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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 innova-
tor 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, propri-
etor 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 agricul-
tural 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 help-
ing the doctors deliver medi-
cine, 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 sur-
plus airplane, and I remem-
ber 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 baby-
sitting 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 sis-
ters 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 eco-
nomics 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 stu-
dents, 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.
ks.
“I didn’t want
my shop to o loo
look
like other department
epartment
stores,” she said.
aid.
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 edu-
cation 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 oppor-
tunity to pursue any dream
I had, which was in the art
field, I studied photogra-
phy 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
TO
PHO
BY
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 life-
time 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 “for-
mula” 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
45 th 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