First off I emailed Sister Diane over at Crafty Pod, asking if she had any recommendations for where I could stop, what would be a “must see” while I was there. She sent me the links to four stores and Powell’s.

Sister Diane recommended Josephine’s Dry Goods, Button Emporium, Knit Purl, and the Museum of Craft. JW and I took the Amtrak down to Oregon but once we were in Portland we rented a car. I didn’t mention that I’d have a car, so she mentioned places that were close to the station.

I knew there was a google map of crafty stores in Portland, and after a quick google search I found it at DIYAlert, click on the “Google Map of Crafty Portland.” (Created by Sister Diane a few years ago!)

I wasn’t thinking clearly and ended up trying to stay in a small area of town. After finding out that a few stores were closed on Monday (Button Emporium!), I ended up stopping at one quilt shop (who had a HUGE selection of Japanese fabric), Pendleton and Powell’s.

Pendleton is awesome. I love the blankets, I’ve started buying one of the sets of dishes for myself and I really love the fabric selection they have. At this particular Pendleton’s, they have huge bins of scraps for sale very cheap. You can buy a HUGE bag of zippers for a dollar, bags of scraps for a few dollars or purchase fabric from huge rolls.

I spent a few minutes going through the scrap bin when one woman brought me a cart to stick JW in. He’s a happy guy so he was smiling and flirting with her. She threw a blanket down and put him in the cart, along with a hippo. He lasted in there for several minutes while I went through the bins a bit more and walked around looking at the fabric. Once he was done being in there, we finished up and went to the quilt shop.

Of course I would be somewhere with no way of getting large items back home. A block away from the quilt shop was an awesome looking thrift store with great furniture outside. I didn’t even stop as I didn’t want to be even more tempted!

The quilt shop had one o the largest selections of Japanese fabric I’ve seen in one space. Even on the shop hop we went on this summer, no store had that much. Japanese fabric can tend to be more expensive as well. And for the first time, probably ever!, I couldn’t think of a project I needed to get fabric for!

But Powell’s…was hands down THE best place ever. Ever. It is huge and wonderful and you could spend hours in there. I was in there for just under an hour and hadn’t even seen all that I felt I needed to see. I ended up looking in the children’s section for a few minutes then going to the quilting section. I was in the store for so long, I had to rush the rest of the time to get to the train station before the train left. JW and I lucked out, we were sitting in our seats a few minutes before it left. All sweaty and out of breath from running, but at least the train isn’t like the airplane, we showed up about 20 minutes before it was time to leave and were still allowed on.

I can’t wait to get back to Portland!

Crafty Portland is a post from: me being crafty

And I am reminded of home because I will be there in a few weeks! Our plans have changed but we are still moving, just not to our initial destination. The kids and I will stay and then move on to staying with my Dad and hopefully my Mom later on. She’s in WA State and we talked about going to OR and I want to go to Portland. I thought I would be there in the spring but with our new plans, I’m just not sure.

How is your Christmas crafting going? Have you listened to my new craft podcast? I’m up to episode three with a new one being published every Wednesday! Soon I’ll be in iTunes, I’ve been super busy around here lately.

Reminders of Home is a post from: me being crafty

I was so nervous talking to him! But it wore off after a couple of minutes and I enjoyed our conversation a lot. I’m working on getting into iTunes so I’ll let you know when that happens and I hope you subscribe!

Craft Podcast #2 is a post from: me being crafty

In case you missed this, here is a great list that Amy over at Angry Chicken put together – not made in china. I have a few things I am working on for the kids and for the baby, as well as projects the kids can make on their own. I’m hoping the sewing projects won’t be too advanced for Alice, but even with the little things she’s been working on she loves it and catches on quickly.

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