Bolt Neighborhood

The Mother Lode Sale, October 22-24

Here are a few more details about Bolt's Fifth Anniversary Sale coming up the weekend of the 22nd, 23rd, and 24th.  First off, all fabric will be marked down 10-50% for all three days.  This includes all new fabric that has been arriving the last few weeks.  On FRIDAY (while supplies last) we'll be giving away a Anna Maria Horner apron with purchases over 100 dollars and Modern Domestic will be throwing in a free hour of sewing on their wonderful machines with every 50 dollars spent (you'll need to keep your receipt to take advantage of the MD offer).  Also on Friday, we will be donating a portion of all sales to our Organization of the Month, Coffee Creek Quilters. 

On SATURDAY all books and patterns will be 20% off and on SUNDAY all notions and trims will be offered at the same 20% discount.  Word on the street, is that Alicia Paulson is doing a special in-store appearance at Modern Domestic in early December, so you may want to stock up on her books and replenish your embroidery supplies.  Elizabeth Hartman's new book is nearly here (hopefully in time for the sale) and we'll have details about her booksigning soon.  And while we're on the subject of special guests, there is still room in Kata Golda's Stuffed Companion class down at MD. 

New this week:  City Weekend by Oliver+S and Moda is here!  You can read more about the entire collection and ways to sew with it, here.  Pictured above are just some of the quilt weight cottons and a cheery stack of very soft interlock knits.  Raglan Ts all around!

Coffee Creek Quilters, Org of the Month

This month's Organization of the Month is Coffee Creek Quilters.  Amy, from the store, introduced the group to the shop and we're glad she did so!  It's a great organization and one that many of us could easily support just by cleaning up our overloaded stash baskets/ drawers/ bins, whatever method you maintain.  A portion of our sales from the first day of our big, store-wide sale, starting Friday, October 22nd, will be donated to CCQ.  Please come out and help us support them!

 

Mission

The mission of Coffee Creek Quilters is to use quilting as a vehicle for incarcerated women at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility to learn life-enhancing skills, such as patience, perseverance, problem-solving, and the importance of quality work.  Students also learn basic math, color theory, and have the opportunity to explore their creativity. In the process, the women develop self-esteem and self-confidence, which we hope will improve their opportunities for success after they leave prison.

Our Program

The program is entirely run by volunteers. Over 20 volunteers teach in one of four weekly two-hour quilting classes held inside the minimum security area of the prison.  Eighty students attend one of these classes and the waiting list to get into the program is long.  In order to build relationships, each student works with one primary instructor. As our founder Koko Sutton said, “It’s more about the conversation than the quilting”.  Students attend class for 12-18 months during which they make three quilts. The first two are donated to a variety of charities and the third quilt is for her or a loved one. Each year, students make approximately 120 quilts that are donated to nursing homes, hospices, children’s programs, and other organizations. One of our volunteers takes pictures of the two donation quilts so each student has a photograph of their work to keep.

 

Our Students

The majority of our students have experienced interpersonal violence, homelessness, and the absence of a positive role model growing up. Most have mental health and substance abuse concerns and many suffer from chronic medical conditions. Very few have ever used a sewing machine let alone made a quilt.  However, initial fears soon give way to pride over a good quarter-inch seam, points that match, and their first block.  When students finish their first quilt, the most common thing we hear is, “This is the first time I have ever finished anything! “ Everyone stops and applauds when finished quilts are held up by a beaming student.

What Students Say About the Program

The importance of finishing the first quilt is universal. One woman said, “Making my first quilt gave me the self-confidence that I could finish something”. Another recurrent theme is feeling “normal” in class. We are often told this is the only time they feel like normal women, being with and doing things “normal” women do. Many tell us quilting is the best two hours of their week. Giving back to the community is also very meaningful to our students and they often speculate about who the recipient of their donation quilts will be. Women never fail to thank the instructors before leaving class and continuously let us know how important it is to them that we “show up” every week for them.

 

How to Support CCQ

We rely on fabric donations for our quilts – 100% cotton, half yard or more, preferably pre-washed.

Our volunteer opportunities include teaching, fabric sorting, quilt-kit making, fundraising, and public relations.

We need donated sewing machines, basic notions and fabric for a quilt project to give eligible students when they are released.  These “release kits” are described in our brochure and web page.

