I Heart Oregon

When I lived on the East coast, I thought Oregon was a perpetually rainy, gray state thick with acres of fir and moss. Pretty soon after making my home in Oregon, though, I realized that the state geography is varied and beautiful and so much more.

Years later, my son developed an interest in dinosaurs. We hit the road to look for signs of prehistoric life in the center of the state. Oregon was in the ocean during the time of the dinosaurs. As the seas began to recede, the plesiosaur was one of the only large creatures to be found in the local fossil record. What Oregon does have, is the entire fossil record of mammal life in the Pacific Northwest. The John Day Fossil Monument has been preserved to give people the chance to see this landscape.

The drive from Portland to the John Day Fossil Monument takes you from rain-forest, to prairie – and ultimately to high desert. The trees diminish in size and spread out – eventually replaced by grass and sage-brush. The sky grows. In the span of a five-hour drive, you can feel the space and the clutter dissipate.

After five or six trips into central Oregon, I had decided to capture the colors in a series of seven quilts. Why quilts? Why not. Probably because I love to sew. I like to make things that have function. I like to think about color. Plus, now – two years later – I hope this project gives me a reason to head out to central Oregon a few more times.

I began this project in 2013. I picked out the fabric; it arrived and has been in a box until this summer. In the meanwhile, I have had to complete other projects and give up a year of my life to cancer. But, now I am ready. This blog will be bounded by the project.