A Sisters Tale

The Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show trip was a huge success. For many years I've considered taking the bus over from Salem. When my friend Lenelda contacted me earlier in the year from Texas to ask me if I wanted to attend, I was game. We set about making our plans to join the group from Greenbaum's Quilted Forest, a Salem quilt shop. Greenbaum's is the quilt shop that caused me to fall in love with quilt shops. I wrote a review of Greenbaum's quite some time ago on my blog. You can read it right here.

Friday morning, I left home bright and early to pick-up Lenelda who was staying at her mom's house in Salem. It was a quick trip to the quilt shop from there. As I've said before, walking into Greenbaum's is like walking into Oz with the many bright and colorful quilts hanging from the walls and ceiling. I was taken with this one of their own shop:

The green scissors you see at the bottom center actually show a sculpture on the sidewalk just outside the doors of the shop. And I loved the quilt below. So cute for a baby or a young child:

Greenbaum's did a great job organizing the trip. It went off without a hitch, and it was an easy way to see the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show. We left Greenbaum's at 8:30 a.m. "sharp" (as all their literature warned). In order to get folks there on time, they opened the store for us at 7:30 a.m. and offered a discount on any purchases we made. Nothing here caught my eye, but I was amused by this new take on "scratch and sniff". I tried the strawberry fabric first, and it really did smell like strawberries! 

Then I tried some of the others...they all smelled like strawberries to me. I think one whiff, and you're sniffer is ruined for anything else. 

My only objective for the planned quilt shop visits was to look for a backing and border fabric for the Quilting Snowladies. There is just one more block to embroider, and so I'm thinking about how to sew all the stitcheries into a quilt. 

As promised, we were off and running at 8:30 a.m. Our first stop was in the little town of Detroit, Oregon (you thought that was in Michigan, didn't you?). We stopped off at a little market to stretch our legs, attend to necessary nature calls, and to purchase drinks or snacks. Standing in the long line for the restroom, I had an opportunity to read the many humorous signs that were posted.

You fisherpeople will appreciate this one:

Oh my gosh...the cat-related items I saw on this trip. Buckle up, because I have lots of cats to show you:

And speaking of cats:

After that we were on our way to the next stop in Sisters, Oregon. We had a planned stop at one of my favorite quilt shops of all time, the Stitchin' Post. I've visited the Stitchin' Post many times, and you can read my review right here. 

They had some new quilts decorating their walls. I loved these two:

Speaking of nature calls, who can resist this?

The Stitchin' Post is really three shops in one. They have a fabulous yarn shop and a home decor/gift shop. Here's where the cats were only getting started. How can a cat lover resist?

This next one is for my Aussie friends:

After spending some time there, we were off to Bend where we were to spend the night. But first, we visited the Sew Many Quilts quilt shop. I visited this shop when I went to the 2010 Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show. So far, I haven't written a "formal" review of the shop since I'm always visiting there during the quilt show weekend and they are absolutely mobbed. It wouldn't be a fair review. Still, I can tell you it's a shop well worth a visit if you find yourself in Bend. Better yet, come for the quilt show and visit then! 

Here we go again with the cats:

And right how the sunflowers are catching my eye for obvious reasons:

All the quilt shops we visited had their Halloween and Christmas fabrics and kits out. Cats, cats, and more cats:

Here, I found what I was looking for to finish off the Quilting Snowladies. I have plans for this fabric:

And I just happened to like this one. It didn't photograph well and thus, you'll see some digital noise in this image. I was able to improve it some, but try to ignore that white "dust".

Also, I fell in love with these little stitcheries by Kathy Schmitz. They were for sale individually, but I would like to make all four and sew them into a quilt. That little mini quilt is a separate piece, sewn onto the embroidered background. The collection is called Stitching Through the Seasons, and you can find the patterns right here:

As I said, the store was mobbed, and I waited in two lines for a total of 45 minutes to make my purchases. When we got back on the bus, we were each given a gift of these fans, about the size of a frisbee:

It folds up and fits into this handy purse or pocket-sized pouch. Nifty!

