Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show 2011 - part 1

There are not many things that I will wake up at 5 o'clock in the morning for, but the Sister's Outdoor Quilt Show is one that'll have me out of bed before my alarm even goes off!

This is my fourth year going and this time I had the fortune of having a great friend stay over the night before and we took the Fabric Depot bus to the show together.  I'm a huge fan of taking the bus. Instead of spending a small fortune to drive myself, I get to hang out with about a hundred other quilters along the way chatting and showing off our brag-books or quilt pictures on our cameras.  And on the way back- near comatose from the heat, the walking, and the visual over-stimulation of the show- I can lie back and close my eyes for a bit - which is generally frowned upon when driving down curvy mountain passes.  Anyway - on to the quilts!

They are everywhere!!!

This year seemed a bit smaller and less crowded than in previous years, or maybe I'm just getting used to seeing a town completely overwhelmed by quilts and quilters.  I will say that the weather was absolutely perfect this year, bright blue sky and plenty of sunshine.  The temperature was in the 80s so I was plenty warm, but people weren't dropping like flies as I'd noticed in years when it was up in the 90s and above.


There was no one specific quilt that blew my mind or particularly inspired me, but I was consistently impressed with (and intimidated by) the quality of the quilts and quilting I saw.  The creativity and workmanship was just amazing.  Readers of this blog won't make the mistake of stereotyping quilters as 'little old ladies' but still I'd like to focus on just how diverse the quilting world is, and how many different styles of quilts there are.

There were, of course, traditional quilt patterns and motifs like these stars

 

 

...and this flower that looked like it was just bursting out of the garden.

But quilts like this yo-yo one took traditional blocks and gave them a twist to stunning effect. 

Oh, and since this was Sisters, Oregon, of course there was a bit of local color proudly displayed.

 

These are the Three Sisters mountains for which the town is named.  

Reflecting the Old West heritage of the town, there were more than a few fun cowboy themed quilts.

 These beautiful tree quilts were part of a challenge and were the perfect complement to the forests surrounding the town.

 

This is just the first taste of the quilts I photographed, but you can see how much artistry and creativity was on display.   I'll be posting more pictures soon!