Avid quilter, educator and one of my friends, Dr. Kesten Blake, of Fullerton, CA headed up north to Oregon to attend the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show a few weeks ago and agreed to be a guest writer on Quilter's Buzz.






















She even entered a quilt in the show and proudly displays her photo quilt in the photos show here.

Kesten has been quilting for "longer than most of the people reading this have been alive", and this is her third year attending the Sisters Show and has plans to definitely go back again...as a matter of fact she is in the process of buying a house in town with thoughts of retiring there.

So here is a bit about the show from Kesten:

"This year was the 31 annual Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show. This event takes over the very small town of Sisters (Population 947) for the second Saturday of July every year. This year more than 1200 quilts were displayed around town. The show is free and the atmosphere is down-home. The show is not juried, and the wonderful people of the city join forces to hang the quilts (starting at 7 a.m.) and take them down again (after 5 p.m.). So far it has only rained once, but they have a very well planned action program should it begin to rain.

The town is absolutely over run by quilters. The main street is cordoned off to accommodate the crowd. Quilt artists are featured in some galleries.

 The sponsoring quilt shop, The Stitchin Post, offers a plethora of exciting fabrics, patterns, and gadgets. If you plan to do much shopping, however, I strongly recommend you come to town a day or two before so you can spend some time really experiencing this excellent shop.

My favorite part of the show is what comes before it. The week prior to the show is called the Quilter’s event. Using the town’s new high school, classes are offered by outstanding teachers.

 This year I attended four different classes and learned something new in every one. If you are interested in attending next year’s Event, you need to get on their mailing list so they send you the registration materials. The registration comes out just after the new year, and classes fill up really fast.

This year I actually got up the nerve to show one of my quilts. It is a photo-quilt fashioned about a photograph of my husband at age 10. It was a huge undertaking, having more than 9000 squares in it."

Thanks Kesten for the report, and congrats on showing your fabulous quilt!

When you are making vacation or get-a-way plans...try to talk the family into a trip to the Pacific Northwest...sometime around the 2nd Saturday in July...to hit the Sisters Quilt Show.

(Photos courtesy of Kesten Blake and Stitchin' Post)