Sisters Quilt Show, part I

Saturday was the annual Sisters Quilt show near our cabin in central Oregon.  We have established a routine of sorts--we leave very early in the morning to beat the traffic getting into the tiny town of Sisters and to enable us to see a lot of the show before it gets crowded and hot.  This year we got into Sisters before 8:00 AM!!  We found a great parking spot near the park, where we always meet for lunch afterwards.  Lori was a great navigator!

Our first stop was the Stitchin Post, which is THE quilt store in Sisters.  Jean Wells, the owner, was the person who started the yearly quilt show, always on the second Saturday in July.  They have established their own tradition of offering an employee challenge, the results of which they hang on the outside wall of their store.


Unfortunately the trees have really grown next to the shop so you can't get close to the quilts--the majority of them are also too high to really see.  But the whole effect is pretty dramatic.  You can see how crowded it was before 8:30 am!!

We did a little retail damage inside the Stitchin Post and I thought you'd enjoy a little look at what the shop looks like.  I didn't take many pictures as we were on a mission (get in and get out!!).  Unfortunately I didn't think about looking for the Sue Spargo thread until later in the day, and the show was just packed!

These are just a few of the class samples.




This is their cutting table and more store samples along the wall!

This was a sample they had of a bag but they sadly didn't have any more patterns.  I think it's adorable and I plan to order the pattern.



We decided that we'd head directly for the teacher's tent, which is a large tent where the instructors from the week's classes display their class samples or other quilts they have made for books they sell.  It's usually very crowded so we had hoped we'd beat the crowds;  that didn't work out as planned but it was still a great place to see the quilts, which turned out to be almost all modern quilts!

My favorites were by Tula Pink!  I think I just love her fabrics.  I don't think the patterns are particularly intricate or unusual.  It's the use of the fabrics and colors which "make the quilt," as the saying goes!

I am having trouble downloading them but will post pictures as soon as blogger is ready to cooperate! 

Slow but steady

Still struggling with trying to figure out what I want to make!  UGH.
So I'm going to these blocks of the week (why are there so many this year?  And why did I sign up for them all??).

I'm starting with the Moda Blockheads!  They are small--only 6".  And I have decided to go with different colors than I originally planned.










The center star of this block is all of 3".  This is a Janet O type block!! ;-))


A lot of these fabrics come from Busy Thimble in Maine from my trip last fall. The background is a Yoko Saito fabric which I really love.  So different.  It's a bit of a struggle to be working with different colors than I usually sew with.  My friends here at the cabin have encouraged me to stick with these colors (I've been vacillating between these and blue/white/yellow!).  I was afraid the colors weren't vibrant enough... oh well. I'm not committed!!

Here are the gals, working away!

Of course Max is sniffing in Lori's fabrics!


There's Claire sewing her basket blocks on her darling white featherweight!


Anne needed a break from all her hard work!  She's giving my Juki a try this week and is so far loving it.


Claire got her top all done!  Great border print, don't you think??

Back to work.... ;-)

The sewing has begun - WOOHOO

Two friends, Claire and Anne, arrived here at the cabin in Oregon yesterday.  Claire is trying to outdo all of us, as always, with a top nearly completed.  It's really cute.  She's so great at coming up with ideas for simple quilts.  She is putting a skinny pink border and then adding a bright floral.  I"ll show you that later.



As for me, I'm plugging along, doing small things that might someday make a quilt!  I caught up on the triangle gatherings.  YEAH!




I picked these fabrics up last week at Quilt Works.  The "light" is a Tula Pink fabric I think I have already bought but it is just so fun!

Then I also caught up on another block of the week project I signed up for.  We are on week 3 so I'm right on track, except I haven't made the double nine-patch blocks yet.







Last night's sunset was spectacular since there were clouds in the sky.  Lori (humblequilts) also posted some sunset pictures from her house in Madras, which is about 70 miles north of us.  We weren't even together last night (although we will be tonight...YEAH!!). But both posted pictures.  The large mountain is Mt Bachelor, which is still pretty much covered in snow!

More pictures will follow, no doubt, of everyone's progress.  Such fun to see what others are working on, don't you think?  Very inspirational!

Happy 4th of July

I really do love this holiday.  The weather is always nice;  it's become a tradition that we are up at the cabin in Oregon and I have had friends some to sew the week before the Sisters Quilt Show.  This year is no exception.