We welcome any cash donation. It costs us $100 a year for each student.  Our “sponsor a quilter” opportunity is also described in our brochure and web page www.coffeecreekquilters.org

 

Coffee Creek Quilters is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit. For additional information contact us at:

                CCQ2@comcast.net   or

                leave a message at: 503-257-1320

                Coffee Creek Quilters

                P.O. Box 2672

                Wilsonville, OR 97070

 

 

Weekend Project: Stash Building Sale!

 
Ok, so the weekend project suggestion doesn't actually involve sewing, but more preparing to sew.  We're having our Super Stash Building Sale this Sunday, the 26th from 11 to 5.  Here's how it works: buy two yards (in at least half yard cuts) and receive half off the third yard (of equal or lesser value).  This also works for fat quarters--for every ten purchased, you'll receive two free!  Wow.  And, this sale is for a great cause: 10% of the day's total will be donated to the Children's Healing Art Project. 

More from Joel Dewberry's lovely Modern Meadow line arrived just in time for the sale, as did adorable flannel from Valorie Wells and Erin McMorris.  Yesterday I unpacked a box with a couple copies of Stitch by Stitch by Deborah Moebes.  Great new learn-to-sew book by the founder of Whipstitch fabric store and sewing lounge in Atlanta.  You can catch an interview with Deborah from Kim over at True Up.  Enjoy the read and we'll see you Sunday!

 

And, if you'd like to chime in about our extended hours, feel free to leave a comment.  We're considering staying open until 5 regularly on Sundays and would love to know what you thought.  Thanks!

Organization of the Month: Children's Healing Art Project

 

We are proud to bring you the Children's Healing Art Project as the   Organization of the Month for September.  A portion of all sales on Sunday, September 26th will be donated in support of their mission.  Scroll down to see details of the Super Stash Builder Sale!

Our Mission:

 
Children’s Healing Art Project, CHAP, brings the healing power of art to children and their families in crisis. Our mobile team of teaching artists create art opportunities where each child can be seen for their artistic talents rather than for their disease, diagnosis or disability.   CHAP works with more than 10,000 children a year in and out of our partner hospitals in Portland Oregon, and at the CHAP Art Factory.  CHAP offers one of the only in-and-out-of-the-hospital continuing arts education programs in the nation.   CHAP art classes are all based on choice.  We offer children in the hospitals, and their families, art opportunities that allow then to find their own personal narrative through the choices found in CHAP’s wide variety of art materials and teaching artists.  CHAP understands that the simple act of choice can be a powerful tool in working with children to create a bridge between their world and ours. We help guide each child to express themselves in ways that are true to their creative spirit rather than teaching in the traditional sense of the word, CHAP helps facilitate energy to come out rather than giving the child more information to process.  Making art with a child in crisis can open the door to the exploration of their own creative process. This simple fact is the corner stone of all CHAP action and thought….to work with a child rather than for the child. 

CHAP teaching artists are trained to step into the world of the children we serve in ways that encourage, engage and inspire them to express their inner narrative.  Children’s art often contradicts their physical and medical realities and illustrates their inner joy, humanity and hope. A child with a serious diagnosis, long term healthcare needs, or a perceived disability whether it be blindness or being born without arms often become CHAP’s greatest teachers. These children are heroes to other children as they share their unique creative spirit in ways that adults often miss due to our limited understanding of the creative process, they remind us of what we have forgotten about our own creative possibilities and our innate human potential that can be found in the common language of making art.  

The CHAP Art Factory:

To bring the healing power of art to children in crisis is a noble cause, but to bring what we have learned from the children we serve back into our community is revolutionary.  We offer the lessons we have learned from the children in the hospitals to the public through the creation of a retail art making life-changing experience known as CHAP Art Factory.  CHAP Art Factory is home to Art Club where we address what is known as the second phase of healing, when a patient is healthy enough to go home to their families.  

The most joyous of all CHAP art events is our ‘I AM DONE’ party.  We invite the children to the Art Factory after their last chemo treatment and ask them to bring their family, friends, supporters, nurses and doctors to celebrate ‘I AM DONE.’  We stencil T-shirts for everyone, make a lot of art and take off our shoes and socks, step in trays of paint and jump up and down on a mattress while screaming at the top of our lungs.  This party always ends with the parents holding hands and jumping face to face as they scream in joy and relief.  We love our ‘I AM DONE’ parties.

