The Nugget Newspaper's Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show Tribute 2020// 2020-07-08

“Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show” Wednesday, July 8, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon

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2020 R-I TRIBUTE PRESENTED BY

PHOTOS BY JERRY BALDOCK

Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show • City of Sisters Sisters Area Chamber of Commerce The Nugget Newspaper & Participating Advertisers

Virtual Show Activities Saturday, July 11 at www.soqs.org: 9 a.m. Welcome to the Show All Day Special Exhibits and Other Video Content 4 p.m. Live Raffle of 2020 SOQS Raffle Quilt

Virtual Show Activities on Social Media FACEBOOK: Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show INSTAGRAM: SistersOutdoorQuiltShow • Live Feeds: Favorite Locations and Sponsors in Sisters • World’s Largest Virtual Outdoor Quilt Show Featuring Quilts From Around The World

Online Auction/Sale at www.soqs.org:

MORE INFO: WWW.SOQS.ORG

• WISH Fabric Postcards • Storybook Quilts • Quilts by Jean Wells, Freddy Moran & Hundreds More • Original Painting by Dan Rickards, “My Kind of Town,” featured on the 2020 SOQS Poster

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Wednesday, July 8, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper “Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show”

The Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show must go on Quilters are resilient.

After all, they carried their works of functional art across the Great Plains on the Oregon Trail, through all kinds of hardship on their quest for a new life in Oregon.

Quilters are creative.

Even a global pandemic and the attendant restrictions on public gatherings won’t stop Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show (SOQS) — even if the gathering of the tribe has to be done virtually.

“Not having a show really wasn’t an option,” said SOQS Executive Director Dawn Boyd. “We just had to think how to reinvent — or, as our board chair Jeff (Omodt) says reimagine — what the show is and what it could be.”

In changing circumstances, there were just too many unknowable variables to plan for a scaled-down physical event, and the SOQS board had seen other arts organizations succeed with virtual events. So that’s the course they chose. They just needed to brainstorm what could practically be implemented. “ It was just a lot o f d i a g r a m m i n g, a n d

different-colored postit notes,” Boyd recalled.

“Technology has helped us so much to be able to do this.”

Quilters are a community.

There was no doubt that the show must go on, that the community of quilters remain connected and that the astonishing legacy of the largest outdoor quilt show in the world be carried on. So the community stepped up.

“There were so many people stepping up to ask how they could help,” Boyd said.

“It was really neat to see people who are so eager to help.”

That’s because quilters — and the Sisters community at large — know that SOQS is much more than a show, much more than a major economic driver for Sisters — it’s a real community icon.

“There’s just so much depth in the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show,” Boyd said.

“There’s so much connection with the quilters, with the community, with our sponsors.”

That connection is as precious as an heirloom Oregon Trail quilt, and the board, staff and volunteers who make SOQS are determined not only to preserve it, but to

“There’s just so much depth in the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show.

There’s so much connection with the quilters, with the community, with our sponsors.”

— Dawn Boyd burnish it for years to come.

“We’re not letting this stop us,” Boyd said. “And we’re going to keep building from here.”

PHOTO COURTESY SISTERS OUTDOOR QUILT SHOW

WHAT A GREAT RIDE...

45th Anniversary Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show!

BICYCLE SALES, SERVICE, RENTALS BLAZINSADDLESHUB.COM 413 W. Hood Ave., Sisters • 541-719-1213 SOQS Sponso r

“Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show” Wednesday, July 8, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon

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SOQS founder is 45th anniversary featured artist

By Jodi Schneider Correspondent

Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show (SOQS), the world’s largest outdoor quilt show in the world will be reinvented into a virtual experience in light of the COVID-19 restrictions. There will also be fiber arts on display in the Clearwater Gallery honoring Jean Wells Keenan’s work as the Featured Gallery Artist for the 45th SOQS anniversary.

Clearwater Gallery in Sisters showcases a brilliant display of regional and local artists whose works represent a variety of artistic mediums.

Local artist Dan Rickards, co-owner of Clearwater Gallery, said that the one thing that stands out about Jean is that she is exceptionally forward-thinking.

“She’s been doing the quilt show for 45 years and she still continues to push the edge of creative art from a quilting perspective,” he said. “Jean gets inspired over something and she finds a way to bring that into fabric, design, and art. She loves quilting and the thread of that is always there, but she will find ways to introduce

new original ideas, and more importantly as an artist, she keeps herself inspired.”

Besides Keenan’s colorful “Metolius” fish quilted artwork that will be presented in Clearwater Gallery, the gallery will also have a few of Keenan’s framed individual stone pieces “Of The Earth” using textured fabric embellished with stitching, all done by hand.

Keenan has collected rocks and has been fascinated by stone configurations her whole life.

“Growing up in Central Oregon, I used to find a lot of interesting rocks. I took those ideas for my work and created abstract designs,” she explained.

“Since I was a child I always liked to explore, and I was always picking up rocks.

I used to flag for my dad when he was crop dusting, and I would pick up petrified wood over by Madras and kept a collection of those petrified wood-like rocks. I started making quilts that were about stone. I really enjoy seeing the patterning in stone and if you look closely you can see the different colors next to each other.”

Most of the work you’ll

“I really enjoy the process when I am working and not knowing the end result.”

— Jean Wells Keenan see of Keenan’s has to do with nature, Central Oregon, and just the joy she feels living in the area.

Keenan received a special honor in 2019. She won The Best of Contemporary Quilts from Quilt National presented by The Dairy Barn Arts Center. She entered a

large rock quilt, “No Stone Unturned.”

She noted, “I started playing around with rock shapes and stitching and then when I was traveling, I wanted hand work that I could do.

So, by the time I got home from a trip, I had about 21 little rock blocks and then

PHOTO BY JODI SCHNEIDER

added more rock shapes.

I really enjoy the process when I am working and not knowing the end result.

I like to have ideas present themselves while I am working. I did quite a bit of hand stitching on that quilt and eventually pieced the rock blocks together.”

