The Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show transformed downtown Sisters in central Oregon into a colorful celebration of textile artistry on Saturday.
More than 1,100 unique quilts were showcased on storefronts, fences and park posts along Main, Hood and Cascade avenues.
Enthusiasts from around the world view the show as an opportunity to learn new techniques and study precisely crafted quilts up close, often with the makers nearby.
The daylong Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show, now in its 51st year, is the world’s oldest and largest open-air quilt display. It was founded by Jean Wells Keenan, who also established the town’s legendary Stitchin’ Post quilt shop in 1975.
The first show featured just 12 quilts. Wells Keenan hung them outside shops rather than inside to create a festive, welcoming atmosphere.
The free event is held on the second Saturday in July, and Sisters’ population of 3,800 swells with nearly 10,000 visitors.
Many attendees arrived early, having participated in Quilter’s Affair intensive workshops July 6-10 ahead of the July 11 show.
The day started at 7 a.m., when local firefighters used fire truck ladders to hang employee-made quilts on an outside wall of the Stitchin’ Post at 311 W. Cascade Ave.
Volunteers in 18 teams then followed Wells Keenan’s detailed maps to hang each quilt in its designated location. She plans the installations as carefully as she designs her quilts, grouping colors, patterns and themes to complement each other.
Before 9 a.m., she traveled in a golf cart to verify each quilt was in the right spot.
Asked at 11:30 a.m. whether she’d found any quilts out of place, Wells Keenan, 82, said, “Not yet.”
Throughout the day, showgoers gathered at the Teacher Pavilion in Village Green Park to study quilts made by well-known Quilter’s Affair instructors.
Chris Marchini, a quilt pattern designer with Portland’s Rose City Originals, was surrounded by fans at the Teacher Pavilion. His two Community Quilts on display were collaborative projects made from fabrics mailed to him by 588 quilters worldwide.
“It’s a fun challenge to make a cohesive block with fabrics that aren’t necessarily matching each other,” said Marchini, a Quilter’s Affair instructor. He posts how-to tutorials on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube.
For 15 years, members of Bend’s Undercover Quilters book club have made quilts themed to a book to display at the show. This year, quilted depictions inspired by “Crow Talk,” a novel by Eileen Garvin, were seen on a building wall across from Barclay Park.
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