Quilters do it all over town!

Especially in Sisters!

I like to take the Fabric Depot bus to the Sisters Outdoor Quilt show, it cost less than a tank of gas, and I get to hang out with a bunch of super excited quilters there & back. It was really funny, as we were boarding the bus the bus driver said “We know how to get to Sisters, but where *in* sisters is the quilt show?” Which made the quilters laugh and someone told her - “Sisters *is* the quilt show.” There’s really no way to fully explain it to someone who hasn’t been there.

Quilts are EVERYWHERE, hanging from the sides of buildings, inside the shops, inside the library, in tents outside, in side alley-ways, there are quilts everywhere you look. People come from all over the country to see it. I overheard one Southern quilter say as she exited a shop “It’s the most overwhelming experience of my life.” It’s not like being a kid in a candystore, it’s like being a kid walking into a candy-town.

I love the turtle quilt here. So beautiful.

Here is the Mother Ship:

Jean Wells owns the Stitchin’ Post, and is also the founder of the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show. Her daughter Valorie Wells designs fabric for Free Spirit fabrics. You can get them at Fabric Depot, but it’s more fun to get them here, surrounded by all of her quilt samples… but more on that later.

One of the things I got a huge kick out of was finding 'my' fabrics. The white with blue pattern here is the same fabric my mom used to make me a sundress in High School, the darker blue above it was the fabric I used to make a dress for myself! Both of those fabrics, and the blue on the border were all used in my rail-fence quilt!

And the blue spirally fabric here is what I used to cover my chairs - and also found their way into the quilt I made for my friend's new little boy.

I love this quilt, btw, the label says "Made by: Spencer Smith, age 11. (quilted by his mom) 'This is my first quilt and I designed it myself!' " How awesome is that! It's a heck of a lot better than *my* first quilt, and I was 20!

The Instructors Tent was amazing as usual, more amazing than I could ever imagine. These little owls are machine embroidered... and some of the leaves on the tree are raw-edge applique. Really amazing.

And what kind of crazy-cat-lady would I be if I didn't take a picture of at least one of the cat-quilts there. This one was adorable.
This I-Spy quilt was one of the first that I saw when I got off the bus. I really love it, so many different character prints, a really fun layout. I really want to make an I-Spy quilt for my nephew and this really inspired me.
At the end of the day as I was going back to the bus I stopped by this one again. There were a couple of women standing there talking about it and I said "You know, I think this one is my favorite" and one of the women responded "Thanks" - it was her quilt! So we chatted about it. She made it for her grandkids, who of course love it. That was fun, getting to talk to one of the quiltmakers.

Now you know there was no chance of me getting out of Sisters without bringing home a few souviniers!

These are some Valorie Wells prints. I don't really have a plan for what to do with them. But that's okay, they'll let me know.

I also bought a pretty little canvas bag. And then, there were these cute little fat-quarter bundles. How could I resist the pink one? But what to do with just the pink... not enough to make a whole quilt... let's get some black to go with it! I think together they'll make a cool pinwheel quilt, but I'm working out the particulars.

Honestly I showed a great deal of restraint! There were two other shops selling fabric & quilt kits that I didn't buy anything from. ;)

However, now that I have a bunch of free fabric, all of the batiks I bought for my nephew's quilt, several yards from the Fabric Depot outdoor sale, and the sweet little fat quarters from Sisters... I really can't justify purchasing any more fabric for a while.* Not until I finish at least two quilts - the one my sister started, and my flying geese quilt.

*Of course, this fabric diet starts.... tomorrow. =P