Greenbaum’s Quilted Forest–Salem, Oregon

My friend in Oregon, Beth, picked me up at my hotel bright and early and we headed up to Salem, to the first shop of our day-long shop hop.  Beth really knows how to make a quilter happy, because she is one!  That’s her out front in the yellow raincoat.  We started with Greenbaum’s Quilted Forest, and the address is 140 CommercialStreet NE, Salem, Oregon 97301.  Phone number is 877-700-2233.  Their email is sylvia@quiltedforest.com, and the reason why I mention that is because they are near Sisters, Oregon they do a huge mail-order business and charge no shipping for domestic (US) orders.  Pretty amazing.  We struck up a nice conversation with Lisa, who is the office and events manager, and she filled us in on all the happenings.  More in a minute.

This is the sight that greeted us.  I felt like I was in a forest of quilts–they were everywhere!  They were hanging from the ceiling, displayed over the stair rails, on the walls, draped on tables, everywhere.  So many ideas, so little time!

That’s Lisa, smiling there beside the rows of Kaffe Fassett fabrics.  Greenbaum’s is one of the best 20 quilt shops of all times in the Better Homes and Gardens Quilt Sampler, so they do a lot of things to serve quilters and stock a wide range of fabrics, notions, and books.  One fun thing she dangled in front of us was a bus trip to see the Quilt Show.  The plan is to meet at Greenbaum’s early Friday morning, drive towards Sister, visiting four quilt shops, then overnight in Bend.  The next morning, we’d be all day at the Sisters Quilt Show, then head home that night.  Friday night accommodations are included.  Head to their website for more info: www.quiltedforest.com.

They have a wide range of fabrics, from prints to batiks, to moderns to florals.  I had a hard time making choices (remember I had a carry-on suitcase).

Some quilt shops you go into and it’s a quick glance, a fat quarter and you’re out.  I wanted to keep looking not only because of their friendliness, but also because of the many ideas they had everywhere.  I think that’s where they really excel, if I have to single out one reason.  I feel like I sound sort of glib here–but I thought this was an outstanding quilt shop.  It’s hard to give a sense of it without you being there touching all the fabrics, seeing the sights, quilts and colors, so I’ll just let my photos (lame as they are) do the talking.

I loved the pine tree up on top of their center shelves.

One thing I enjoyed were their little vignettes–a theme, with some books, patterns and fabrics to entice you to try something new.

Their classroom.

The old brick walls are proof they’ve been here a long time–111 years, although in the beginning it was a “dry goods” shop, then in 1948, it was converted to a fabric shop.

I really enjoyed my time here–if you are ever in Portland, Salem is south, over an hour away, but then you can hit shops in Corvallis and Philomath too, which are covered in the next post.