I’m home from a wonderful trip to Portland and other points in northwest Oregon. On Wednesday, October 9th, I drove Ozzie out to stay with his cousin Kalli in Walterville and then I headed north. My friend Bethanne was flying in from Allentown, Pennsylvania, so I picked her up at PDX and we headed into town to room with our friend Cecilia from southern California. We met up, had a quick lunch, and Bethanne unpacked while Cecilia and I headed for a class. We learned how to do a little impromptu art quilt design and execution right on the long arm, as opposed to making the quilt top and then loading it on for quilting. It was a unique and fun class with Gina Perkes, a multiple-award-winning quilter.
When class was over, we headed into the show floor for the awards ceremony. Bethanne had a quilt entered and had been advised that she won a prize, but we didn’t know what. She was in the Solo Artist category and, when they had announced third through first place and not called her name, we knew that she had won a really big prize. Her name was not called for best machine workmanship either, so that left one very big prize, Best of Show!
I was so excited for her that I started crying when they called her name! I know – silly, but who doesn’t want the best for their friends, especially when you know they really deserve the recognition?
Here are a few more detail shots of this absolutely gorgeous silk quilt, called The Shell Collector, piecing and quilting (hand guided) done by Bethanne Nemesh. Also note the beaded binding and inner border treatment. All done by stuffing pearls into a flange and tying them off, one at a time, by hand. That takes dedication!
After the awards, we cruised the show preview and then headed back to the hotel for dinner and a little rest. Here’s our view from the hotel restaurant. The moon was out between the spires of the Convention Center. Nothing like trying to take a photo through a glass window at night.
The next morning, we took a good run through the quilt show. I’ll include a few photos here of some of my favorite quilts in the show.
This is Sequoia Duckpond by Pat Durbin:
I don’t think I’ve ever met Pat, but this was a really cool quilt, especially the threadplay in the trees and other plants. I almost felt as though I could reach out and touch cedar, or moss, or the actual plants.
This lovely triptych in gold, silver, and bronze is by Linzi Upton from Scotland:
Of course, with a name like Steller, you have to be a fan of stars, and there was a lovely feathered star in shades of my favorite color – green! This is Green Miles by Peggy Kragnes.
The detail on the quilt was gorgeous.
This quilt was embroidered and pieced by Helen Stubbings and then quilted by her sister Tracey Browning. It is called Cornelian.
After viewing all the quilts, doing a little shopping, and wearing our feet out, we decided to do a little sight seeing, as Bethanne had not been to Oregon before. I took her to nearby Multnomah Falls. This is the full falls, second highest year-round waterfall in the US:
And this is just the upper cascade, as viewed from the bridge in the photo above:
On the way back, we stopped at the Vista House, perched high on the south edge of the Columbia Gorge. The views were all pretty muted and misty, as it wasn’t a very nice day. But hey, it’s Oregon!
The Vista House was a really cool place and I plan to return there again some day when I have more time to do some exploring. The link above will take you to a Wikipedia page that tells a bit about its history and provides a few more lovely photos.
I’ll be back tomorrow to tell you about our Friday adventures to the coast!
Linda's Stellar Stitches 