This week I did have my son and his wife and 7 month old baby.  So I got little to no sewing done.  We did take a little road trip to Crater Lake, which allowed me to work on my wool appliqué!  These are part of the Primitive Gatherings summer block of the week.  This one is the freebie.





 I also sewed one of the triangle gatherings blocks together!  I am doing these blocks in very bright fabrics!


Have you ever been to Crater Lake in Southern Oregon?  Or seen pictures?  I think it is reputed to have the bluest water of any lake in the country.  It was formed from a volcanic eruption thousands of years ago.  There was quite a bit of snow still on the ground-- one of the roads was still not plowed!


Note that I didn't edit this picture.  This is how one section of the lake actually looks.  There a little island in the right side of the picture.  Same corner of the lake from a different perspective.  Gorgeous, right??



of course I saw quilt patterns in the lodge bathroom floor!


The sewing fest starts today!  Claire and Anne are driving up today; Lori is coming over tomorrow and the family is leaving as well.  
Can't wait to post sewing pictures!
have a great Fourth!!

Quilt show sponsor quilts

Yesterday I helped out the quilt show people by helping to distribute and hang up quilts in a lovely shopping district along the Deschutes River.  When we first arrived, one of the other women showed me a quilt that she was putting in the show.  It was a round robin quilt, but unlike any I'd ever seen before!



Here were some of the quilts that we hung:








Isn't this one great? It's Julia Child and it was hung in a kitchen supply store!





Have a great holiday weekend!

Asian inspired quilts

The other part of the exhibit at Quilt Works was devoted to Asian inspired quilts.  I found one in particular that I just found spectacular!





It isn't surprising that it took her 40 hrs to do the appliqué of the flowers and the birds.  I had to look so very carefully to see where they were attached to the background.  She didn't sew them down;  they were cut out exactly on the lines and then she must have pressed the pieces in place.  I don't know which type of material she used but it was so very effective.









I haven't sewn an Asian quilt in years but I still found these quilts extremely interesting to look at.

Tomorrow I'll show you pictures of quilts I saw today while I was helping out for the Sisters Quilt Show.  I was helping to deliver quilts to various sponsors for them to display the quilts.  It wasn't a ton of quilts but they were fun to look at.

And, just for fun, I'll share my freezing house story:  you know I love leaving the windows open here in Oregon because the air is so clean and I love the crisp, cool air.  My husband arrives tonight so last night was my last chance to do that (he hates the windows open, actually).  When I woke up around 7 AM, the outside temperature was 37*;  the inside temperature?  44*!! I'm not kidding.  It was pretty chilly!  This afternoon I've kept the windows open so the heat can come in.  I don't think my family will enjoy the house being in the 50s!! (Truth be told -- if I was in California, I'd have the fireplace on if the house got so cold!!)

June's quilt show at Quilt Works

I drove up to the cabin in Oregon this week (getting ready for quilt show and some retreat time!) and had to run over to Quilt Works to see their June quilt show.  It did not disappoint.  

The main show was focused on the featured quilter, Jean Mays.  Jean does the most beautiful appliqué!  Of course, her pieced quilts are pretty gorgeous as well.  She does her own hand quilting and you can see in many of these quilts the quality of her sewing! (and her tiny stitches!)




Piece o' Cake makes the best patterns!


Love the colors.  So sweet!




Same basket but different flowers.  GREAT idea!


This was folded so this was all I could see.


Love this setting.  I have never met a feathered star I didn't love, anyway!


Another great way to set sampler blocks.  Simple but so effective!


Hand quilting is amazing!


I made this quilt years ago out of batiks.  It's on the cover of a book I have.  Great little pattern!




I wanted a close up because I thought this was a great way to use large-scale prints.  I didn't have a ruler so I couldn't get the measurements but I'm guessing the center square is 8".

Central Oregon is just beautiful this week.  I sleep with the windows open all over the house (since my husband isn't here yet---he hates when it gets cold).  I woke up about 4:30 and the outside temp was 37* and the inside of the house was 44*!  When I woke up, it had gotten up to 52*.  I LOVE it!!

More pictures tomorrow of the rest of the show.  Off for a hike.  Still haven't turned on the sewing machine yet but I'm ready!!!