It has been a few days since I got back from Sisters, located in central Oregon. This little town is a tourist destinations for skiers and hikers, three hours drive from Portland, OR. SOQS is the largest outdoor quilt show always held the Saturday after 4 July. It is ran by volunteers and free to attend for anyone who are excited about quilting. The show started when quilt artist and designer Jean Wells, decided to hang three quilts outside her shop, Stichin Post.The following year there 12 and it became an annual quilt show known as Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show.
Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show™ is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization whose mission is to educate the public about the art, skill, and heritage of traditional and contemporary quilts and fiber arts, while enhancing the cultural vitality of the community of Sisters and Central Oregon.
Quilters Affair Classes are held five days leading up to the show. In spite of living in the Northwest for 12 years I had never made it to the show or to the classes. My three children were little at the time and thought of leaving them for five to six days was not something that ever crossed my mind at the time. Now when I see quilters coming from all over the world to this little town and take classes of their choices from 30+ instructors, I would totally do it! It is an amazing site to witness. The students are novices to seasoned quilters, designers and artists from every corner of the united states and abroad.
All of the classes are held at Sisters High School. Classes
include beginning, intermediate and advanced level. They also vary from
one to four days long depending on the subject and instructors. some of the classes include Barn
Quilts, fabric dyeing, slow stitching, embroidery, art quilting,
surface design, improve, traditional quilting, machine quilting,
portrait quilts, machine and hand applique, stained glass, printing - You name it,
you will find it there.
This year the show celebrated its 49th year! If I am not wrong, there were 1000+ quilts that were hung all over the town. The day of the show firemen from the town and near by town bring the ladder truck. They start hanging quilts all around the quilt shop at 7:30 AM. Mean while all of the volunteers are ready at their assigned places with the quilts. By 8:00 AM the entire downtown, front of the shops and community buildings are covered with quilts. It is sight to be seen in person.
This year I taught three workshops.
Color and Line - Two days
Kawandi - One day
Intuitive Art/Utilitarian Quilts - Two days
This year I was honored to be invited as an Inspirational Artist and have a special exhibit. Eleven of my quilts were hung on two sides of the office building of SOQS. I selected quilts that reflected my journey as a quilter. Here are some pictures of the quilts hanging at the show.
I am in my studio because I was so inspired from QA, I came home and started working on an old project that was calling me.
I hope you enjoy rest of the week and the weekend!
Sujata
SO happy to see a posting from you!! Sisters looks amazing!! I am de-stashing as I can no longer handle big quilts--so turning my attention to smaller pieces--quite a change for sure.)))
ReplyDeleteHugs, Julierose