The Quilter, Vancouver, Washington

October 29, 2011

This particular Saturday finds me teaching an Art of Machine Quilting class at The Quilter in Vancouver, Washington.  Bonnie Craig has had a quilting shop for 22 years, with 11 of those years in Vancouver.  She has been at the present location on Chkalov Road in Cascade Park for the past four years.

This full-line quilt shop features reproduction prints to batik, civil war prints to traditional.  The Quilter also has a large selection of books and patterns, a variety of batting selections, and the full line of Hemingworth Threads.  It was at this quilt shop that I first saw the Hemingworth threads and I fell in love with them.  It is a 40 wt. polyester thread like a lot of other thread currently on the market, but what I like the best is their colors.  There doesn't seem to be as much yellow in this thread line, so they have a lot of what I call "muddy" colors - colors that you can't tell if they are green, brown, or gray.  This is the type of thread colors I'm looking for when quilting rocks, tree bark, branches, and bird legs to name just a few.  They have beautiful taupe threads in a range of values, blue/gray threads (great for Herons), and awesome mauve colors - just to name a few.

Since Bonnie's classroom is located on one side of her store and is smaller in size, the maximum number of participants in any class is also smaller - which is great for the students!  Class today has 10 students, so everyone got a lot of one-on-one time.  Several class attendees also joined me for lunch at the Jerusalem Cafe, which made the day that much more fun and relaxed.

So, if you're ever in the Vancouver area and want to visit a quilt shop with a great selection of thread and books (along with fabric, of course!), stop in and visit Bonnie at The Quilter.