After that, we arrived at the Bend Shilo Inn for the night. We had dinner at the restaurant before heading off to the fourth quilt shop of the day. At dinner, we were each given a half yard of fabric. Each place had a different fabric. This is mine:

Nice! Then we headed off to a shop I've never visited before. My eyes were pretty full by this time, but I still enjoyed this store very much. Again, no review. It isn't a fair time to be doing that. Here's the sign above the door. And here's a link to their website.

Of course all the quilt shops are participating in the Row By Row Experience going on right now. The center "Bend" silhouette is Quilt Works' contribution. They had some kits available and several suggestions for how you might use it. I liked this rendition:

Some of you may remember when I had a plan to make this table runner from the Skinny Quilts and Tablerunners II book. I chickened out when I saw that those leaves were inset. Now that I've learned the new circle technique, I'm ready to give it another try. And here's proof that it can be done!

This shop was unique for the gallery it had upstairs. There were some quilts on display as I walked up the stairs, including this "folded log cabin" quilt. This was a technique I'd not seen before, but apparently it isn't difficult.

On one side, they had a "Circles Exhibit", and again learning the technique recently made this interesting and enjoyable. It's as if the quilting universe is speaking to me right now, and it's saying "Make inset circles...make inset circles...make inset circles."

The technique works for those curved pieces too.

This next one really caught my eye:

I can't say my own grandmother had the Blue Willow china, but she certainly left behind lots of vintage linens. I love how this quilter took advantage of hers.

There was also a "featured artist" and on this trip it was Leotie Richards, whose work was impressive and varied.

There were several of her quilts on display, and these were the ones I liked best.

What child of the 60's can't appreciate this one? I wasn't a fan of his own performances, but I do love the songs he wrote. No doubt, he has been hugely influential.

And this one was just too cute:

So after four quilt shops in one day, my eyes were definitely full. After that we headed back to the hotel...all of us tired. It was time for bed and an early start for the quilt show the next day. 

It's going to take me a while to get through the 300-plus pictures from the show, and obviously, I'm not going to show all of them. For that, however, I'll wait until tomorrow. As a teaser, here's a picture of Lenelda and me at the beginning of the day...before our feet started to hurt:

I saw this next quilt at the end of the day when my feet were screaming for me to get back on the bus for the trip home. When I saw this quilt, I actually had to check the label to see if someone was a fan of Smitty and Gracie!

Turns out, these are her cats...it makes me wonder if we're living in parallel pet universes.

Finally, I have to share the two other purchases I made at the show...this bag for one. I couldn't resist the cats, but after making my purchase I was thrilled to find it had a nice secure pocket on the strap for my cell phone. It was lined inside with a zipper and another zipper pocket, and the strap is nice and wide, and long enough to wear across my body. I usually don't carry a purse because they hurt my shoulders. This one will be perfect for lugging around my junk at, um, quilt shows!

Also, how could I resist this garden art? I didn't set out to have a collection of cats in my garden, but it's turning into quite a gallery.

And speaking of cats, why does this one look so sleepy?

It's because this little sh*t stayed out until 3:00 a.m., nearly giving me apoplexy. Mike was gone last night to the Oregon Country Fair, an event I've missed so far, but I'm going one of these days. We discussed whether it was okay to let Smitty out in the morning, and I knew I would be home before dark, so...sure.

When I arrived home about an hour before dark, I called, and called, and called, and searched, and searched, and searched. It was so worrisome it was hard to think about anything else. Finally, I fell into bed around midnight and then awakened again at 3:00 a.m. Still no Smitty. I was about ready to cry. Then, I went outside and quietly called him one more time. While I was facing the field, the little assh*le trotted up right behind me as if nothing were wrong at all. It was hard to know whether to kiss him or kill him, but I scooped him up and headed back inside and back to bed. It's hard being the parent of cats. I'll venture to say it's worse than having teenagers.

So I'll have a lot more quilts to show you tomorrow when I've had a chance to go through my pictures and winnow them down. And, it just so happens that tomorrow is my five year blogoversary! I'm going to celebrate with a nice giveaway, so be sure to check back!