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Wednesday, July 8, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper “Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show”

Challenges create opportunities: Keeping SOQS strong

By Katy Yoder Correspondent

Jean Wells knows a thing or two about starting, running, and nurturing a business.

She opened Stitchin’ Post in 1975 and grew the quilting shop into a robust commercial success with a stellar reputation and national recognition. That same know-how fostered the birth and longevity of the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show (SOQS) as an event, and eventually a well-managed nonprofit organization.

For many, quilting conjures up images of peaceful blocks of time creating quilts, sometimes alone and sometimes with friends.

That may be true, but so is the reality of challenges and hurdles for an organization whose success can be a target for those who’d like to snatch a bit of those hardwon benefits for themselves.

That’s when years of experience and hard work come in handy.

Wells learned at an early age how to face tough situations.

“I watched my Dad do it as a crop duster,” she recalled. “From his aviation background, he had the idea that when forest fires happened, you could use a modified military plane to spray the fire to put it out. He was the first person in the U.S. to develop a plane to do that.

I remember when he flew home a Navy surplus plane that barely looked flyable. I watched the ups and downs and challenges in my dad’s business, and learned that sometimes you have to punt, and that’s normal.”

Wells knows how to reassess and push through. As a business owner, she has reinvented Stitchin’ Post several times in the past 45 years. “ W hen things begin to feel irrelevant, it’s time innovate,” she said. “I always believe in putting heads together; more opinions are better than one. That approach to adversity has served us well.”

After each event, the SOQS board, including past executive directors, Ann Richardson, Jeanette Pilak, and current director, Dawn Boyd, have evaluated their successes and challenges.

Their efforts and solutionoriented attitudes created a foundation that future organizers can work from.

SOQS has weathered storms, both literally and metaphorically.

Rain and wind are never an outdoor quilt show’s friend. Planning for a rainy day is a must to ensure all the quilts hung throughout Sisters aren’t damaged. Wells directed her staff to devise a contingency plan for all kinds of emergencies.

“If we didn’t have a plan in place, it wouldn’t go as smoothly,” she said.

Over the years Quilt Rescue Teams, a group of stalwart and well-prepared volunteers, are on call to drive golf carts, vans and bikes wherever their services are needed. They carry tools including ladders, extra wire in case wiring breaks, masking tape, hammers, and safety pins. Every cart has orange buckets to carry tools easily to deal with whatever might come up. There is radio communication with an Oregon Department of Transportation command post and the City of Sisters because of street openings and closings. Volunteers wear bright, easily spotted shirts with Quilt Rescue Team in bold letters.

“We don’t rescue quilters, just the quilts,” said longtime volunteer and Quilt Rescue Team member, Clyde Dildine, with a laugh.

Another challenge has been the folks who have tried to steal some of the organization’s hard-won thunder by slipstreaming off SOQS momentum and world-wide notoriety. A few years ago, Wells and her staff experienced just how determined some can be. They’ve dealt with organizations trying to start a Central Oregon quilt show the same day as SOQS. Wells said they came after her personally.

“I was actually frightened of these people. It went on for three or four years. He was trying to jump on our bandwagon and ride our coattails and it was extremely uncomfortable,” she said.

“There have been people who tried to take away what we were doing in one way or another. We have stood firm that we’re a grassroots organization with day-today sharing and caring. That has done very well for us.

We had to hire an attorney and write letters. We never thought we’d need legal help to protect our show.”

It’s not the only time organizations have tried

to profit from the SOQS’ established reputation and loyal patrons.

“They wanted a piece of the action during quilt show day. That kind of diluted commerce hurt all the businesses in Sisters,” Wells said.

“Vendor issues came up with people outside the area trying to take a piece of the pie. The income that comes in that day should stay in the community and support business owners who are working hard to stay open during the winter and shoulder seasons. We are protective of our business sponsors and want them to be successful.

We are grateful that council members supported us.”

For Wells, it’s the people and the connections people have through quilting that’s really the inspiration for the show. Groups of people who met because of the show from different parts of the world, meet every year at the

PHOTO COURTESY SISTERS OUTDOOR QUILT SHOW

The virtual quilt show will include some of Freddy Moran’s colorful, playful faces.

show. That’s part of why the show has survived.

This year’s SOQS team is showing how they can pivot in the face of adversity, this time created by a global pandemic.

SOQS has created a

virtual show that contains as much of the excitement and inspiration guests receive as they stroll through Sisters on Quilt Show day. It won’t be the same, but SOQS will prevail and come back stronger than ever. It always does.

Wildflower Studio Celebrates the 45th Sisters Quilt Show!

Shop online for prints, cards, and ornaments...

WildflowerStudioArtandFraming.com SOQS 541-904-0673 • 103-B E. Hood Ave., Sisters

Sponso r

“Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show” Wednesday, July 8, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon

Tonye Belinda Phillips: A local treasure

By Katy Yoder Correspondent

W hat do words like whimsical, abstract, bright, playful, and unexpected all have in common?

Fo r Tonye B e l i n d a P hillips it ’s how she describes her motivation and design for this year’s Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show (SOQS) raffle quilt. Phillips realized a long time ago that yielding to constraints about making everything match doesn’t work for her. She’s proven over her quilting career that her instincts are correct.

The raffle quilt, “My Kind of Town,” has a joyful musicality bubbling with notes of purples, shades of chartreuse greens, yellows, and sunset orange. Orbs bounce across the rooftops of tall, slender houses reaching towards mountain skies.

Inspired by this year’s theme, it’s a homey, happy place full of possibility and new ways of combining color and texture.

Since she’s this year’s featured quilter, it was a natural decision for show organizers to ask Phillips to contribute her second raffle quilt for the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show.

“It was perfect for me to do it,” said Phillips from her home in Camp Sherman.

