The second week in July is marked on my calendar all year long. As the days get longer, I look forward to my week in Sisters, Oregon, as a time to share my love of quilting with those who descend on this sleepy town for a magical week of quilting and the outdoors.
Quilter’s Affair is always a fun time. It’s a reunion every year–reconnecting with quilters from across the world. like Sarah Fielke from Australia (I used her fabric in my Weighted Pin Cushion tutorial, which you can watch here!), Rosalee Dace from South Africa or Laura Wasilowski from lovely Elgin Illinois (inside joke). The comradery among the instructors is amazing! We all chip in to help one another, show support at each other’s trunk shows, trade sewing stories, and make plans for collaboration on future projects. I always learn a lot each year, and take home tons of inspiration from my fellow quilters .
This year, I was honored as the featured artist at the “Save it for Sunday” exhibit at Five Pines Lodge. Seeing my quilts among the trees was an amazing feeling. I find so much inspiration for what I do from nature, especially Sisters, that returning the quilts to where they were essentially created just seemed right.
Seeing my sixteen-plus years’ worth of quilts on display got me to thinking about how my quilting has evolved. On Sunday, my quilts were displayed by color, not by the linear storyline that I usually show during my trunk shows. Displayed this way, it looked like a number of different quilters made these, which led me to think about how I have progressed as a quilter. In the beginning, I focused on creating visual art through intricate applique landscape and seascape quilts, and as I have progressed on this journey, I am now experimenting with patchwork and color, going back to the fundamentals of patchwork style quilting, with the added Man Sewing twist. I’ve gone backward in design, but forward in quality as I’m learning to design in color and patchwork rather than applique.
Stitch by stitch and quilt by quilt,I know my quilting journey continues, and no matter where it leads me, I know where I’ll be the second week of July in 2018.
