Sisters gears up for its 25th quilt show

As Sisters residents, especially quilt lovers, gear up this week for the 25th Annual Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show, a cadre of high school students is hard at work to make things run smoothly before, during, and after the event.

The quilt show takes place Saturday, July 8, but to ardent quilters, the whole week before the show is almost more important than the show itself.

The "Quilters Affair," a series of workshops that take place at the high school, draws quilters from all over the country and around the world.

This year's workshop participants include residents of New Zealand, Australia, and Canada. Quilts from Norway will also add to the international flavor.

Essential to this affair, according to Jean Wells, owner of the Stitchin' Post and organizer of the quilt show, is the work the Sisters High School students do to make it all happen.

"They carry (quilters') sewing machines. They set up and arrange tables. We could never manage it all without them," Wells said.

The workshops cover every aspect of quiltmaking, and quilters travel from far and wide to gather with other like-minded individuals and soak up more knowledge and techniques to apply to their chosen art.

This year there are 1,500 people registered for the various workshops which are taught by some 30 teachers. For the past several years Wells has hired students from Sisters High School baseball and cross country teams, rally squad, and music department to assist her team in putting on the entire event.

The students' jobs include stuffing the tote bags that each workshop participant receives, setting up the classrooms for the workshops, serving the catered banquet at the Sisters public green on Friday night and cleaning up after the quilt show the following Sunday.

The Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show is considered a Mecca for quilters according to Barbara Tate of the Stitchin' Post, on a par with The American Quilters Society show in Paducah, Kentucky.

The Sisters event is sponsored by the East of the Cascades Quilters and participating merchants in Sisters. In addition to the students employed to work the show, the event depends on the collective efforts of an army of volunteers and local residents who work for the Stitchin' Post.