Road 2 CA 2020--A Great Trip

I recently had the pleasure of teaching four classes again at Road 2 CA, a large quilt show in Ontario, CA, which celebrated their 25th anniversary this show.

The distinctive atrium of the Ontario Convention Center makes a great place for a display of a CA guild's quilts--a new guild is featured each year:

 The convention center is one mile from the Ontario airport and my hotel was directly across the street from the Convention Center so it was an easy walk each morning to class:

Palm trees--I don't see those where I live

Winter where I live is not harsh but we often get below freezing at night. So it is a treat for me to see roses and tropicals in bloom in January:

After arriving very late Monday night, I had Tuesday to recover, unpack, prepare my clothes for the week and find my classroom.

A special treat was meeting up with an old Marine Corps buddy I had not seen since the early 80's--we sat in the hotel lobby, sharing photos, and catching up. After a nice dinner he had a two hour drive home and I needed to turn in early as the two hour time change was apparent. I wish I had thought to get a photo of us.

Wednesday my first class was "The Village"--with paper-pieced houses and easy stars. The class was full with about 25 students and we had fun:

My Sample Quilt

Student Work

That evening there was a lovely Faculty reception where we got to chat with some of the other teachers, then I attended Preview--the quilts were on display, no vendors, and only students were able to attend.

The big winners had not yet heard of their good fortune so I took photos of several, posted on Facebook, and got hearty "thanks!" from several--with the time difference, several had delayed going to bed, hoping to hear Show results:

Best of Show:

Best Hand Quilting:

Best Domestic Machine Quilting:

Outstanding Wall Quilt:

One other big award was the Marie White Masterpiece Award. It went to Janet Stone for her quilt "Crazy Four Ewe". I did not photograph or post this one because I saw that Janet had already received the happy news. But I thought you would like to see it:

See all the winners with good photos and excellent descriptions: Road2CA 2020 WINNERS LIST

It was cool in the morning,  about 50, no where near the 20's at home. I enjoyed seeing sunrise on the mountains as I crossed the street:

Thursday was another class, Antique Rose Stars by Machine:

Once again, the students were great and did very well:

Discussing my sample

Friday, it was on to Southern Super Star:

My sample quilt

Students morning work

A Disney quilt--great use of Disney fabrics

Student's work in the afternoon

I had such a special treat at lunch! Catherine Butterworth of Australia was in the building--I learned that on Instagram. I asked her to come by the classroom  if she got a moment and was thrilled when she came at lunch--we spent an hour talking, sharing photos, and catching up. I had emailed her 9 years ago about one of her quilts I was inspired by. She continues to win big awards and make great quilts. Once I was a "fan girl"--now we are "soul sisters":

Here she is standing in front of her 1st Place quilt in this show, with another woman also named C Butterworth:

Follow her on Instagram:  ccbutterworth--you will see why she inspires me.

Saturday brought the last of my four classes, "Smitten".  I will be teaching it here at home February 15, 2020--don't miss it if you're local:

My Sample Quilt

 Despite the accumulated fatigue many students were feeling by the end of the week, they did great:

Student work

Student work

I went on the show floor only once more, to quickly visit my favorite antique quilt dealer, Cindy Rennels and her wonderful husband, Ronnie. I also went to see the booth "Brie Kriebel", run by Paulina. All the customers in her booth were wearing her garments, including me, and we were all buying more--I bought two. Check her out: Brie Kriebel Clothing  NOTE: sizes run small.

We snapped a photo when we realized we had a friend in common, Shelly Heesacker, the TV producer who works wonders for "The Quilt Show". We posted it on Facebook to surprise Shelly:

By Saturday night it was time to pack my bags and prepare for the cross-country trip home on Sunday. Goodbye, Palm Trees, for a while:

I had a super time and my classes were well received by the more than 100 students I had the pleasure of instructing. I plan to apply for 2022--this show has their teachers skip a year in between teaching assignments.

Lastly, this student, Missey, I believe. wore a great T-shirt I just had to share. My blog is called "My Joyful Journey" and this pretty much sums up what I get from my quilting journey:

Hope to see  you in class, let's quilt!

Barbara

Need a Fast and Easy Quilt?

About November 1 I received a request from the good folks at Road2CA to make a quilt for them using Souvenir Fabric they had printed to celebrate their 25th anniversary. This Show  is January 23-26, 2020, in Ontario, CA. I am teaching four classes there and look forward to that show. It is a very large show, attendance about 45,000, so it's a big show in the western US.

