Sisters Quilt Show Mayhem and Black Butte Ranch Oregon

My dad and I spent a few hours exploring all of the changes to my small hometown Sisters, Oregon. My once state of the art high school has is now the junior high (and a new and improved one is behind it), new housing developments, a new grocery store (big time!) and more industry. It still has the same small town feel and there is yet to be a stop light!

We checked out the high school... which was packed with quilters.

My mom skipped lunch to work on her projects. She outdid herself with taking four classes! She was in heaven!

My mom and dad showing off the new technique she is learning. I've made one quilt and it will probably be my last! I have enough trouble threading the sewing machine... and the patience it takes to actually design / follow a pattern, cut, sew and quilt is a little outside of the realm of possibilities for this ADD kid! I'll stick to the scrapbooking and looking at and receiving quilts.

The Stitchin' Post is with the environment conscious times! BPA free water bottles!

I snapped this photo to send to Tirza and Shane. Shane still holds the discus record from 1993. Don't you just love small towns? Shane's still a legend!

My sweet Jan and Bill Reed continue to be remembered. The 4th anniversary of their deaths was July 1st. Pretty hard to believe they've been gone for FOUR years. The High School's Reed Stadium is in their honor. It' s a bit difficult to be in Sisters. I expect to bump into Jan and Bill everywhere. And yet it seems like they aren't anywhere. At least in the physical sense. In many ways they still are with us on a spiritual level... but what I wouldn't give to have one more afternoon with them.

My dad and I had some father-daughter bonding time and ate lunch at Black Butte Ranch. We did not go back to the house that I grew up in. I heard it's changed a lot. And being nostalgic and all I want to remember it just the way it was when I last saw it.

I worked at Black Butte Rance Lodge Restaurant as a "bus girl" the summer after my Senior year in High School. I broke many a wine glasses during my stint. And that was the last job I ever had in food service. But a good experience none the less! The cool kids spent their summers at the pro shop or as lifeguards... but the thought of doing anything involving a bathing suit was as repulsive to me then as it is now! So babysitting the tourists kids and nights at The Lodge helped me to have a nice savings account as I headed off to college.

Canada Geese. NOT Canadian Geese. They are the trademark of the lake.

My back seat companion, Jake.

Mom and I at the Quilt Show dinner at the Village Green Park.

We enjoyed dinner, had a preview of quilts and listed to some great lectures.

Jean Wells and her family / biggest supporters. She is the owner of the Stitchin' Post, is an amazingly talented artist and quilter and is responsible for hosting the world's largest Outdoor Quilt Show.

These are some of the quilters from Gee's Bend, Alabama. Gee’s Bend is a small rural community nestled into a curve in the Alabama River southwest of Selma, Alabama.
In 2003, with assistance from the Tinwood organizations, all the living quilters of Gee’s Bend — more than fifty women — founded the Gee’s Bend Quilters Collective to serve as the exclusive means of selling and marketing the quilts being produced by the women of the Bend. The Collective is owned and operated by the women of Gee’s Bend. Every quilt sold by the Gee’s Bend Quilt Collective is unique, individually produced, and authentic — each quilt is signed by the quilter and labeled with a serial number. Rennie Young Miller of Gee’s Bend is the Collective’s president.

They sang for us and shared many of their unique quilts.

Tomorrow is the most vibrant day of the year in Sisters. Over 1200 quilts from around the world will cover our 1880's-style town in rich texture and color! What fun!