CHAP offers hospice art, where we work with children in their final days. CHAP also creates art projects for the families of the children who have passed by translating the children’s art into floral sculptures and buttons for their funeral services.  CHAP Art Factory is always free to the children and families we serve, and we offer the same art opportunities, $5 per hour, and guided classes, $10 per hour, to the general public.         

So!  Sunday, September 26th we'll be open an extra hour (until 5pm) for you to take advantage of our Stash Builder Sale.  Buy 2 yards of any sort of fabric (in at least 1/2 yard increments) and get the 3rd yard of equal or lesser value at 1/2 price.  OR buy 10 fat quarters and get two free.  Watch out Liberty Tana Lawn, I'm coming for you. 

More From Art on Alberta

Each month, Bolt highlights a different community organization and donates 10% of one days sales (this month it's tomorrow-- August 28th) to support their work.  This is part two (part one is here). 

Art on Alberta contributes to public art offerings on NE Alberta Street

This past May (2010), Art on Alberta's annual Art Hop focused around the theme ABC: Art Builds Community.  A connected community project provided the backdrop to contribute to and engage our neighborhood in the creation of more works for our public, permanent art display. During the event, murals were painted by volunteers, youth groups, neighbors, business owners, and event participants.

Project leaders/muralists Rodolfo Serna and Esteban Camacho designed and then led volunteer artists throughout the day in painting four murals that have been added to our neighborhood’s permanent art collection. Three murals were painted by attending youth and volunteer mentors under the direction of Skidmore Prize winner Serna. A fourth mural was painted by the attending public, designed and supervised by Camacho. Art on Alberta facilitated these murals projects to be presented as gifts to three nonprofits who serve our neighborhood: Community Energy Project, House of Umoja, and Sabin CDC.

 

Tube Sale Reminder and New Fabric For Your Consideration

Melissa

This Saturday (August 28th) all fabric on tubes will be 20% off.  As well, all scissors (Fiskars and Gingher brand) will be 20% off as well!  10% of the days profits will be donated in support of Art on Alberta.  If you haven't been in the store in a while you might be wondering what "tube" fabric means.  The store carries loads of knits, coated cotton, silk, rayon, cotton, vintage sari fabric, denim, canvas-- even chalkboard fabric-- all wrapped on long tubes and stored upright in bins around the store.  You will find something you love. 

New bits and bobs you might see on the regular bolts this week:

(Moda, Alexander Henry Home Dec, Forest Friends Organic Flannel!)

There is also a new stack of Aunt Grace repro prints, some re-ordered Joel Dewberry, and Japanese double gauze and linen.  New boxes come in almost every day.

Organization of the Month: Art on Alberta

After a brief hiatus, Organization of the Month is back!  Each month we highlight a local community non profit and devote some time highlighting the work they do.  Then the store donates a portion of all profits from our special sale day (this month it is the 28th!) to help fund their operation. 

(Don't forget about all the upcoming activities at the Alberta Street Fair on August 21st.  We'll be open from 10-1 pm that Saturday and closed for the rest of the afternoon.)

Art on Alberta is a small but mighty all-volunteer nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote the Alberta Art District's distinct cultural identity through art and educational activities. We have been in existence for over a decade and received our 501(c)(3) status in 2002.  Art on Alberta has received grant support from the Oregon Arts and Culture Council and the Regional Arts and Culture Council for projects in the past, but we also depend on smaller donations from individual memberships and special fundraisers from Alberta Street businesses like Bolt, Cork, Bernie's, Radio Room, Alberta Gardens, and Bink's. 

Here's a few of our favorite projects from our organization's history:

In 2006, Art on Alberta sponsored the creation and installation of fifteen kinetic metal banners that span from Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. to NE 33rd Avenue.  They mark this area as the Alberta Arts District

In 2009, we mounted an exhibition of over 50 original works by artist Thelma Johnson Streat, an Oregon resident over half a century ago who was the first African American Woman to have her work in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.  More information about Streat can be found here.  You can also see her work on OPB's History Detectives.

