In the week leading up to the second Saturday in July, when the town of Sisters, Oregon hosts the world’s largest outdoor quilt show, the Stitchin’ Post quilt shop in Sisters puts on classes taught by local, national, and international quiltmakers and artists. This week of classes is called Quilter’s Affair. For several years my quilt group, the Quisters, has rented a house in Sisters and attended classes. One of our members, Vivienne, taught four classes this year.

I thought you might enjoy a look at what we started creating in some of our classes. Vickie took Vivienne’s class Rhumba, making some spirited blocks in a variety of batiks:

The blocks are constructed using an improvisational piecing method, then trimmed to size. Vickie is going to set her blocks as above, with the stripes alternating direction in each block. Here’s a look at Viv’s original quilt top, employing a different setting:

(That photo was taken last summer at my house, at a gathering of the Quisters.)

Peggy and Deborah took a class from Julie Herman of Jaybird Quilts, based on her pattern, Day Break. Deborah is making her quilt from a palette of dusty pinks and leafy greens . . .

. . . while Peggy’s version is made of lots of different batiks:

I stepped way outside my comfort zone to take a class from Laura Wasilowski, known for her whimsical art quilts made using hand-dyed fused fabrics  and embellished with embroidery. In her “Stitch After Fusing” class, we made a small flower quilt using her hand-dyed fabric. My flowers and leaves are a bit strange but I really like my little flower pot:

(I tried a few different stitches, which is why you see those strands of perle cotton — hand-dyed by Laura — hanging down the front.) I’ve never been a fan of raw-edge appliqué but I may be undergoing a conversion.

Our Quilter’s Affair week whipped by at lightning speed. Saturday, July 12, was a different story. It was the day of the 39th Annual Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show. We spent a leisurely day walking around town seeing as many of the 1300 or so quilts as we could manage between 8:30 am and 4:00 pm. What a fabulous show!

I took lots of photos but haven’t had a chance to organize them yet. My twin sister Diane is visiting from Atlanta, Georgia, and now we are heading off to a family reunion in eastern Oregon. I’m planning at least a couple of posts showing off the quilts from the Sisters quilt show so I hope you’ll check back soon.