Sisters 2007, part II

The Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show is a pretty impressive event. It occupies the entire commerical district of a small town -- maybe 3 blocks by 5 blocks of nonstop quilts. They are on the enterior surfaces of the buildings, inside the shops, hanging from lines, displayed on racks -- everywhere. There are enough quilts, in fact, that it took two hours of walking around looking at quilts before I found my own quilt, which actually had a nice, prominent spot. If you like design and fabric, it was the place to be.

I like the ephemeral nature of the show. It's an enormous undertaking to set it up and take it down, and you can't let quilts sit out overnight, so as major events go it is pretty compressed. Quilts go up, cars and tour busses roll in, the crowds gawk, the quilts go down. It's a short-term experience -- kind of a quilt HAPPENING, man. They must have everyone from three counties either directing traffic, setting up and taking down, doing quilt security, or selling water. LOTS of people were selling water.


Naturally, the male quilter suffered his usual minor indignities.

Picking out "favorites" becomes a pretty meaningless exercise when you are wandering around among 1500 pieces. I basically just blazed away with the camera at anything I liked. I didn't repeat the statistical analysis of last year, but most of my personal preferences (geometrics, symmetry, jewel tones, contrast) are obvious in the ones that caught my eye. The photos are posted here.

Here's some stuff I liked:

There were a fair number of Hawaiian-style quilts in evidence. I think of the Hawaiian quilt as the highest form of the cut-out snowflake. Typically, you've only got two pieces of fabric; the first is symetrically cut in a radial pattern and appliqued onto the other, background fabric. Got that? Maybe an example would help. Here's one I really like: "Hawaiian Applique" by Alice Pedersen of Bend.

There were also quite a few kaleidoscope quilts, which are a little more self-explanatory. I can't picture myself ever doing one of these, but I think they are pretty cool to look at.... which is the point.... Here's "One Block Wonder in Blue" by -- well, I'll be damned -- Alice Pedersen, of Bend. You know, I didn't pay any attention at all to who made what (I just took pictures of the tags as well as the quilts). I guess I must like Alice Pedersen's work.

I like squares. Here's a simple but loveable square-intensive piece called "Cappuccino" by Jamie Conerly of Tigard (quilted by Erin Davis).

Finally, here's one that doesn't fit any particular category. I just think it's cool. "Monica's Graduation Quilt" by Margaret J. Miller, of Bremerton.

Lots more good stuff in the photo album. Or, for another take on the show, rebel wrote up a description too.