Ever Had a Marionberry?

I first learned of Marionberries a few years ago at Don's Drive-In, a great restaurant in Portland. The Marionberry is a hybrid blackberry created by the Oregon State University Agricultural Research and Development team and released into production in 1956. It is distinctively sweet, yet tart, a real delicacy if you love berries! The Marionberry was named after the county where it was developed. If it had been named after the head researcher, it would have been the Waldoberry! 90% of the Marionberries grown in the world are grown near Salem, Oregon, in the Willamette Valley, making them a frequent delicacy on Oregon restaurant menus.

If you are ever in Puyallup for Sew Expo, or any other reason, and you would like to sample this luscious delicacy, then go directly to Don’s Drive-in just across the street from the Western Washington Fairgrounds, where Sew Expo is held.



One of the first years that we went to Puyallup, we went to Don’s for lunch and discovered that they are famous for homemade pies. I spotted Marionberry pie on the menu and a tradition was born! Ever since, we treat ourselves to piece of Marionberry pie on the day we set up our booth. Mmmm!

How do you say "Puyallup"?

I go with "pew – all – up", but some say "pew- Al – up" What I know for sure is, it is not "Poo –al – up"! It is always viewed with fear of mispronunciation. I noticed when there was major flooding there in January, putting Puyallup in the center of national news, those broadcasters chose to say simply "Washington"!

Whatever you call it, Puyallup is the home of the Western Washington Fair Grounds. Several of the buildings on the fairgrounds are used for the Sewing and Stitchery Expo. Specifically, the Showplex building shown here is where you would find the From Marti Michell/Michell Marketing booth.



Our booth is always decorated with lots of quilts. This is one side of the booth:



The show started slowly as everyone in the Seattle area woke up to a surprise snowstorm on the first morning of the show. Traffic was jammed, school openings were delayed and some schools were closed. Many people’s plans for trips to Sew Expo that day were disrupted. Fortunately, the snow did not last long and it turned out to be a very good show.

One of the unique things about this show is the large offering of 45-minute lecture/demo classes. My talks were all held in this huge white tent.

Here are about half of the 200 people at one of my lectures.

And here are the other half! :) Thank you everyone for spending time with me!

The shows are hard work, but I have a great show crew. Each one brings different areas of expertise to the group, both quilting experience and “real world” skills, but most of all they bring smiling faces, good spirit and wonderful attitudes! They are great to work with.

Shown above, from left to right, are Brenda Asmus from San Antonio; Diane Gabb, Chicago; Marilyn Paul, San Pedro, CA; Me; Chris Kenck, Seattle; and Stacy Michell, Atlanta. All but Chris are From Marti Michell Educators and we are working on Chris! Stacy has her own company and her Shades Textiles booth is right next to ours, but at shows we think of ourselves as one team. Not pictured is Richard Michell, who came out for a long weekend. It was fun to have him help hold quilts at two of my lectures and be in the booth during some of our busiest times.

Quilting is a Passionate Hobby

You might have read in an earlier post that I was headed for the Sewing and Stitchery Expo in Puyallup, WA. This was the 25th anniversary event. The 25,000 or more attendees are dedicated sewers, quilters and stitchers. So dedicated that one gal was telling us that she had even included in her Christmas letter that she and her friend Nancy already had their tickets and hotel room for their trip to Sew Expo. Only problem was that the spell check feature on her computer accepted her typo bragging about her trip to the “sex expo”! Oops!

Another lady said she and her husband had hoped to be in Hawaii for their 40th anniversary this weekend, but it hadn’t worked out. "So," she said with a happy smile, "I got to come to Sew Expo after all!"

But, my favorite was the lady who said her husband was scheduled for hip replacement surgery on March 11 (Expo ended March 1). There was a cancellation and he had a chance to move it up to February 24. She said, “I told him, it is your choice, but I’m going to Sew Expo this weekend!” Then she smiled and said, “Besides, it gives him a chance to bond more with his children if I’m not there!”

Home for Valentine's Day

Now I have a short bit of time in the office to catch up, start new projects, repack suitcases, do laundry, etc. We even had plans to go to Richard's Rotary Club's Valentine's Day dinner party, but that got jinxed and instead we had a visit to a doc-in-the-box! Final touches on preparation for the big Sewing and Stitchery Show in Puyallup, WA, was the main focus of my week. One big truck shipment had left while I was out of town, and we put together another shipment on Wednesday that included the class handouts for my lectures there.