Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show – 2009
Today Gordon and I went to the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show in Sisters, Oregon, which is located in the central part of the state. It’s a cute town in a gorgeous setting — Ponderosa pines everywhere and the beautiful Sisters mountains. For the show they hang quilts (1200 of them this year) inside and outside of all the local businesses — they even close the highway through the middle of town and re-route all the traffic. We arrived early and it was pleasant — not too hot yet and not too crowded. I have to admit that I didn’t see a lot of quilts like the ones I make — most of them are brightly colored and machine quilted. If you want to see examples of fine hand quilting these days, I guess you have to go to a museum. Anyway, there were a few antique quilts displayed which were very pretty, and then this one that just blew me away. It’s a Charley Harper bird quilt and I just loved it — even though it’s contemporary. I should have gotten the info from the tag, but I was so distracted staring at the quilt, I completely forgot. If anyone knows who made this quilt, please let me know. I have all of the re-issues of the Charley Harper books and I have often thought I would love to make a quilt from his wonderful pictures. I doubt I ever will, though, because I don’t think I could ever make one this beautiful. My photo really does not do it justice.
UPDATE: Lisa K. informed me that the quilter’s name is Jane Haworth (from Auburn, California). Lisa provided a link to Susan Beal’s blog — West Coast Crafty. Susan has wonderful photos of the of the Sisters quilt show, including close-ups of the Charley Harper quilt.
I also bought several bags of great vintage fabric scraps that were super cheap. They were mixed in with bags of newer stuff and nobody buying seemed interested — even the people selling it didn’t seem to think it was worth anything — I was thrilled!
Quilts
Embroidery
Family-Made
Vintage Finds
Vintage Fabric
Children's Books
Work in Progress
Other Needlework
Other Things
Ann wrote,
That is amazing! I did see Jane H. stitched in the bottom right corner, but that doesn’t narrow it down too much I guess…
Ann
Link | July 11th, 2009 at 7:05 pm
Mary wrote,
This is beautiful. I see the robin and the cardinal and the blue jay. I think there is also a mourning dove, a red-breasted nuthatch, a brown creeper, and I think the bird with the white eye stripe is a wren of some kind.
Link | July 12th, 2009 at 8:53 pm
jan wrote,
It sounds like a wonderful event! I hope that when I retire, I can talk The Mister into building some vacation time around events like this! (I love the bird quilt!)
Link | July 14th, 2009 at 9:46 pm
Lisa K. wrote,
Looks like it was a talented lady named Jane Haworth:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/susanstars/3724423910/
Link | July 21st, 2009 at 12:20 pm
Gigi wrote,
I seem to remember the Valorie Wells review of the quilt show had info on the bird quilt. Thanks for all you share. I took up quilting after becoming disabled and donate what I make. I’m not out to quilt stores much and rely on the web. Your site is great. Thanks, Gigi.
Link | September 12th, 2009 at 11:10 am
jane h wrote,
My daughter just found this link whilst at High School today. I am the maker of the Charley Harper Quilt. It’s wonderful to hear all your comments. Get back to me if you require more info.
Jane Haworth
Link | February 3rd, 2010 at 4:46 pm
Sybil wrote,
Last night I saw the Jane Haworth Bird quilt in the June/July Quilters Newsletter (last page) and loved it.
I could not believe how my heart sung at that quilt and I had never heard of Charley Harper.
So I went to work today at the National Park Service and stared at our walls which are covered with wonderful NPS posters. I looked up Charley Harper on the internet and found that he had done all of those posters!!! I had never thought to look for an artist for those posters.
While I feel silly, I would love to contact Jane and thank her for that quilt. Does anyone have an email for her?
Sybil Winfield, Colorado
Link | May 12th, 2010 at 3:38 pm
Anne wrote,
Dear Jane,
Your Charley Harper quilt is magnificent. Your talented interpretation of his work is beautiful. I’m a relatively new quilter (and sewer) and am trying to learn new techniques. Do you teach?
Anne
Link | May 16th, 2010 at 12:43 pm