traveling quilt show was on exhibit too.  There were some breathtaking quilts there....Lots of hand work too!!

Eileen is a friend of mine and this may be one of my favorite quilts of hers!

 Old Friends and New Friends made up my Booth Mates!!

Me and Susan Marth

Susan Marth of Suzn Quilts and her daughter Chloe

Chloe was essential in making sure we were all fed and caffeinated!  Thank you!

My dear friend, Pepper Cory, stopped by to let me hug her!  Very Important business!

Susan Knapp of The Quilt Branch and her staff, Karen Bailey.  Loved meeting Karen!

Always fun to see Celine Perkins of Perkins Dry Goods again!

Our corner had the most fun I am sure!  Then we headed out on the town for dinner.  A friend had recommended The Portland Grill on the 30th floor of one of the skyscrapers.  The food was so good and went well with the view and the company!  So good we went back a second time...Look the weather changed:)

After Market was done, Susan kept the rental car for another day so some sight-seeing could be done.  A very quick drive into Washington State, some antique shopping in Astoria, and a jaunt out to Cannon Beach. 

We had lived south of here for 2 years and never made it up to see this iconic rock (Haystack Rock)/ beach in Oregon. So beautiful!

New Signs!

The flowers in Oregon were just beautiful!  I don't really remember seeing Cala Lilies when I lived there.....

Of course I had to stop into Golden Whale Jewelry after Karen went on and on about this rare and cool stone cut.  It is called a Lighthouse Lens cut and it was very expensive.  When I asked my husband about it, he wanted to know if they give a Lighthouse Keeper discount since he is CG.  No to that but they do offer a Military Discount.  So if you are looking for something unique and you are in Oregon.....check them out.  I was hooked once I saw the orange stone named Indian Flame Sapphire:)

 

The trip was a lot of work as usual, but the friends, food, and memories will be cherished for a lifetime!

HIDDEN STITCHES challenge and TO MARKET:)

After long months of crazy creativity, frustration, excitement, and pure joy at finishing in time; the Hidden Stitches 2013 Paint Chip Challenge is revealed. OH, and I am going to Spring Market:)

 

Funny how the feelings are the same. I have been working feverishly to get my Market samples completed, written, tested, photographed, printed, folded and packaged.  The time is now as I fly out on Wednesday for Portland, Oregon where I will meet new shop owners and see old friends!  When I get home, you will get your own private show here so check back after June 1st.

 

In the meantime I leave you with the amazing creativity of my sweet guild friends!

 

As to our challenge, I believe we had 6 months to decide what to do with the paint chips we were blindly given.  The size was no more than 100" (all four sides added together) and you had to use the chip colors as your primary focus.

I brought my racks and drapes so we could hang them all for voting.  They are all so different!

 

Laura Raczek

Mary Lou Wechter, Winner of Best Design.

There was a lot of discussion about Mary Lou's because the left side is all 3D woven and the flowers are 3D as well.

Marva Gurley, winner of Most Whimsical

This is my Mango Mambo.  Not only do I love the color of Mangoes but since moving to FL. I actually like the flavor too.  The little orange ones are delicious!! The pic below is it hanging in my home and you can see the quilting a bit better too.

Brenda Grampass

Lynn Tinley

Mary Ann Braithwaite, winner of Best Use of Color

We were all very impressed with how she used colors that all of us would have cried over!

Diane Dormer

Carol Flomp

Liz Mann

                                                

Lynn Woods

Pat Osinga

Bernice Frederick

Karen Barrie

Barbara Leonard

I am so impressed with how creative they all were with what colors they had.  There were some color selections that would have driven me over the edge:) but they were able to make something wonderful!
Until June....

CONGRATULATIONS!

The winner of the magazine is Mary who wrote about spending more time in mixed techniques thanks to the blog tour:)  That is the fun of this- Inspiring quilters to try something new!

The winner of a free pattern is Dana who chose Coastal Christmas.  I love pictures of finished quilts-HINT, HINT, HINT:)

Now for a sneak peek to see how many of you come back to visit me:)



Pumpkin Star

This is one of my new patterns going to Market in less than 2 weeks.  I am pretty excited about this little cutie.

Have a great weekend.


Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks, Volume 7, BLOG HOP

Welcome back for Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks,

Volume 7, Blog Hop!

You are so smart to get sneak peeks at what the designers are offering this time, as well as get yourself entered for fun prizes!

If this is your first time here, Welcome.  I'm Robin Koehler, a designer of fun, new quilts that range from whimsical applique to paper piecing.  I have been very busy preparing for Spring Quilt Market where I will unveil brand new Autumn designs.  So if Autumn is your season, check back in June so you will have plenty of time to get one done for snuggling.

Of course, I am again thrilled to be a part of this amazing ride!

VOLUME 7

For those of you that have been along for my ride since Vol. 2, you may remember that I am always in the 'foundation pieced' section.  This time you will find me in the 'mixed technique' section, block #635.  There is still paper piecing involved but I also mixed in some regular piecing.

Clown Go Round #635 by Robin Koehler of NESTLINGS by Robin

I went through a few color variations before deciding on this particular one.  Since 2008 I have been playing with this block while attempting art quilts.  Even when trying to make art, I could feel the pull of traditional quiltmaking on my work.  Here is what the very first one looked like....

I really love the contrast of the gold and the black, and that it is on point, but I will be disassembling this soon to remove it from the canvas and probably frame it instead.  If you notice, the 9 patch from above has been reversed, using the paper pieced blocks in the 4 directions layout vs. the corners.  Hopefully you can also see that I used the block template for my quilting lines in the corners.

Look at how much color can fool the eye...Same layout as above but because the center fabric matches the bottom corner of the

paper piece segment, you get a completely different feel.

Same fabrics from the layout in the magazine with different placements.  I truly love them all but chose the one that got into the magazine for being most photogenic and graphic in a thumbnail view.  As fun as the bottom one is, you lose the block detail with all the red.

 

Lastly, what about leaving out the 9 patch squares completely and just placing the paper piece blocks together.....

What a fun star block this makes.  This is how we see most paper piece designs but the next time you look at one, think about breaking it apart and adding in some solid squares instead:)

 

Thank you for stopping by and reading about the journey of one little block!

 

Now for the giveaways-

Giveaway #1

1. Visit my website.

2. Come back here and mention which of my patterns is your favorite in your blog comment for a chance to win it.

3.  On Friday, 8pm EST, I will draw a random number from the comments left on the blog so make sure I have a way of contacting you.

Giveaway #2

A lucky commentor will have a chance to win a copy of 100 Blocks Volume 7 by random number from all the blog comments.

Plus you will want to visit Quiltmaker's blog for a chance to win more fun prizes from them. You will also find a complete list of all the participating designers.



Quiltmaker: Quilts From... is still on stands.

Remember this block from Volume 5 of Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks?

 

It was picked up for their, Quilts From 100 Blocks magazine and was released this Spring-March to be exact.  I saw that it is still on stands with a really fun way to change it up for the summer.  It isn't too late.
When you click on the link above, you will get a peek at what is inside.  Look for Watermelon Days.
Enjoy and see you at the next HOP!

Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Volume 7 is coming-

Next week is Quiltmaker's blog hop for the release of Volume 7 of 100 Blocks.  What a success this magazine has been and I, again, am very honored to be a part of it!

Join me here on Thursday, May 2nd as I introduce my block and what fun things you can do with it.

In the meantime, check out what they have going this week.