“I love using fabrics that many people wouldn’t think of using together … colors, prints, textures, just really mixing things up… we call them scrappy quilts. The idea came into my head to do something that’s a combination of whimsical, abstract, bright, playful and unexpected.”

When people look at her designs, including this year’s raffle quilt, Phillips gets comments like, “I’d never use those fabrics together.” But when they understand how it all works together and creates a cohesive image that’s pleasing to the eye, she sees their smiles as they expand their design concepts and step out of comfortable, predictable combinations.

“It shows you can be free to mix it up,” she said. “I’ve lived in the same place for 50 years, but I like to be spontaneous and I’m up for most things. I’m active and like change even though it might not look that way. A lot of people get bogged down in everything having to match.

I’m the opposite and it works for me. It’s a personal thing.

If you’re loving it that’s what’s most important.

It’s a process to learn how all those things go together. You must trust your intuition; that’s the hang-up for some people.”

Dawn Boyd, SOQS executive director, enjoyed hearing positive reactions from folks when she took the raffle quilt to an event in Salem.

“Everyone loved the quilt, especially the detail. Every house color block is differently quilted. They loved the back of the quilt as much as the front, because it was another amazing piece of quilt art. The back is adorable. It’s back at the Stitchin’ Post now. The raffle tickets are $5 each and can be purchased at the Stitchin’ Post or on our website SOQS. org,” said Boyd.

Phillips’ relationship with SOQS goes back to its founder, Jean Wells Keenan.

She remembered when Wells was a home economics teacher at Beaverton High School in the late 1960s. Tonye moved to Central Oregon in 1969 and then to Camp Sherman in 1972. She began working for Black Butte Ranch and reconnected with Wells who moved with her family to the Ranch. From the beginning, Phillips found Wells exceptionally supportive and encouraging.

Phillips’ mother taught her stitching in Portland.

She was always working on knitting or crocheting projects.

“I didn’t learn to quilt until I took my first class in 1992 from Jean working on a sampler quilt with several blocks and different techniques at Stitchin’ Post,” said Phillips.

But she yearned to learn hand quilting and applique — anything done by hand she loved.

Seeing Phillips’ skill and unique use of color, texture and prints, Wells asked her to be a teacher at the show’s educational program Quilter’s Affair in the late 1990s.

“I’ve been teaching ever since,” Phillips said.

Phillips’ first time as the SOQS featured quilter came in the late 1990s as well.

“There’s special exhibits around featuring a local quilter and their body of work.

I’m the Queen for the Day,” she said with a laugh.

Since her first stint as featured quilter, Phillips wrote a book, “Hand Appliqued Quilts – Beautiful Designs and Simple Techniques.” It’s been republished in soft cover and is available at Stitchin’ Post.

“I’ve also gotten back into hand embroidery and decorative stitching and working with wool fabrics with texture,” she said. “I teach a lot with Sue Spargo, using wool and cotton hand applique and decorative stitching and embroidery in bright whimsical designs and texture and colors. We teach once a year at Stitchin’ Post and in Santa Barbara in September at the Santa Barbara Quilting Retreats.”

Phillips has also designed several of her own patterns, which are available at

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“I took my knitting with me backpacking...

I always take projects with me wherever I go. That’s the beauty of handwork.”

— Tonye Belinda Phillips Stitchin’ Post.

“I don’t have a website anymore, and am focused in Sisters,” she said. “My husband and I travel a lot and I take my work with me sailing and traveling. I took my knitting with me backpacking last summer off the McKenzie Pass with our kids to Scott Mountain.

I always take projects with me wherever I go. That’s the beauty of handwork.”

PHOTO BY PAIGE VITEK

2020 raffle quilt, “My Kind of Town” by Tonye Phillips, quilted by Laura Simmons.

SOQS Sponso r

JEAN WELLS Featured Local Artist Jean incorporates themes inspired from nature, and enjoys working intuitively — letting each design take on a life of its own.

Stop by the gallery to experience her amazing quilts in person.

On display July 8th-11th & July 15th-18th.

Gallery Hours: Wed.-Sat., 11 a.m.-4 p.m. • 303 W. Hood Ave., Sisters • 541-549-4994 • theclearwatergallery.com

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Wednesday, July 8, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper “Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show”

By Jodi Schneider Correspondent

Entrepreneur Jean Wells Keenan has been an innovator in the quilting world for over four decades. Creating a business out of her passion, Keenan then took her talents as a teacher, artist, author, and quilt shop proprietor to another level.

It all began modestly in 1975, when Keenan, proprietor of the Stitchin’ Post, and her friend Kathy Howell, another business owner nearby, decided to host a small summer fair in July and hang a few quilts outside near her shop. During that time the shop was located downstairs inside the Sisters Hotel on Cascade Avenue.

Keenan explained, “I had asked a few people that sewed to bring their quilts, but nobody seemed too interested. I had family quilts that I took from our cedar chest and hung them out with two of my own quilts.

But then on that day some of the ladies I had invited brought their quilts after realizing it was just a sharing and caring type of day. So, it became an annual tradition.”

For 45 years the sharing and caring has continued — and grown. Every second Saturday in July the entire town of Sisters is wrapped in walls of bright colors for the annual Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show (SOQS) where you can find over a thousand handcrafted vibrant quilts, all a colorful exploration of patterned artistry pieced together that tell a story.

Born and raised in Redmond, Keenan is proud to be a fourth-generation Oregonian. Her father, the late legendary Cal Butler, founded Butler Aircraft in Redmond.

Keenan told The Nugget, “As I’ve aged, I find myself thinking of my dad. I spent a lot of time with him in his later years. He was passionate about airplanes and about his work and I know that’s what drove him to be a success.”

Butler learned to fly in Redmond when he was 15. An inventor of agricultural aviation equipment who flew in World War II, he supported the use of air tankers in fighting wildfires and played an active role in developing the Redmond Airport.

She added, “He was brought up by his mom as a single parent because his dad,

a pharmacist who was helping the doctors deliver medicine, died of the Spanish flu during the 1918 pandemic.

