Sisters Quilt Show 2008

As I mentioned, this Saturday my mom & I went to the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show.

America's next top models - quilt show edition. ;)

It wasn't the most crowded show I'd been to, and it seemed like there were fewer quilts than in years past. Although, I'm probably comparing it to the first show I went to - which was the 30th anniversary, and they might have made more of a to-do for that one. In any case, there were more quilts than you could shake an omni-grid ruler at.

One thing I always find interesting is seeing different quilters' takes on the same pattern. It seems certain quilting groups will do a challenge or a class and end up showing their quilts at the show, and then there are the quilt patterns that are just popular, and of course - quilts using Valorie Wells fabric tend to appear with a greater than average frequency. This year's popular pattern was "Fractured Flowers" which I think is a pattern from the Stitching Post (the store that hosts the quilt show).


It's a unique pattern, and cool way to highlight this fabric... but not necessarily a pattern I would have tried.


Something that I might like to try is a monochromatic quilt. These were all really cool...I liked the simple style and the way just subtle changes in shade creates contrast. I think the green block-in-block pattern works really well.



Here was one that made me smile... it was up way too high for me to read the label. But it was very clearly a Star-Trek quilt - two of my favorite things!
It really inspires me to make a sci-fi quilt someday.


Sisters is in the desert, so it was quite sunny & hot - it was great to see this chilly snowflake quilt. I like the background triangle pattern, and of course the snowflakes were especially fancy. I have no clue how they're done (applique? paper piece?) but they looked great. I really want to make a blue & white winter quilt someday.


I don't usually like sampler type quilts, but I really liked this one. The colors are fresh and fun, the fabrics and pattern are funky, the quilting adds to the overall quilt and it all just works. It'll probably look dated in like... two weeks... but for now it's really cool.
One thing that happens at the outdoor quilt show is that you'll see a quilt up close, then later you'll see it from across the street and you'll get a completely different impression of it. Sometimes the secondary patterns really stand out in cool ways. This is one that I walked past and though "oh that's neat" but then ended up sitting a bit away from it for a while, and was really really impressed with it.

And this was probably my favorite... the stitching was amazing, and how could I resist such a bright sunflower and fun pink bicycle.

Absolutely amazing.

Mom's foot was bothering her a bit, so we didn't walk up and down and around each and every nook and crany... but we still saw (and took pictures of) many more quilts than I could do justice to in this post. If you're a quilter anywhere in the Northwest, I think it would be worth it to come out at least once.

NW Quilters show - lots of pictures

Today was the local guild's annual quilt show, and although it's a relatively small show, the quality of the quilts was impressive. Here are some of my favorites:A nice traditional wedding-ring quilt. I liked this one because the colors were bright and it was almost an eye-spy quilt with lots of little critters hiding in the 2" blocks. This is the kind of quilt I'd love to own.

Let Sleeping Cats Lie
This one was just cute - major 'Awwwww' factor from me. The little stitched-on kitty faces are adorable, and you've got to love the little mousies curled up with the kitties. Very cute. Good choice of fabrics for the cat fur too.

Monkeys!

I took this picture just for T-money. I mean, check out all the monkeys!!!!Who knew there were that many monkey fabrics out there?


Trick or Treat
What I loved about this one was the incredible amount of detail. The trick or treaters are carrying actual paper bags, the fireman has a shoe-lace hose, the trim & detail just put this one over the top. Plus, I love the nod to Sun Bonnet Sue. This is not the kind of quilt I would ever want to have... or to make, but I can really appreciate it on both creative and cuteness levels.

Beaded Fairy
I don't usually like beading, but this was spectacular. The black & beads really stand out against the dyed fabric... and the simplicity of the silhouette let the subtle colors of the fabric stand out. It just works.


Hawaiian style:
I love Hawaiian style quilts, the symmetry, the shapes, and the colors just get me. I especially like the reversed colors on the border.



Bugs
Ok - how can I not love this one with all the bugs... I mean, they're each so detailed.


Concentric frills:
The colors and fabrics used on this one really grabbed me, but what impressed me most was the long-arm quilting. I love the spirals and circles.



