2018 Sisters' Quilt Show
Sisters Outdoors Quilt Show, Oregon, United States of America - by Eleanor
We left Heathrow bound for Seattle, Washington DC where we were met by our ever faithful driver Dick and his wife Patti whom P & Q Tours always use for their trips in America and we have met both times on visits to Paducah. Judi Mendelssohnn who runs the trips and in fact is P & Q Tours goes out of her way to make sure all the trips are 200% successful. Not only does she provide us with a wide range of quilting information of the surround ding areas we also have a great holiday.
We spent the first couple of days on Bainbridge Island where Judi had arranged for us to meet quilters in their own homes including Maggie Bell who is in fact English but has lived in the States for a long time. She is a quilter, lecturer, author, and arranges talks and demonstrations throughout America and has arranged an Italian Textiles and Crafts Tour in Northern Italy in May 2019.. Maggie helped Judi arrange most of the trip in Seattle taking in a trolley bus ride around the city taking in all the sights, plus quilt shops also including the inevitable 4th July celebrations. Later that day we went on a cruise to Blake Island, an Indian Reservation where they provided us with dinner and a marvellous show.
Unfortunately when we arrived back at the hotel at 10 pm I was gasping for a cuppa and in my haste tripped up the outside concrete stairs, fell forward onto the next step and my leg literally exploded. Needless to say I had to go to the hospital where they wanted to keep me in for several days but due to our itinerary I refused and arrived back at the hotel in time to pack our stuff to move on at 7 am. Judi and the rest of the group were great and made sure I sat with my leg up as much as possible. It was a long hot journey through the dessert but stopped at the foot of a volcano covered in snow and a magnificent water fall for lunch.
Our base for the next seven nights was a place called Deschutes in Bend Oregon and Sisters was some 5 miles away. From then until the following Saturday was "Quilt Week" ending with the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show with visitors coming from all over America. The same family who originally started doing the show albeit a small one some 42 years ago still runs the business together with a now extended family make all the arrangements and put on a wonderful show and dinner for several thousand people. Was awesome. The one quilt shop in Sisters called The Stitchin Post is owned by this family and they opened the door just for our group which was just as well because by this time I was in a wheelchair provided by the hotel.
Sisters itself was something to behold, not really changed since 1890, the buildings were built of clapboard so "easy" to fix quilts to them. Every square inch of space was covered by a quilt, very small, small, medium, large and very large. They were pinned to trees on common ground and draped over pickup trucks, it seems that everybody took part in the show. Especially the town's firemen who started pinning up the quilts very early in the morning, when we arrived at 7.30 they were all almost done. They do a calendar draped in quilts!!!! fireman in a quilt not a kilt., The temperature that day rose to over 100 degrees and the crowds kept coming. By 1 pm I got Juanita to push me into a shady area and leave me there for a while.
We as a group had been invited to make and display quilts having come from England especially for the show. The theme was Crown or Country and as I had originated in Scotland and had some Harris Tweed fabrics made a pictorial quilt depicting mountains covered in heather and two large thistles and a tartan border. Judi told me later that the Americans had loved it and several had wanted to buy it. They love a bit of tartan.
This show was not like any other I had been to either here or in the States. No competitions whatsoever, it was put on by the townspeople for the townspeople and although visited by many, only the residents from the nearby towns were allowed to enter quilts apart from us. In all of the 42 years it had been running it had only ever rained once. THERE WERE NO SALES TABLES so the Stitchin Post got all the business!
As I had family in Canada up in Alberta only 500 miles from Seattle couldn't not go could? I had made arrangements to go on up there BEFORE I hurt my leg but due to the injury it was not possible for me to go sightseeing or indeed to find any quilt shops. Its not like America where every street houses a quilt shop and show everywhere all the time. Canada does not seem to provide much for the quilter so it was a little disappointing.
The whole experience however, was something I am glad not to have missed and did not let the leg stop me. If anybody feels they would like to see something different I would heartily recommend a visit at some time, always in July.
I am going to Japan in January for the show so will let you know what that is like sometime in February.