This year, Art on Alberta had two exciting projects.  We raised over $2500 in scholarship money for three young artists to help in their college tuition through the sale of their original artworks to be on permanent display at the Avel Gordly Head Start Center in North Portland.  This spring and summer, we have sponsored four new murals for Alberta Street, located at the Community Energy Project, the House of Umoja, and Cork wine shop. These murals were designed by artists Esteban Camacho and Rodolfo Serna and were painted by the attending public at Art on Alberta's 11th annual Art Hop this past May.

Please visit our website to learn more about Art on Alberta and how you can help us with our projects for 2011, which include a public art directory/walking map and the restoration of a 1960's teardrop trailer into a mobile art gallery!  

 --Hillary

Come in Saturday, August 28th for 20% off all fabric on tubes and all Fiskar and Gingher scissors.  A portion of the days sales will go towards supporting this great organization.

Sunday Sale!

By Gina

This Sunday, May 23rd is the date for this month's Org of the Month sale.  Mark your calendars and come check it out!  We will be taking 20% off the following prepare-for-summer goodies:

• Fat quarters: these never go on sale!  Now's your chance to snatch them up individually or in packs to make napkins and quilts to last you and your loved ones through the summer.
• Oilcloth and Coated Cotton: perfect, perfect for summer dining.  Whether it covers the table in the backyard, or acts as the moisture barrier for your picnic blanket, it's a must for summer.  We just got in Amy Butler's new raincoat patterns, in case you'd like to wear it instead.
• Dish towels and Toweling: been wanting to try your hand at embroidery? Dish towels are a great way to get started.  With our newly expanded selection of embroidery transfers, now's the time too!  Check out Melissa's fast and easy napkins for more ideas with toweling.
• Apron patterns: well, what can I say about these?  We see new designs just about every month.  It's pattern topic that has its own container.  That's a lot of apron patterns.  Bring some joy to the BBQ-master or pie baker in your life.
• Kitchen-related books: this includes the adorable Kitchen Linens Book, Zakka Sewing, Napkin Origami, A is for Apron,  The Apron Book, and Handmade Soirees.

Come shop on Sunday from 11 to 4 and help us support Out to Pasture Animal Sanctuary!  See you there.

New prints, Art Hop and more

by Gina.

 

A great new Echino line arrived last week.  I love it!  Cameras, eyeglasses and transportation.  A must see.  

The details for this month's organization of the month sale: prepare for summer with 20% off oilcloth (picnic mats), fat quarters (napkins), apron patterns, dish towels and towel yardage, and kitchen project books.  How fun.  (Thanks April!)  It will be Sunday, May 23rd, 11-4 pm. 

 
Art Hop is a wonderful time to enjoy and celebrate all Alberta Street has to offer!  With the street lined with vendors of all sorts, so many fabulous shops and eateries, and lots of live music and...art.  This year's Art Hop theme is Art Builds Community.  Murals will be the highlight of the day. 

Modified Style Fashion Show

The Modified Style fashion show is right around the corner--May 16th!  It will be held this year at the Jupiter Hotel and tix are available through brownpapertickets.com.  Read on to find out more about the fantastic event!

This May, over 50 designers take to the stage for Modified Style to showcase their designs in an effort to raise funds and awareness for three local non-profits.

Modified Style is not your typical fashion show--in addition to incorporating sustainability into every aspect of the event, the creators are using the fashion as a platform to raise awareness among their peers about local charities.  The brainchild of two local ladies, Andrea Fretwell and Janessa Philemon-Kerp, Modified Style was inspired by a smaller version in Seattle a few years ago. These ladies decided to bring it home to Portland in 2009 and are approaching their second year with their successful event. Ms Philemon-Kerp says their main goal is "to show people in our age group--late twenties and early thirties--how easy it is to donate to charities. And we want people to have fun while doing it." 

In addition to raising money and awareness for Sisters Of The Road,  Out to Pasture Farm Sanctuary and Caldera,the organizers aim to inspire confidence in men and women who haven't necessarily ever designed before. "Learning how to sew for Seattle's Modified Style really inspired me; if I can learn how to sew, anybody can." Ms Fretwell says. She's passionate about the "volunteer designers unlocking their potential. So many people don't know what they're capable of until they accomplish something new." 

 
 

This year Modified Style's fashion show takes place on Sunday, May 16th. With music by DeeJay BeLo, a raffle and a chance to buy your favorite creation at the Silent Auction, this event looks like a fantastic way to spend an evening while helping some great causes.