And let's hear it for the boys!

Here is M5K's Labyrinth. I love this quilt!
Something you can't quite get from this picture is the way the colors move - there are hots spots and cool spots and they all just kinda blend.
The grey blocks aren't really greys either, they're all different lightly colored tints that balance and contrast with the brighter background colors. It's really impressive.


Ben's amazing Spiderman quilt.
I love this one - I mean, it's spiderman, so what's not to love, but here's the story "I started this quilt last year when I was 8. I've wanted to sew for a long time but my grandmother finally started teaching me last year. I picked out all the fabrics and did all the sewing. I also learned how to use Jack the Ripper (and I like it!). I did all the ironing until I burned my hand so now my grandmother does that. Next I'm going to make a quilt for my little sister."

OMG - do you not love little Ben????


Now, I don't want to make a bunch of sexist generalizations, but it does seem that guys who quilt bring a different set of themes & styles to their quilting that really stand out against the more traditional & traditionally feminine patterns used in quilting. I say the quilting world could use more boy quilters. So I applaud Ben's grandma getting him hooked nice and young.

But here is my favorite quilt of the show... and a boy quilt to boot!

Neo Gothic:
Yet another quilt that is just impossible to do justice to in pictures. It is *very* three-dimensional. The gargoyles in particular stand out quite a bit.

I'm not sure what techniques were used for the stained glass sections. I can't tell if it's pieced or painted. And I can't tell if the stitching between the panes is a trim or a machine stitch. However it was done, it was just amazing (and huge!).


You can see a bit more of the stained glass sections here... as well as more detail on the gargoyles. I was seriously impressed. To be completely honest I kept checking to see if I could find cheats. I mean, this is soooooo good I couldn't believe it was all for real... but the proof is in the quilting... like all the stipple quilting around the gargoyles. Really amazing. I might go back again tomorrow just to see this one again.

Quilt Show part 2.

There were so many quilts at the show, there's no way I could take pictures of all of them, let alone post them all here. But there were a couple that I wanted to comment on.

I really liked this one because it uses the traditional techniques of peicing and applique, but I think it breaks a lot of the stereotypes about quilts being 'girly' or 'grandmotherly'. It's also pretty modern - it's called "Surfing the Web."

Now clearly I don't have a problem with things being girly, and I love hanging out with grandmas. But it's nice to be able to point to specific examples that illustrate the broad range of quilts & quilters out there.

And this one... well first it caught my attention because it's almost exactly what I was planning on making for my nephew - the colors, the fabrics, the pattern etc. Although, I was going to line up the triangles so that the upward and downward pointing ones would make diamonds, and I was going to do something different with the boarders. I did enjoy seeing an example of the quilt I want to make, and really it's beautifully done.

Here's a close up of the quilting. I'm like 99% sure it's all machine peiced & quilted. It's a lot higher quality than anything I've made to date.

But honestly, it's not that spectacular, it's not even that original. Not only is it a pattern a novice such as myself could figure out without much inspiration - the quilter mentions that she got the pattern from a quilting magazine. The triangles are 5" a side - pretty large compared to a lot of quilts. I bring up these criticisms only because it was for sale... for $1,200. Yes, one thousand two hundred dollars US.

Which brings up the eternal issue in crafts - how much something costs to make vs. how much it's actually worth. Calculating in a profit - I can believe that $1,200 worth of time, effort, skill, and materials went into this quilt. It's not an unreasonable price. But is it worth it? It's machine made, it's not an original design, and the quilting is nice, but doesn't add too much to the design (IMHO). I just don't think anyone would pay that much for it. And as of the time I was looking at it, no one had purchased it. Many other quilts had been sold, very early in the day, and I'd say the average price was somewhere between $300 & $800. This quilt was the highest priced quilt I saw, but it was far from the most impressive.

Is it overvalued? Were other quilts undervalued? Are there buyers willing to pay that much for a quilt of that quality? I don't know. I do know that I won't be quitting my day-job to stay home & quilt any time soon!

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