“When my dad came back from the war, he started a crop-dusting business and he was always inventing mechanisms, like a rotary spray nozzle and a closed chemical loading system, to improve pilot safety and the performance of airplanes,” she said.

“I was in the 7th grade when he bought a navy surplus airplane, and I remember as a family we all went out to the airport to see this bigger plane and it looked like a pile of junk. But my dad figured out how to turn it into the first tanker in the U.S. that was used to put out wildfires.”

In 1991, Butler was inducted into the National Agricultural Aviation Hall of Fame for his contributions to the field.

Keenan’s mother kept the books for her husband and didn’t have any interest in sewing at all.

Keenan noted, “I wanted to sew clothing so bad, but my mom didn’t like the idea.

However, my grandmother sewed. So, when I was nine years old my mom finally said that my grandmother could teach me how to sew.”

W hat a difference a grandmother can make in a child’s life. Thus, the seeds were planted…

“As soon as I had babysitting money I went out and bought my own fabric from Roberts in Redmond,” she said. “Mom didn’t want me to make my own clothes until I took home ec in school, but I snuck and made a few skirts anyway.”

By the time Keenan was 15 years old she was sewing Western shirts so her sisters would look their best at horse shows.

“As a family we went to so many horse shows since my younger sisters June and Judy loved horses. And in my mind, I was sure they got their blue ribbons because of my sewing!” Keenan said, laughing.

Keenan had a love affair with fabric by making it her own.

“Once I learned how to make patterns, I would always change something up in the pattern to make it my own design,” she said. “I went to Oregon State and majored in Home Economics and during my freshman year, I

was taking a sewing class and we all had to make the same dress. But I put a little trim on each side of the band, and I got a B instead of an A because I personalized my project.”

A teacher at heart, Keenan is an artist who loves to give by connecting with people as an instructor.

She taught home economics for eight years in Beaverton before moving to Sisters.

She noted, “There weren’t any home ec teaching jobs in this area, and I wanted to continue my classes in Central Oregon.”

Keenan taught home economics for Central Oregon Community College in 1975 and had 25 students who wanted to take a patchwork class in Sisters.

“My friend, Pat, who owned a store in Portland, where I was getting all the cotton fabric for my students, one day finally said, ‘Well, Jean, you just need to open a store.’”

She added, “I had never even had a retail type job before, but I took all of the money out of my retirement and opened the Stitchin’ Post. I just did it by the seat of my pants. I really didn’t know what I was doing.”

Keenan rented out an area downstairs in the Sisters Hotel that is now the bar in Sisters Saloon. She found vintage wooden Coca Cola cartons and painted them and put her thread in them.

Patrons could find fabric remnants in heirloom chest of drawers and in restored trunks.

“I didn’t want my shop to look like other department stores,” she said.

Keenan’s daughter, Valori Wells, was only a toddler and remembers spending a lot of time in Stitchin’ Post.

Wells, said, “I had some of my first concrete memories being in that shop, especially when I was in kindergarten. I remember helping customers and learning how to count change at a really young age.

It was just part of my life, that’s what we did. Fabric and textiles are intertwined into who I am. Growing up in the shop gave me an education about business that I didn’t realize I was getting.”

Keenan added, “I never forced a sewing career on Valori. It was in the 7th grade when she became interested in photography.

They had a dark room at the school, and she fell in love with it.”

“Being given that opportunity to pursue any dream I had, which was in the art field, I studied photography at a school in Portland,” Wells said. “I had to find my own path back into the shop and I did. After nearly four years at school, mom asked me to help with photography

SC HM ID LIN G

An innovator in quilting and business

BY TO PHO

N LE HE

for her book. That opened the door to allowing me to find my artistic vision within our industry and within our shop.”

Wells, now co-owner of Stitchin’ Post, manages the business while Keenan can settle back spending more time creating art and gardening.

Keenan is an author with 30 quilting books under her belt and has received many honors over the years. In 1997 she was inducted into the Primedia Independent Retailers Hall of Fame, and in 1998 she received the Michael Kile Award for lifetime achievement honoring commitment to creativity and excellence in the quilting industry. In 1999 the Sisters Area Chamber of Commerce honored Stitchin’ Post with Business of the Year. She received “Citizen of the Year” award in 2007 and was inducted into the Quilters Hall of Fame in 2010.

Keenan sums up her “formula” succinctly: “I think it’s all about my passion for what I do that has helped me to become a success.”

What a TREASURE we have in the 45th Anniversary

SISTERS OUTDOOR QUILT SHOW! Our store is loaded with beautiful quilts

NTED LADY I A P

Antiques

Our one-of-a-kind inventory changes daily and sells quickly.

If you find a treasure you can’t live without, buy it today. Chances are it will be gone tomorrow.

Introducing our new in-store Intr

TREASURE HUNT

Look for our ad every other week in The Nugget. We’ll have one of our treasures specially tagged and it is your job to find it!

If you do, a special discount awaits you on anything you buy while in-store that day.

541-904-0066 • 141 E. Cascade Ave., Ste. 104 • Open 11-4, 7 days a week

“Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show” Wednesday, July 8, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon

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Nurturing the next generation of quilters

By Jodi Schneider Correspondent

Quilting has been integral to Diane Tolzman’s daily life for the past 20 years. In 2014 when her 9-year-old grandson, Devin, showed an interest in learning the art of her craft, she was glad to serve as a model of inspiration for the future generation quilters.

“I was always quilting when my son, his wife and their kids moved up here to Sisters six years ago,” Tolzman explained. “Devin was 9 at the time and spent time watching me quilt and then decided he wanted to make his first quilt. He searched through my fabric “stash” and found what he wanted to use. He laid out the fabric in a design and I cut it for him. He learned how to use the sewing machine and sewed it together.”

His first quilt in 2014, aptly named “All of my Favorite things,” included just that: baseball, strawberries, glow-in-the-dark fish, airplanes and more.

