Okay, maybe I'm just revving up for events throughout the next week surrounding Spring Quilt Market which is happening here in Portland this year! A friend who had helped with the set-up 5 years ago when Spring Market was last held here asked if I'd like to join her this time around - which includes a free pass to the trade show. Unfortunately it does not look like we got a shift this time around, but I have generously been granted credentials from Marie, so I'll hopefully be able to sneak a peek at some point next weekend when I am not helping out at Cool Cottons.

But there are really two things in particular that I am very much looking forward to. First off - getting the chance to take a class with Jacquie Gering of Tallgrass Prairie Studio, coauthor of the book Quilting Modern, and I believe one of the founding members of the KCMQG. She will be a guest teacher at Modern Domestic while here in town, teaching her "Slice and Insert" improvisational quilting technique. This is the first quilting class I've signed up for in several years, not including the week long Jane Sassaman workshop I attended with my mom last summer in Greenville, NY. I find her work so inspiring, and am eager to get the chance to spend the day in this class! I've begun pulling some fabrics to use during the class, but may very well change my mind before next Wednesday...

I'm thinking the navy will be background with the oranges and periwinkle as the slices and inserts. Any suggestions?

And part two of the weekend's fun surprises is that I get to meet someone who's become an online friend over the last few years. Jenn, a.k.a. Sunny, an amazingly creative and generous gal who pulled together an online quilting bee for modern quilters several years ago, one which I was SO fortunate to become involved with starting in 2011 and have continued to take part in the follow-up years. Granted, 2 of the 3 quilts I've gotten out of the deal are still in progress, but it's without a doubt been one of the most gratifying experiences I've had in the online quilting community to date.

I still have a way to go for this, but it's still 2013, so I'm not TOO far behind... and this round of F+F is still going on!

Is anyone else out there headed to good ol' Stumptown for Spring Quilt Market? I know there's going to be a Happy Hour meet up at Modern Domestic on Friday evening, and I am sure other social events as well. It would be so cool to meet some other visitors to our fair city, either while I'm behind the counter at Cool Cottons on Friday and Saturday or at other events. Give a shout-out!