I’m still recuperating from my trip to Sisters yesterday — probably one of the biggest shows in terms of walking, because they hang the quilts from the buildings in town. I’m not aware of other shows that do that (and I wonder how much sun-fade happens to these incredible quilts in the hot Eastern OR sun). It’s picturesque, but a very long walk for some of us.
I realized before I even got from my truck to the first quilts four blocks away that I’d be having problems. This was so far outside of my physical limits (and temperatures were already in the 80s) that I ended up trudging and pushing myself from block to block, looking, taking photos, but not really able to stand and examine/enjoy because of pain and fatigue. Sorry — I’m not wanting to whine, but just explaining why I don’t have more info on the quilts; it was “take a photo, move on.” Thus, I will give you photos and impressions, but don’t have details — but I believe the quilt show site has much more:
www.soqs.org
One of the nice things is seeing quilt groups doing themed pieces and hanging them together. So you get the sense of possibilities and there’s often a group member standing by to explain the project. This one was Central OR SAQA “The Whisper Challenge” — first person original quilt; second person bases quilt on first, third person’s on second, etc. Groups of five, I believe.
This was one of the modern quilt groups:
These three are all using the same complex pattern — but very different:
Some quilts were very traditional, some were amazing art pieces.
There was a wonderful group of animal-themed quilts (like the one on top) that were at least partly painted rather than all pieced:
And some showed a level of skill that made me shake my head — couldn’t even dream of it! Looking at this one with another woman, we agreed that if we’d managed to do this, we’d rest on our laurels. It was a “technique quilt” and indeed had many different methods, like all those hand-appliqued perfect circles:
I love whimsical quilts, and there were plenty of those:
I love the way the quilting totally complements the blocks!
And there were those using photos on fabric to make their theme:
One advantage to having quilts hung from eaves is that it’s easy to see the quilting and backs which are often just as amazing:
back of quilt (note footprints):
I really think the show organizers could have put out many more seats, since most of the crowd were gray haired; there were several grassy areas that could be resting places; the few seats there were had a kind of musical chairs feeling as one person got up and another immediately plopped down. 😄 And more water areas — there were 3 for the whole town, and the public faucets were turned off for whatever reason. This is a chance for residents to sell ice water and lemonade, but I do wonder if other people were staggering in the heat like I was (and yes, I had all the protections I could manage: sun hat, umbrella, water bottle, lightweight clothes). But that was really my only complaint. Otherwise it was a wonderful show, and also a chance to look around in the many art galleries and shops. I took home two pieces of the outrageously expensive but heavenly fudge that I’d discovered last year, and used a soaking wet washcloth on top of my head as I drove over the mountains in 98 degree temps, with no AC… such an adventure! 😉