Devin told The Nugget, “I needed a gift for my parents for Christmas that year and I thought a quilt would be nice.”

In 2015, Devin designed a quilt after the Minecraft video game.

“Since the Minecraft characters are made of pixels, which are squares, I decided

to make that quilt,” he said.

“First, I made a pattern using colored pencils and graph paper, then cut out the squares using fabric from my grandma’s stash.”

Devin’s latest quilt, crafted at age 14, was packed full of Oregon wildlife which hung in the special exhibit “Quilts Made By Men” during the 2019 Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show (SOQS).

“I wanted to make a quilt that shows all the winter animals of Sisters that visit us in our backyard,” said Devin.

He had also made a special pink puff quilt for his baby sister Brooklyn in 2017.

“That quilt was a big challenge for me since I never made a puff quilt, so my grandmother helped,” he said.

All of Devin’s quilts were entered in the Deschutes County Fair & Expo, except for the first one. All three quilts hung in the Next Generation Quilt Exhibit at SOQS. Devin’s younger brother, Jordan, made his first quilt last year at age 5.

Jordan said, “I was watching my brother and thought quilting looked fun.”

He named his quilt “Gone Fishing,” since one of his favorite things to do is to go fishing with his dad.

The 6-year-old has already reeled in three bass and two trout. Jordan’s quilt hung in Next Generation Quilters at the 2019 SOQS and was

PHOTO BY JODI SCHNEIDER

Diane Tolzman has been mentoring her grandsons, Devin and Jordan, in the art of quiltmaking. entered in the Deschutes County Fair & Expo the same year.

Jordan is now working on a Christmas story quilt with Tolzman for next year.

Tolzman was drawn into the world of sewing when attending a Catholic high school in Beaverton.

“We had a sewing class and I began making all my school clothes,” she said.

“Years later, I took a quilting class at a community college and was hooked.”

For Tolzman, who is cochair for East of the Cascade Quilters, quilting is an enjoyable art form that can SOQS Sponso r

Remembering Colorful Summers Gone By...

And Looking Forward To More!

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fill the need for creativity.

She joined East of the Cascade Quilters about five years ago and has shared the

chair with Gilda Hunt for three years.

See YOUTH on page 23

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Wednesday, July 8, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper “Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show”

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Wednesday, July 8, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper “Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show”

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“Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show” Wednesday, July 8, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon

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110 S. Spruce St. 541-719-1186

ALPACA BY DESIGN 140 W. Cascade Ave, Sisters

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143 E. HOOD AVE., SISTERS 541-549-3079

(Across from Sisters Saloon)

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252 W. Hood Ave., Sisters 541-549-0866

1001 Rail Way, Sisters 541-549-5400

Heritage U.S.A. 300 W. Hood Ave., Sisters 541-549-9971

253 E. Hood Ave., Sisters 541-549-4660

541-549-8011 373 E. Hood Ave. Sisters

103 E. Hood Ave., Sisters 541-904-0778

600 W. HOOD AVE. 541-549-1560

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Wednesday, July 8, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper “Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show”

Quilters help provide scholarships for high school students

By Jodi Schneider Correspondent

Since 2007, quilters who participate in the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show have turned their talents to helping others.

The W ish Upon A Card Fundraiser & Fabric Challenge started as a partnership with the St. Charles Foundation/Wendy’s Wish (Wendy’s Wish disbanded in 2015). The Wish Upon A Card Program continued, with proceeds supporting the SOQS Scholarship Program benefiting Sisters High School students.

Quilters from all over the United States and instructors of Quilter’s Affair, an educational workshop program that happens during the five days that precede the SOQS, donate stunning fabric postcards — and some take part in the Fabric Challenge, using fabrics donated by Robert Kaufman fabrics. Fabric postcards begin with basic guidelines and can be as creative as the artist wants to be.

The fabric postcards that the instructors from Quilters Affair and winners of the challenge craft are framed and/or matted and are auctioned during Quilter’s Affair. Additionally, nonframed cards are also available for purchase.

This year, SOQS will be posting these miniature pieces of artwork online for sale on their website. There will be over 250 cards available for purchase. Wish Cards arrive in the mail for SOQS from all over the United States, and they have over 70 quilters taking part this year.

Since the beginning,

High Desert Frameworks! in Bend has sponsored the program and Myrna Dow has matted and framed cards for auction.

Dawn Boyd, SOQS executive director, said, “This year, we are excited to not only have High Desert Frameworks! helping once again, but we are also welcoming Clearwater Gallery and Wildflower Studios to our Wish Team of framers/ sponsors.”

Since 2015 Kathy Jasper, a Beaverton resident, has volunteered for SOQS; no job too small. In 2017 she added The Wish Upon a Card Fundraiser to her many volunteer positions at the show.

Jasper noted, “ When I signed up as a volunteer for the quilt show and met Ginny Hall and Kathy Miller and all the other volunteers, they made me feel like we had been friends forever and I’ve been involved ever since. I take a vacation from my job during the week of the Quilter’s Affair and have volunteered for Wish Upon a Card sales during the Quilter’s Affair and the day of the quilt show. I am fortunate that the company that I work for will pay qualified charitable organizations for the hours that we volunteer. All my time spent making cards is also part of the time I can claim. So, I try to stay busy to maximize what I can earn for SOQS.” Jasper has also been quilting for 15 years.

She added, “I was curious about quilting, but I had determined that I didn’t have the space in my house.

But after my partner got me a fancy sewing machine for my birthday, I experimented with a baby quilt for

PHOTO COURTESY SISTERS OUTDOOR QUILT SHOW

Happy Town 2020 by Kristin Shields.

PHOTO COURTESY SOQS

a neighbor. After the first quilt, I was hooked.”

Jasper’s friend, Marion Shimoda, who was the featured fiber artist in Clearwater Gallery in 2018, See WISH on page 23

All 2020 participants who donated fabric postcards to this year’s Wish Upon a Card program had their name entered to win a one-of-a-kind fabric postcard created and signed by Jean Wells (and graciously matted and framed by High Desert Frameworks! of Bend).

