Quilts from Road to California 2014

I am sharing some of the quilts that really caught my eye, whether ribbon winners, or not. There were so many more that I really enjoyed, but it wasn’t always easy to get the best photos of them. Like all quilt venues, lighting was an issue. And sometimes the best I could do was a peek over someone else's shoulder.

For a complete list and photos of the winning quilts, go to Road to California 2014 Winners.

The information provided with each piece comes first, then the work. Some are details photos only - because the details amazed me..

As Lorette and I passed by this quilt, the maker Mary Olson was posing for photos and we noticed she was sporting a bag made using the same design as her quilt.

Non-commital Piecing and Baked Goods

Here are some glimpses at a couple of projects I have on the go right now. 

The finished (yippee!) quilt top is called Garden Fence and is a quick, easy top to put together. I am not usually a repeat, multiple block kind of sewer, but this top really appealed to me for the person I intend it. I think Bali Batiks suit it very well, I had just enough of the sashing fabric, and the backing I picked up in Maine last summer will be perfect. Now, to decide how I want to quilt it..

The other project is an easy 2.5 inch strip project. So far I have cut a selection of green fabrics into this width strip and now I am sewing them together in groups of 3 and 5. It is non-commital sewing and just right for breaks from my other work. And playing with placement of the strips and the resulting blocks I cut from the sewn strips will be downright fun.

I quit the kitchen once my kids left for University and Rejean willingly picked up the slack, with great style I might add! He hasn’t expresses any interest as yet in baking, so every once in a while I indulge and that usually means muffins.

My well loved copy of Mom’s blueberry muffins

Today I made these super delicious blueberry muffins from my Mom’s tried and true recipe, using lovely New Brunswick blueberries picked by my sweet and talented sister-in-law, Pauline.

Today I am linking to the Needle and Thread Network.

More Classes at Road to California 2014

Looking back, I might have registered for classes that covered a larger variety of techniques. Maybe taking classes from instructors I wasn’t really familiar with might have been good, too. But, that is a hard call when you are picking cold turkey. Trying to get a working schedule was our aim and feathers was our focus, but we did take other classes on other themes as well. We packed that week and after our first big breath, we paced ourselves, crashed early and tried to stay hydrated and rested.

Wednesday saw us back in Gina Perkes's classroom. Gina is not only a great quilter, she is simply a lovely person. She is genuine and sweet and very talented. Her class handouts are detailed and I learned a lot from her. Her Mom and I chatted a bit while she sat near my machine and knit, and I also took a break and worked the room (as folk who know me know I am apt to do) and met some wonderful quilters from the US. There was a real mix of quilters, including a charming mother daughter duo. Another fellow classmate, Bonnie gave me some great ideas about where Rejean and I should visit once Road was over. Actually Bonnie provided me with lots of laughs as she would burst into a somewhat off-key version of, “Oh, Canada,” every time she saw me after that, no matter where we met! So funny!

The entrance and hallway of the convention centre 

After a day of stitching “Beauteous Blocks and Borders” with Gina, that evening was the Road's Show Preview Night. Our registration gave us two hours to go view the shows and perhaps rub shoulders with a few quilting “supa stars”..

This is just a taste of the shows inside..

To say the quilts were spectacular is an understatement. Lorette and I methodically worked the aisles and were amazed over and over at the workmanship, the detail, the expertise. Our new BFF, Karen Sievert’s quilt sported a first place rosette for Traditional, Large, Pieced and we were thrilled to see it in person. It was difficult to get a close up because of the way they quilts were displayed so I know you can’t see, but the white area of this quilt is covered in crystals! You can see a detail photo of this beautiful quilt on Karen’s website.

Day Two with Karen Sievert and Myrna Ficken

About twenty minutes into my class Tuesday morning I had my first ”AHA!” moment! We were taking the class "Feathers and Flourishes" with the amazingly talented, funny, funny Karen Sievert. Karen had just explained a method for quilting feathers and we were working on Gammill Visions. I stood at my machine, took a breath and quilted........feathers!! I think I shouted. And Karen, in her gloriously positive way, got just as excited as I did! lol Well, I took off after that and the piece I worked on in Karen’s class is one of my favorites, because of the comfort level I found so quickly. 

The morning flew by! It was a great feeling, a wonderful release to find the flow of stitching within and just quilt! Karen was an energetic presence racing from one student to another, exclaiming over work, passing out hugs and telling us hilarious stories that had us holding our stomachs. 

Tuesday afternoon saw us quilting on Innova longarms when we took “Feathers, Fun and Formal”, with Myrna Ficken, an APQS educator and dealer. Myrna has a fresh style with lots of angular designs and I have been a fan of her stitching for a while. She is a passionate teacher, wonderfully talented and I really enjoyed taking a class with her. Like Karen, she felt like an old friend that it was great to catch up with. 

Building on my stitching from the classes previous, I had a super productive afternoon as Myrna taught us how to create a variety of styles of feathers and also how to fold and curve feathers into boxes and corners and even pile them on top of one another! 

I think the greatest thing about taking back to back classes with different instructors was that I pulled things from each class and then built on them as I progressed through the week. Some designs I played with in Gina’s class got added to and refined in Karen’s. Then I played with them in Myrna’s class a bit more. By the time Friday rolled around, I had a swash of new designs I knew I would be integrating into my repertoire. The other interesting result of this week of classes and working on a variety of machines was that I am 100% sure I purchased the right machine for me when I bought my APQS Millennium. 

I think Lorette was thinking me a bit (well, probably a whole lot) crazy because at night I would lay my new samples on top of my bed at the hotel as a bedspread and sleep under them. By the time Friday came, I had almost a whole quilt..