Hairrands

Yeah...I just made up a word. "Hairrands" is when you get your hair cut and permed, and then run some errands before you head for home. Those Webster's people have nothing on me. So my hair is done, and I made a couple of stops. One stop I've been meaning to make since seeing an article while we were still traveling. I have certain "Google alerts" set up so that I see articles from all over the world on certain topics. Lo and behold, one of my quilting alerts was from my home town of Newberg about an exhibit going on at the Chehalem Cultural Center called "How to Make an American Quilt." You can read the article that put me onto the exhibit right here. Happily, the exhibit is on until April 2nd, and so I had plenty of time to pull myself together to see it. 

It was my first time visiting the Chehalem Cultural Center. It's housed in an old school, and it's been a part of Newberg for a half dozen years or so. Of course, there's not much going on there right now because of the pandemic. When I parked and got out of the car, I noticed this mosaic right in front of me. The tiles are about a half-inch square each. I can see a quilt here. Can you?

Here is the main quilt from the exhibit:

This quilt is the result of a collaborative project by Alicia Decker and Ellen Knutson, two Portland artists and educators, who conducted seven conversations, mostly in small Oregon towns: Stayton, Pendleton, Kerby, Forest Grove, as well as Salem and two in Portland. An eighth session online included residents from Portland, Tillamook, and Boardman. Most of the quilt blocks were made by Decker. Knutsen made a few. They were sent to participants via USPS in manila envelopes with embroidery floss and a needle if they needed it. The content of their embroidery was not discussed. What resulted was participants' own self-expression as they answered the question "Being American means..." and then created their finished quilt block. Here are a few detailed blocks below. 

Also included in the exhibit was a quilt created by Decker, shown below:

The stripes include words that came up most frequently in the Conversation Project: Different. Compassionate. Belonging. Conflict. Arrogant. Accountable. Forgetful. Sexist. Mixed ancestry. Land. Liberty. Greed. Disenfranchised, and so forth.

The third part of the exhibit featured a series of smaller tapestries using words that came up most frequently in the sessions led by Knutson: diversity, opportunity, freedom, hope, and arrogance.

Okay, so that was interesting. When all of my "Hairrands" were finished, I headed for home. It was just after lunch time, and so we had some lunch, and then I did the little bit of sewing I was able to fit into the day. I finished off my challenge quilt. Here's one last peek:

This morning I spent a little time on my slow stitching. I really love how this is coming together. I can't wait to see how that tree is going to look when it's fully stitched. There's another one on the right side of the piece.

So that piece celebrates fall, but we're celebrating spring here at the Three Cats Ranch. Just before sitting down here, I took a little walk around. Finally, some daffodils have opened.

Also, I noticed the daphne is covered in buds. These should be opening within the next day or two. It produces the most fragrant flowers.

Today I seriously need to catch up on those housekeeping chores I've been procraftinating on, and then I'll get going on making some more quilt blocks for the City Bank quilt.