A visit with Pokey Bolten to chat about Quilt! Knit! Stitch!

I believe that the fifth time you visit Portland, Oregon you decide to stay. Portland is an easy place to imagine living in, especially for quilters and artists. It has great fabric shops (I work for one of them!), an amazing community of talented and creative people and the best coffee on the planet.

A fun afternoon with Pokey Bolten (that's me, all smiley and giddy!)

Pokey Bolten invited me to join her for lunch at Helsers on Alberta St. during a recent visit here. If you have not had the pleasure of meeting Pokey, you most likely know about her from her magazines (she founded Quilting Arts Magazine and co-founded Cloth Paper Scissors) or maybe you have tuned in to see her host an episode of Quilting Arts TV (which she also founded!) She is currently the Chief Creative Officer of Quilts, Inc. the organization responsible for the International Quilt Market, the International Quilt Festival and most recently, Quilt! Knit! Stitch! which will be in Portland, Oregon August 14th- 16th. 

I was super excited to show Pokey the quilt Melissa Dunworth of SMQG posted on our Modern Metallic facebook group. I believe it is the official first finish for this challenge! She can't wait to see what everyone makes and also mentioned that Quilt! Knit! Stitch! is looking for folks to teach one hour 'make and take' classes and also to feature in a cool open studio format they have planned. I will post more information about that as soon. There is also a call for handmade flowers for a community garden exhibit at the show. Check out her fun tutorial and more information about that on her blog here.

our Modern Metallic special exhibit in the official Q!K!S! brochure!

Well, this was Pokey's fifth visit to our lovely city and I could see that look in her eyes as we walked down Alberta St.. Each store brought exclamations of excitement and each restaurant looked better than the next. Pokey, we would love for you to join us if you ever decide to set up a satellite office outside of Houston! Meanwhile we look forward to being a part of Quilt! Knit! Stitch! this August.

Stay in touch with Pokey via her blog pokey's ponderings