News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
The first annual ritual of the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show season has been enacted: The Quilt Show office is open on Hood Avenue, directly across from Lutton's Ace Hardware.
A crew of volunteers, energized by Clyde Dildine's rhubarb muffins, was busy Friday morning, setting up tables where hundreds of display quilts for the show will be taken in, registered, sorted and assigned their hanging spot for the show, set for Saturday, July 13.
One very special quilt was already on hand.
Last year, members of the Juniperberries quilt group each contributed a star block that was sewn into a quilt for their sewing comrade Chris Jones, who was getting set to depart to Portland for intensive treatment for an aggressive form of leukemia. Jones, who served as chair of the Sisters School Board, died May 11, and this year's Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show is dedicated to her
memory.
"We'll be hanging all of her quilts on Stitchin' Post on Saturday (of Quilt Show) and then again on Sunday at Beacham's (Clock Co.)," said outgoing Executive Director Ann Richardson.
"She was very precise," said Richardson of Jones' quilting style. "She was all about symmetry."
"She had a very mathematical brain," fellow quilter Candy Woods noted.
Jones had many projects in mind when she was stricken, and the fabric to complete them.
Richardson told The Nugget, "I recently helped a group of ladies and Chuck (Humphreys, Jones' husband) sort through Chris' fabric and yarn collection, and she could have started her own store!"
The Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show remains the largest event of its kind, drawing thousands to town to view quilts displayed on storefronts throughout downtown Sisters.
The show, always on the second Saturday of July, is the centerpiece of what has become a full week of fabric-arts-related events. Things get underway on Sunday, July 7, with the Around the Block Fiber Arts Stroll from noon to 4 p.m. More than 30 fiber artists from around the region will share their textile arts including quilts, weaving, basketry, fabric dying and more.
The award-winning film "Stitched" screens during the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show's annual fundraiser at 6 p.m. on July 9 in an event that includes raffles, dessert tastings, presentations by artists and a parade of quilts.
In "Stitched," director Jenalia Moreno follows renowned quilters Hollis Chatelain, Caryl Bryer Fallert, and Randall Cook as they prepare their work for a 2010 competition.
Quilters from across the nation will be in town in the week leading up to the show for a roster of classes.
For information on Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show events, visit
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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