The request came at a busy time so I passed on the opportunity. Four weeks later they asked again so I agreed to help out. I asked for 3 yards of the fabric, having no idea what it looked like and absolutely no idea what I would do with it.

Wednesday December 4 the fabric arrived about noon:

During lunch I looked through my Pinterest boards for inspiration. The quilt had to be fast and easy and had to feature the souvenir fabric.

I found this Super Fast Baby Quilt Tutorial. It is a technique I was familiar with, having done it before with much narrower strips. These instructions are clear and the quilt is 36" x 48"--perfect for a baby quilt or small throw. And you could easily enlarge it, using more fabrics.

Cutting the strips 4.5" allowed the Souvenir fabric to be featured in squares large enough to be a focal point.

Wednesday afternoon I cut out the fabrics and began construction. Thursday morning I finished the top, basted the 3 layers and began a very simple quilting plan:

Matchstick quilting

Friday morning I finished the quilting, trimmed the edges, made the binding, sewed the binding to the back of the quilt, turned the binding to the front and used Elmer's glue to secure the binding to the front of the quilt. This makes it easy to machine stitch the binding in place. 

I used a decorative stitch, a buttonhole stitch, to catch the binding securely. It's a little bit noticeable on the back but almost impossible to see on the front since I used thread that closely matched the binding.

Before lunch Friday the quilt was completely done. Well, except for machine washing to get rid of some glue that got on the binding.  

Ta da! Less than 48 hours from concept to completion:

Since I had 3 yards, the back is one piece of the Souvenir fabric:

Easy peasy! I will remember this one for future baby quilts or "have to be done right now" quilts.

From the original 3 yards I have about one yard left. I cut it into four equal pieces and will use those as door prizes in each of my four classes. 

The matchstick quilting was fast and easy. I wanted the lines "straight-ish"--not perfectly straight. That way I could free-motion quilt it quickly on my Bernina Q20 sit-down longarm.  

If I wanted the lines perfectly straight I would have used a ruler foot and Line Tamer ruler. On  a domestic machine, a walking foot would be your friend for this process:

Here is the quilting plan:

1. Stitch in the Ditch down each vertical row of squares--those first lines are 4" apart. This helps stabilize the quilt--if you used pins for basting, many can be removed now.

2. Stitch a line a little more than an inch from the edge of the block--about one third of the block size. I started at the left, went down the first line, back up the next line, again a little more than an inch from the first line, then down again a little more than an inch from the second line. I continued this process all the way from the left to the right of the quilt. This put 3 lines in each square. No starting and stopping, one continuous line of quilting all the way across the quilt.

3. Again, starting at the left, I "split the difference" between the sewn lines, going down one line, traveling in the outside of the quilt, back up to the top, then down again, each time making the lines about halfway apart between the two lines already sewn. All the way across the quilt.

4. Now the lines are about 1/2" apart so I "split the difference" one last time, all the way across the quilt, from the left to the right, down, up, down, etc.

This is HARD TO EXPLAIN but EASY TO QUILT.  If you try to quilt all those lines about 1/4" apart from the beginning, you will likely get lots of bunching as you go. Doing the lines wider, then closer each time, makes the process fast and the results nice and flat. 

Glad I can check this one "Done" on the list. I will deliver it in January.

Let's quilt.

Barbara

Road to California 2020

Next January I will be returning to Ontario, CA as part of the Faculty of the Road 2 California Show. They are celebrating their 25th year and I am very excited to be a part of that. What a great way to start off the new year--teaching!

There are more than 50 Faculty members and classes run from Monday to Sunday, January 20-27, 2020. The show is open Thursday to Sunday, preview night Wednesday. Many vendors, a beautiful judged show, and more than 40,000 attendees make this a "not to be missed" West Coast show. I hope to see some of you there.

My classes are:

Wednesday January 22, 8:30-3:30, The Village, one of my new classes, this has been very popular:

Thursday January 23, 8:30-4:30, Antique Rose Star by Machine--this class sold out last time I taught it here:

Friday January 24, 8:30-4:30, Southern Super Star:

Saturday January 25, 8:30-4:30, Smitten--this class sold out very quickly last time:

You can find all the information you need right here, enrollment starts later this month--plan now:

Road 2 CA

Let's quilt!

Barbara

Road to California--2018

Quilts hung in the Atrium at "Road" tell you exactly what show you are at. These quilts are from  the Long Beach Modern Quilt Guild--it's a special honor for a guild to be invited to hang their quilts in the Atrium:

Road to California is a big quilt show held annually in Ontario, CA. For those of us East of the Mississippi, this show is not one we are very familiar with, although it's been in business for more than 20 years. This show is to the West, what Paducah is to the East. More than 40,000 visitors come from all 50 states and several foreign countries. There is big prize money so the quilts entered in the judged show are top-notch. More than 230 vendors make shopping easy. Classes are taught for a week by 50 well-known, and a few not-so-well known teachers.