Looking forward to a

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bright and colorful quilt show next year.

541-904-3048 • 178 Elm St., Ste. 102, Sisters SOQS Sponso r

“Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show” Wednesday, July 8, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon

WISH Continued from page 22

was the catalyst in convincing her to attend the SOQS and to begin creating Wish Upon a Card postcards.

“I made my first card for The Wish Upon A Card Program in 2014. In 2015, I received an honorable mention, and second place in 2018 and 2020, and first place in 2019,” Jasper explained. “For me just to have a card selected for framing feels like a win.”

Longtime fans of SOQS, Jill Huntington and her family have attended the annual show since 1996.

Huntington, a quilter, lives in Portland with her husband and four grown kids.

“I made my first quilt as a wedding gift for my husband back in 1995.

Serendipitously, I found the quilt pattern called Autumn Pines in a book by Jean Wells, ‘Patchwork Quilts Made Easy.’ I first learned about SOQS from Jean’s

PHOTO COURTESY SOQS

book, which included photos and information about the event. It became a must-goto, although we missed the quilt show that year because my husband and I were having a summer wedding on the second Saturday in July!”

This is the first year Huntington donated a fabric

Since the beginning, High Desert Frameworks! in Bend has sponsored the program and Myrna Dow has matted and framed cards for auction. postcard to The Wish Upon A Card Fundraiser & Fabric Challenge. She displayed quilts in the SOQS in 2018 and 2019.

Huntington said, “I

wanted to get involved with The Wish Upon A Card Program as a way of contributing to the show and to the SOQS Scholarship Fund for the Sisters Outlaws high

school students. Also, I had never made a fabric postcard before, so I was eager to try something new and to challenge myself to make a design given a hand-selected collection of fabrics.”

Huntington’s postcard design for 2020, “Something Good in Every Day,” features a vase of flowers set on a neutral background.

She said, “My inspiration came from Kaffe Fassett designs in which he uses vases as a motif. In my collection of low-volume fabrics, I found a neat fabric with words on it that seemed so appropriate for our current times. The fabric reads, ‘Every day may not be good, but there is something good in every day!’ When I created the postcard, I centered those words on the top of the postcard design.”

The Huntingtons are also the creative team behind Huntington Quilt Design on Instagram, and are members of the Portland Modern Quilt Guild.

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YOUTH

Tolzman said. “We dedicated the quilt, ‘100 Years Strong,’ This year the theme to all the brave women and for the virtual SOQS is men from many ethnic “My Kind of Town,” and backgrounds who fought to Tolzman’s quilt, “My Kind of legalize the voting rights for Winter Town,” will be shown women.” in the East of the Cascade The project took on a Quilters Special Exhibit in unifying force. The quilt the virtual SOQS on July 11. was designed and pieced There will also be a spe- by Tolzman, Gilda Hunt cial exhibit by quilters that and Jennifer Cannard. The live in Central Oregon who appliquéd women on the are celebrating 100 years of quilt were created by Hunt, and the fabric photographs women’s suffrage.

“This quilt was inspired printed by Tolzman. Cannard by the 100th anniversary cel- did all the sewing and it was ebrating women’s suffrage,” machine quilted by Tolzman.

Continued from page 19

PHOTO BY DIANE TOLZMAN

Jordan became interested in quilting last year at age 5.

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Wednesday, July 8, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper “Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show”

Becoming a Friend of the Show

By Katy Yoder Correspondent

To provide free admission to the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show, SOQS organizers depend on business sponsors, quilt sales, donations and their membership, Friends of the Show.

SOQS Executive Director Dawn Boyd says the membership is like being an Oregon Public Broadcasting supporter: “It’s a way for people to feel more deeply involved in supporting the show.”

Membership levels offer a richer connection with SOQS and ways to support the annual quilt show and participating businesses.

Membership underwrites programs and events created to expand partnerships with the community. There’s a diverse group of seasoned and budding quilters, all interested in learning, being inspired, and continuing quilting history that began in ancient Egypt.

Annual memberships offer entry points for all kinds of budgets, starting at the $50 Sawtooth Star on up to the $1,000 Lone Star membership. You can join

any time of the year. Each category offers discounts at participating quilt stores and free admission to quilt museums. Benefits are numerous and are best explored on the SOQS website. (SOQS.org) Organizers appreciate and welcome general donations as well.

Continuing a huge annual event that’s always been and will remain free to the public takes an ongoing investment and participation by those who value what SOQS has been doing for the past 45 years.

Joining now will ensure SO QS continues and enriches opportunities for quilters and those who appreciate the art form. The membership card offers access to discounts for other shows along the western U.S. and museums like the National Quilt Museum in Paducah, Kentucky, or the Latimer Quilt & Textile Center in T il lamook, Oregon. Quilt shops from Danville, California, to Reardon, Washington, and throughout Oregon offer 15 percent off purchases for qualifying SOQS members.

There’s a list of participating businesses and museums on

the website. Contact them directly to find out how much you can save.

A member since 2010, Kathy Miller has enjoyed watching what goes on throughout the year in preparation of the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show, especially the day of the show.

“To support that kind of community involvement and activity is something I love doing,” said Miller from her home in Pacific Grove.

“Sisters is such a wonderful place with many community-building events. What Jean Wells grew so long ago is another example of what makes Sisters special. I wish more places would emulate it. Having a free event that promotes art and love all over town lifts everyone. Everybody should be a friend of the show. Seeing what the people of Sisters put together is amazing! We aren’t having a quilt show this year, but I can’t wait to see how Dawn Boyd, the SOQS board and her volunteers pull together something virtually wonderful.”

