Ah! It is so good to be home! While it’s not the hot, full-blown spring of New Jersey, there are only small patches of snow left here in Maine, which means spring is upon us. We arrived home after dark, but this morning the kids and I went out in search of flowers that have bravely burst through the mud. The greens are working their way up, but no flowers yet!

With two small children, many stops are required along the 450 mile drive between New Jersey and Maine. This particular trip took 13 hours and required eight stops! Before you run and hide in horror, let me tell you about a quilt shop I visited while passing through southern Maine! My fabulous husband agreed to have a playground stop in Portland so that the kids could run around and I could hop over to a quilt shop as part of the Maine Quilt Shop Hop.

Z Fabrics Portland, Maine

Z Fabrics is a cute little shop with a good variety of modern fabrics, notions, patterns & books, Brother sewing machines, and a large selection of gorgeous laminates. The fabric selection reminds me a lot of Fiddlehead Artisan Supply store, so you know how happy that makes me! Z Fabrics has an entire shelf of Lotta Jansdotter fabrics!

I spoke with Lillian while I was there, and she was very friendly and helpful, even though I chatted her ear off–after a long drive with two little kids, it was great to talk with another adult about all things fabric. She agreed that the shop’s primary customers make adorable clothing, bags, etc. since the fabrics are the contemporary prints with more bold patterns rather than tone on tone or blender quilt fabrics. To me, it’s a store full of feature fabrics for modern quilts-to-be. I picked up a few fat quarters while I was there, again adding to my grey scale stash: Kyoto Garden Koi by Lori Mason for Andover Fabrics in colors yang and grey, and a fabulous black and grey tone on tone fabric, the name and designer info for which I can’t remember. Do any of you recognize it? Let me know if you do; I’d love to know! One big plus: you can buy fat quarters off the bolt at Z Fabrics!

I would definitely stop by Z Fabric again the next time I’m in Portland. Here’s a look around the shop:

Z Fabrics at a Glance

Location? Z Fabrics is located right in downtown Portland, in the center of the action. The address is on Congress Street, which threw me for a loop at first, but as soon as I checked the website I saw that the storefront was on Preble Street. Found in a flash! There is plenty of street parking, especially on Preble Street. I paid 50 cents to park for a half an hour. If I were to go and spend time actually shopping for specific fabrics, that would definitely be at least $1, but still reasonable. During your shopping trip, there are plenty of other shops, restaurants, bars, and even the Children’s Discovery Museum within close walking distance. This is definitely a great shop to hit up during a day trip to Portland!

Sells? Modern fabrics, cotton laminates, notions, Brother sewing machines, patterns and books, and offers classes.

Modern or traditional? Definitely modern.

Swag? 5″ charm square of Shop Hop Theme fabric and good conversation.

Kid friendly? Yes. While Z Fabrics doesn’t have a bucket of toys and books (I asked since I didn’t see one!), it is a fairly small store with lots of open space. There are not too many racks of notions or items a toddler could swipe to the floor in one pass, and the area by the front window has a big poof and ample space in which kids can play while Mommy shops.

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You can follow my quilt shop hopping by following @nightquilter on Twitter #maineshophop2014