Here is a link to the Show Guide: 2018 Show Guide. I took very few photos. Here is the Best of Show, Fractal by Claudia Pfeil, of Germany, $10,000:

At Preview Wednesday night, I made a point of finding and photographing this quilt, made by my friend Sarah Ann Smith, of Maine. It won First Place, Naturescape, $1000, and Sarah was eager to see it hanging:

The other quilt I wanted to see up close was this stunner by the amazing Sherry Reynolds--we made a point of finding each other for a quick hug Wednesday at Preview, which was packed, even though it is only for the quilts, vendors are not open that night. Eternal Beauty won a Special Award, Outstanding Large Quilt, $5000:

Now for my story. When I booked airfare last Summer, it seemed reasonable to fly from Nashville to Phoenix to Ontario, 2 flights, not 3 if I flew from Huntsville, and "safe" winter cities. Who knew Nashville would have a snow/ice storm overnight before my flight:

Lights from inside appear to be outside but you get the idea. My husband dropped me off just after 6 a.m., we had stayed at a nearby hotel. He then endured a 4 hour treacherous drive home to increasing snow and ice, a trip that should have taken 2 hours.  Once we were de-iced, a step you don't want them to skip, we made it to Phoenix an hour late. Two hour layover made that no problem for me. I landed in Ontario in the early afternoon local time to this:

I was there to teach four full days of classes and my wonderful roommate, Pepper Cory, invited me to come in a day early. Good thing because Wednesday travel from AL,  TN, GA, MS, TX, you name any city in the South, and there were problems.  Wednesday I walked across the street from the hotel to the Ontario Convention Center and saw this, flowers in bloom in January:

CLASSES: My Thursday and Friday classes were full with 20 students each. Many teams, mother/daughter, sisters, friends who reconnect at this show every year--it really is a destination event for quilters.

Thursday Antique Rose Star by Machine:

Wow--what fun fabrics!

Thrilled to have the young Lacey in class--we must encourage younger quilters 

Stripes add interest

Student alternated tip/center units--wonderful!

Traditional, love the plaid

Friday Smitten--this class filled in 4 days.

 We start with an easy block:

Elegant fabrics

Love words on fabrics

Bright and clean colors

Second block with more pieces. Love the bright orange background

Second block has more pieces and steps. Great fabrics!

Traditional Fabrics work too

Merci with her Day of the Dead blocks--she kept pedal to the metal all day to get four large blocks done

Saturday and Sunday: Two-For-One. Funny story--I was surprised anyone would sign up for a two all-day class at a big show with a teacher they never heard of, but 15 people did. It is my most popular class and one I love to teach. At the show I was told by the show operator they had made a mistake--the cost was $155 but the first students were only charged the $80 one-day fee. They decided to make lemonade from lemons and announced this was TRULY a two-for-one, take two days for the price of one. The class was close to full and all was well. And we had fun:

Cindy with beautiful batiks

Mary and Lorna Pumphrey from Arkansas, great traditional colors

Yvette and Yvonne, or is it? They saved me with cough drops and Throat Coat

Diana with a fun selection of fabric

Julie from Houston, wonderful Fossil Fern Fabrics

Funny story: This student took her machine back to the hotel Saturday night to sew. The machine plug got stuck, firmly, in the lamp base, no one, including maintenance, could remove it. So she just brought the lamp to class Sunday, minus the shade and bulbs. Quilters are clever:

Lovely fabrics

Traditional fabrics work too

Beautiful Metallics that might become a one-block wallhanging or table topper

Teaching was wonderful--and the evaluations blew me away, really. Some were suitable for framing. In each class someone said I spoke too fast--I guess my Yankee comes out at times. I'll be more aware of that going forward.

Getting sick was terrible--Saturday morning I woke up coughing and got by with cough drops and Throat Coat tea from students. I did a 2 hour Roundabout presentation on Saturday night when I should have been resting my voice. Sunday more coughing. Managed to fly home Monday without too much coughing and saw my doctor Tuesday and Wednesday and Friday. Lots of meds, four shots, finally feeling better today, a full week later, though I am definitely not well enough to be around anyone--I postponed two classes this week already.

So long to Ontario, CA:

Ontario, CA airport

The best view of all:

My own Bed

Let's Quilt!

Barbara