Louise Warren lives in McMinnville and has been coming to the show for 20 years. To support SOQS,

PHOTO BY JERRY BALDOCK

“Friends of the Show” receive notification of online availability of annual Quilter’s Affair class information, among other benefits.

she has donated during the show and often had quilts hanging. This year she decided it would be a great time to become a member and contribute that way. She is excited to take advantage of membership benefits. “In past years I’ve gone with friends who used their membership perks. Once stores and museums are reopened, I’ll check to see where my membership is good and will target those places as much as I can,” said Warren.

“It shows all of us that it’s worthwhile to support the show.”

Through social media efforts, Friends of the Show membership is growing.

As SOQS gets the word out about this great way to

support quilting in all its variations, they’re ensuring the event will persevere and flourish with wide support. Boyd suggests joining through the SOQS website.

It’s the easiest and best way to get on board. “If you’d prefer not going through the website you can join by contacting the office,” said Boyd.

“For some, we know going online can be a bit daunting.

We understand some people prefer talking on the phone or visiting the office at 220 S. Ash St., Ste. 4, in Sisters.”

The SOQS phone number is 541-549-0989 and their email address is admin@ soqs.org. Boyd and her faithful volunteers look forward to adding new members into the fold.

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“Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show” Wednesday, July 8, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon

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Wine coolers refresh on hot days

By Jodi Schneider Correspondent

Rumor has it that during Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show (SOQS) Sisters establishments sell more wine than they sell beer during Sisters Rodeo.

What could be even better than a cool glass of wine on a warm July day?

Possibly a frosty fruity wine cooler.

Wine coolers have been bottled and sold by commercial distributors since the early 1980s.

The term “wine cooler” was originally a description of a drink that a bartender would make by combining wine and various other ingredients to make a refreshing summer beverage.

Think Sangria or Kir Royale.

They were the brightly colored libations that combined the flavors of an inexpensive wine like Chablis with fruit juices — brands like Bartles & Jaymes, Seagram’s, and California Cooler.

They were the hit drink of the 1980s and the joke drink of the 1990s. The California Cooler took off

commercially in the mid1980s like a rocket. But, in 1991, Congress changed the way wine was taxed and companies no longer saw wine coolers as profitable.

However, in May 2019, for the first time in nearly three decades, Bartles & Jaymes started paying that $1.07 excise tax to put the “wine back in wine coolers” with the relaunch of its brand.

With the summer heat in full swing, the appeal of that light, fruity, low-alcohol drink that can be served very cold sounds delightful. The cool thing is that homemade wine coolers are easy to make and taste a lot better than the commercially produced ones of the 1980s.

The key ingredients of the wine cooler are inexpensive wine (usually white), clear lemon-lime soda (like Sprite or 7-Up) and fruit juice. This is where the fun and creativity begin. Fruit juices give the wine cooler its color and main flavor. A grocery store shelf will reveal all sorts from apple, white grape, orange, and lemon, to peach, cucumber, strawberry, kiwi, and lime.

The basic “Wine Cooler” recipe is: 2 ounces inexpensive white wine 2 ounces fruit juice 2 to 4 ounces clear soda Additional items can include fresh fruit, lemon or lime wedges, and with some practice and careful experimentation, you can adjust the percentages of wine/ juice/soda to your preferences. Fresh fruit such as berries can be added as a garnish and lemon or lime can be squeezed in to really perk up the flavors.

Wine coolers can be made dry or sweet. For dry variations, any fruit juice will work, with exceptional favorites including cucumber, lime, and cranberry.

Orange, strawberry, white grape and apple go well with sweeter coolers (more soda).

For the sweetest palates (and perhaps for the most acidic/ bitter wine), a teaspoon of sugar can be dissolved in the wine before the colder soda and fruit juice are added.

Further variations allow for rosé or blush wine, both work well with the red fruit juices. Red wine can also

ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/PORTFOLIO/SIIMS

be used; however, it doesn’t go as well with fruit juices like cucumber, lime, orange, lemon and kiwi.

What’s the difference between wine spritzers and wine coolers?

The two terms have at times become somewhat confused and no doubt the wine cooler concept grew

out of the already established spritzer. A spritzer is most basically wine and sparkling water or wine and club soda.

It is therefore dryer than a cooler. Spritzers are still refreshing on warm days and for an added kick, small portions of vermouth, rum, or gin can be added to give it more of a cocktail taste.

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KEEP STITCHING!

We look forward to partnering with Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show in 2021.

PHOTO BY FRITZ LIEDTKE

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Wednesday, July 8, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper “Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show”

Quilting has a long and vibrant international history

By Katy Yoder Correspondent

preserved quilt is a Sicilian wall hanging made in the 14th century. It is estimated to have been made about 1395. It portrays the legend of Tristan. The piece of art was made using quilting with trapunto (stuffed quilting) on solid white fabric.

The piece is now displayed in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England.

Some researchers believe that quilting, in the form of quilted clothing, was brought to Europe through the Crusades. Muslim warriors wore tightly quilted garments as part of their armor, which was soon adopted by medieval European soldiers.

Although fine quilting was a sign of affluence, the sewing together of layers for warmth was done by the poor as well. If makers couldn’t afford carded wool

The technique we call quilting crossed many borders and played a part in ancient history. From the beginning, quilts have told human stories, reflected religious and philosophical beliefs, and revealed what people wore, either out of necessity or as adornment.

Stitched into layered linen with cotton stuffing inserted to raise sections of the design, faces of those who lived thousands of years ago look beyond the edges of quilts into a future they’d find hard to believe. or cotton to sew between Researchers have uncovlayers, then old blankets, ered examples of quilting clothing or even feathers, around the world. In North straw or leaves were used America, quilting began instead. with immigrants bringing The oldest discovery, their sewing and handwork from 5,500 years ago is of traditions from Europe.

For hundreds of years, African American slaves made quilts for their owners and for themselves. When time allowed, women pieced together beautiful quilts with the scraps they gathered and saved. The result was a beauty that defied circumstances of servitude and focused on love stitched together in terrible times.

