Here, without further delay, are just a few of the quilts that caught my eye at the 2018 Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show on the 14th of July. On that day the tiny town of Sisters in central Oregon filled with 10,000 quilt lovers and other sightseers who strolled around town on a very hot day looking at the quilts displayed on the outside of buildings along the town’s main and side streets. With 1300 quilts on display, it was impossible to see every single one but we all did our best.
The first 10 you see below were made by quiltmakers who taught during Quilter’s Affair, the five days of classes and special events preceding the Saturday show. These quilts were on display in the Teachers Tent.
That’s quite an eclectic group of quilts, isn’t it? The quilts outside the Teachers Tent were just as varied in design and technique. Take a look:
The Portland Modern Quilt Guild had a special exhibit of word quilts, the result of a challenge the guild issued to its members. My favorite was this one:
My photo of the label identifying the following quilt was too fuzzy to read. If anyone reading this post knows who made and quilted this quilt, please let me know, and I will update the information:
This next quilt has a special story. It was made by Jane Humphrey of Escondido CA, who lost her home — and a lifetime of fabric and quilt projects — in the 2007 Witch Creek Fire in San Diego. In her own words, “I naturally had to start rebuilding both. A pretty daunting task at 81. So much new, pretty fabric to buy! When I saw this pattern in the May/June 2010 issue of Quiltmaker, I immediately knew it was the quilt to make with all my new fabrics. That was the most fun, choosing the fabrics that would look delicious together! It was a difficult pattern for me but rewarding. At 92 now, I don’t plan on stopping anytime soon. I have too much new fabric!”
Here is Jane’s lovely — and lively — quilt:
The last quilt I want to show you wasn’t in the quilt show. In fact, it’s not quite finished but it’s so spectacular I just had to share it with you — with the permission of its maker, Frances Barnes of Portland OR:
I first saw this quilt in June, when I was teaching at a quilt retreat in Washington State. Frances brought it along to work on. She’s quilting it by hand using a utility stitch. I didn’t get a picture of it at the retreat so when I ran into Frances during a Quilter’s Affair class and saw she had the quilt with her, I jumped at the chance to take a photo.
The quilt was inspired by Sujata Shah, author of Cultural Fusion Quilts: A Melting Pot of Piecing Traditions (C&T Publishing, 2014). Sujata was a guest speaker at last year’s Quilter’s Affair, and both Frances and I bought her book after hearing Sujata speak and seeing a selection of her colorful quilts made using free-form blocks.
Then last fall Frances saw the cover of Issue #10 of Simply Moderne magazine, featuring a quilt called Paper Beads designed by Sujata Shah:
Paper Beads is composed of free-form string quilt blocks. Frances combined Paper Beads with blocks from the Cultural Fusion Quilts book and came up with the vibrant quilt you see above. Who knows? Maybe it will be in next year’s Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show!
Fabulous march-past of quilting talent.
I love seeing the show through your eyes, Dawn!
I saw only two or three hundred quilts, but the week was filled with joy and growth!
Loved seeing the quilts you posted. I saw some of them, but time didn’t permit me to see everything. You really captured the essence of the show.
I’m not even a quilter, but I look forward to this post every year. The beauty, the creativity, the skill of the quilters move me nearly to tears. Thank you for sharing this.
Hi from Bend! I enjoy your post from the Sisters show, although I always go each year. Your eyes see different things than my eyes , so I love your SOQS post! Especially delighted to SEE the picture of JEan Wells’ antique-looking blocks , maybe titled “Peppermint Pinwheels”, the antique whirligig pattern… I saw her blocks on the design wall at Julia Jeans’ quilting studio when I was picking up a charity quilt Julia had quilted for me, and asked her about them. She told me she was thinking about how to fill that space around the little pinwheel centre… I love it , what she did! Filled that space SO creatively, and really enhanced the blocks. I think that is what good longarm custom quilting is all about, it is a symbiotic relationship between the piecing and the quilting that makes a good quilt! 43 years a quilter makes me so aware of that ‘marriage’ of the piecing and the quilting! Suzette in smoky Bend
Hi, Suzette! That block is called Rolling Star and I think I need to put it on my list. The quilting by Julia Jeans is phenomenal.
Thank you, Dawn, for the recap of the SOQS. I haven’t had the opportunity to attend the show lately, so I enjoyed seeing your mini quilt show. Did you display a quilt at the show?
Hi Kristi! I haven’t shown a quilt at Sisters but have had some on display at Northwest Quilting Expo.
Wow, this year’s quilt show was a real triumph!!
Hi, Dawn. Thank you for sharing these fabulous quilts. It has been a few years since I was able to go to the quilt festival in Sisters.
Thanks for sharing this event. I have never been there but have heard of it. It is now on my bucket list!!!