That tradition has evolved and thrived through the skilled hands of people like the women of Gee’s Bend, Alabama. Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show was honored to have them as guests in years past to pass along their wisdom — both with the needle and in beautiful a capella song.

The Smithsonian National Museum of the PHOTO COURTESY SISTERS OUTDOOR QUILT SHOW American Indian has one The 2021 SOQS will feature Egyptian tentmakers who do hand-applique of the largest collections of that originated in the Bedouin tribes.

Native American quilts from the 1940s. The Northern Plains tribes began quilting out of necessity when buffalo herds were decimated

by Euro-American settlers attempting to subdue the Plains tribes in the 19th century. The tribes had to find alternate sources for robes and ritual practices.

Missionary wives taught quilting techniques to Indian women, who soon found imaginative ways to personalize what they created.

The origins of quilting can be traced back to ancient Egypt. Quilting commemorated personal stories, historical events and was a reflection of the beauty surrounding its maker. There are rare examples of old quilts. One

PHOTO COURTESY SISTERS OUTDOOR QUILT SHOW

an ivory carving, featuring the king or Pharaoh of the Egyptian First Dynasty wearing a mantle or cloak that appears to be quilted.

It was found in the Temple of Osiris at Abydos in 1903 and is currently in the British Museum collection.

The Te x t i l e Society of America at DigitalCommons@ University of Nebraska – Lincoln, offers interesting and informative research into the relationship between See HISTORY on page 27

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“Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show” Wednesday, July 8, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon

27

HISTORY Continued from page 26

historical Chinese patchwork garments, known as the baijia pao or “One Hundred Families Robe,” and a recent practice of American adopters of Chinese children.

By combining the Chinese tradition of baijia pao, with American commemorative quilt making, makers of the new “One Hundred Good Wishes Quilts” are creating a unique opportunity for a cross-cultural exchange.

People started making Chinese patchwork in the Liu Song of the Southern Dynasty. The first emperor of Liu Song D ynasty, named Liu Yu, was born in an underprivileged family.

His mother gathered rags from the neighborhoods to make a patchwork. When he became the emperor, he perceived this kind of patchwork as the symbol for his impoverished childhood.

All the infants in Liu’s family had to use the patchwork so that his offspring could know how fortunate they were. Afterwards, his citizens followed this royal custom to make “Bai jia yi” for their babies.

For centuries the Chinese used quilted cloth to make padded winter clothing,

PHOTO COURTESY SISTERS OUTDOOR QUILT SHOW

wisely reasoning that two or three layers were warmer than one. Later, the Arabs were discovered wearing quilted garments beneath chain mail. Multiple layers of cloth sewn together provided additional protection and prevented chafing more effectively than cloth of a single layer. Some historians believe this quilted clothing, when brought back to Europe, provided the idea for the bed quilt used today.

The 2021 SOQS will

feature Egyptian tentmakers who do hand-applique that originated in the Bedouin tribes. According to SOQS Executive Director Dawn Boyd, the men applique the designs that are used

Those who visit the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show have been, and continue to be, inspired and awed by the works of textile art. for weddings and other celebrations.

“We had to put off their visit until next year, we want to celebrate world-quilting

stories,” Boyd said.

“These men pass down their traditions and we are excited to share them with everyone.”

CELEBRATE SISTERS OUTDOOR QUILT SHOW’S 45TH ANNIVERSAY

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Congratulations on 45 years

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Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show!

Although this year will be a little different, we at GrandStay wish you all the best on the reimagined virtual experience and cannot wait to see our town filled with these beautiful quilts again next year.

TAKING RESERVATIONS AT:

541-904-0967 | 855-455-7829 PHOTO COURTESY SISTERS OUTDOOR QUILT SHOW

The Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show has relied upon and been supported by a core of dedicated volunteers for decades, helping the show to share the historic art of quiltmaking with droves of visitors every year.

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Wednesday, July 8, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper “Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show”

Sisters is ‘My Kind of Town’ for artist

By Jodi Schneider Correspondent

There is something magical about Sisters — and Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show Poster Artist Dan Rickards knows it.

This year’s poster, “My Kind of Town,” created

by Rickards for the 45th Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show (SOQS) captures the essence of this charming town.

“There are quite a few elements that need to come

through in every poster,” Rickards said. “The Sisters mountains, a quilt, and the theme involved that needs to be threaded in.”

Rickards painted the majestic Three Sisters Mountains under a bright sun as the backdrop, included the town of Sisters, along with one anonymous woman wearing a sun bonnet.

That image was created long before it accidentally became a symbol of a different kind of quilt show.

“At first, I wasn’t sure if I should have someone in the painting,” Rickards mused. “But I realized it’s the people in the town during the quilt show that are such

a huge part of the show, not just the quilts going up.”

Sisters is usually packed with people on Quilt Show Day — and it will be again.

“I have filtered through one person in a way that represents all the people,” Rickards said. “I almost painted a town of people, but that element remains for a future poster.”

Rickards said that the town elements in the poster are more generic and that it’s very representational.

He added, “I wanted to be looking through the person’s eyes, through the town into the mountains. It’s more of the way that we feel when we are here, not the way the town literally looks.”

Dawn Boyd, SOQS executive director, said, “The board unanimously thought of Dan as this year’s poster artist, as he embodies so much of the quilt show — which is always about

PHOTO BY JODI SCHNEIDER

Dan Rickards shows the original art for “My Kind of Town,” the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show poster for 2020.

celebrating creativity and community. And with our theme of ‘My Kind of Town,’ it seemed so appropriate.

“At first, I wasn’t sure if I should have someone in the painting. But I realized it’s the people in the town during the quilt show that are such a huge part of the show, not just the quilts going up.” — Dan Rickards

Dan and his wife have not only made Sisters their own hometown, they are a vital part of it.

“We are so excited to have Dan as our poster artist celebrating our 45th anniversary,” said Boyd.

The 2020 poster may be ordered online from Stitchin’ Post at https://stitchinpost. com.