Art Quilts « The Backroads to Road to California

Posts Tagged ‘Art Quilts’

Plan Your Next Family Outing To Be A Family Quilt Outing

Friday, July 6th, 2018

It’s fun to hang out with the family—especially when quilting is involved. These quilters were anxious to share with their family their quilting passion on a family quilting outing:

Chino Hills, California resident, Tina, has been applique quilting for the past five years. She took her two sons, Yehyicheng (age 7) and Joey (age 4) out of school so they could all enjoy a family quilt outing day at Road to California 2018. They all liked hanging out together and seeing all the quilts on display.

Brothers Patrick and Dennis, Sister Vicki, and Dennis’ wife Mabel planned a family get together at Road 2018. Mabel and Dennis live in Loma Linda, California; Vicki and Patrick live in the San Diego area. Vicki has gone to Road for nine years and thought her brothers and sister-in-law would like attending for their first time. Patrick commented, “Vicki supports us with fun things, so we all decided to support her this time” on a family quilting outing. Dennis enjoyed seeing the Hawaiian quilts; Mabel thought all the quilts were beautiful; Patrick remarked that the creativity was “awesome;” and Vicki said she appreciated all the hard work.

This family was local to the show; they all reside in Rancho Cucamonga, California. Meet Joan (in blue) and her two daughters, Joan and Heidi, Joan’s husband, Dave, and Joan’s Sister-in-law, Darlene. Joan and Darlene have attended Road for several years and wanted to bring more of their family on a family quilting outing to the show they love so much. Joan has been quilting for 40 years, Darlene for 20 years, and daughter Joan is new to quilting. As Joan related, “Those who quilt, quilt together. The others enjoy our quilting.” This family of artists were impressed by all the art quilts on display. The Van Gogh Special Exhibit was another favorite.

Savannah (12) and Miranda (9) came to Road 2018 with their Great-Aunt Judy (who is camera shy). The girls’ mom doesn’t sew so Judy decided she would teach them. Savannah has been sewing for four years and Miranda for two. They visit Judy every six weeks and sew at her home in Bakersfield, California, using Judy’s Bernina machine, including trying some machine embroidery. They have made blankets and pillowcases. Judy says she “loves teaching a new generation” because it is a skill that transcends other handwork. They are accomplishing something every time.” It was Savannah and Miranda’s first time at Road on their family quilting outing. Savannah said it was “really fun” and that she got “lots of great ideas.” Miranda thought it was “very fun to see all the quilts.” Judy has been to Road to California many times and loves the inspiration. “It’s a great place for family time.”]]>

Tags: Art Quilts, Family Quilting Outing, Quilt Inspiration, Quilt Show, van Gogh Cherrywood Challenge
Posted in Road to California 2018 | No Comments »

Another Double Winner at Road 2017

Saturday, September 9th, 2017

Joanne Baeth won two, prestigious $1,000 awards at Road to California 2017:

Sponsored by Brother International Corporation, Joanne received 1st Place: Art Naturescape for Country Roads

and, Sponsored by Robert Kaufman Co., Inc, 1st Place: Art Pictorial for Summer Lake Sandhills

Joanne Baeth finds lots of inspiration to create her winning quilts from where she lives in South Eastern Oregon. “I am constantly inspired by the wildlife and landscapes surrounding me,” says Joanne. A quilter since the 1980’s making mostly “traditional quilts,” when Joanne retired from teaching 14 years ago, she rediscovered her love for quilting and art quilting became her passion.

Joanne did extensive research and worked on both of her winning quilts over a one and half year period. Joanne got interested in tractors, the subject of Country Roads, when she and her husband attended a Country Fair in Arizona a few years ago. They were intrigued by a display of antique tractors. Then, for the next several years after that experience, they started taking lots of pictures of old tractors they came across along back country roads. Joanne said that they “even jumped a few fences to get a closer view.” At the same time, Joanne’s neighbor, Hank, got her on a tractor chat line where she was able to learn all kinds of interesting information about tractors.

The construction for Country Roads incorporated overpainted fabric for the different parts of the tractors. The barn and house, which were inspired from old pictures of Joanne’s husband’s grandmother’s house in North Dakota, were assembled one board at a time. Joanne’s “very detailed” design also includes fences with cotton cording barbed wire, thread painted bushes and grasses, and silk snippets for the leaves of the trees not to mention “extensive” machine quilting. A wetland refuge called Summer Lake near where Joanne lives, was the inspiration for Summer Lake Sandhills. It has a ridge which rises to over 7000 feet called Winter Rim where hundreds of Sandhill Cranes migrate to early each spring. Joanne and her husband took many pictures of this area for the basis of her quilt. Again, Joanne used unique techniques in creating Summer Lake Sandhills. The Winter Rim in the quilt was painted with acrylic paints and puff paints were heat distressed to add texture. The feathers of the Sandhills were individually cut out, highlighted with inks, and fused one feather at a time. Thread painted bushes and reflections were added prior to the extensive machine quilting.

Road to California is always a stopping place for Joanne and her husband as they travel all over the West. She says that she enjoys reconnecting with other quilters, viewing all of the beautiful quilts on display, and, “if I’m lucky enough, win a prize.” She also likes to purchase all kinds of products that she “absolutely needs” at the many vendors that are available. You can learn more about Joanne and her fiber arts on her website. ]]>

Tags: Art Quilts, Award Winning Quilter, Brother International, Fiber Art, Hoffman California Fabrics, Joanne Baeth
Posted in Road 2017, Road to California, Winning Quilts | No Comments »

Couples Have Double The Fun At Road

Saturday, May 20th, 2017

Road to California is a great destination for some fun couple time.

Road 2017 was the first time visiting the show for Mike and Joan. Joan heard about Road from some of her “Sit and Sew” friends. Joan is new to quilting. She started a year and a half ago making traditional quilts. Joan says she likes the idea of “creating something unique to you.” She was really interested to see what Road had to offer and found it to be “mindboggling.” Mike brought Joan to the show. He shared that he had no idea about all the award exhibits and that he found the quilts to be very “intricate.”

Paul and Kim came from Carlsbad, California. It was their third time at the show. Paul is an amateur photographer and enjoys taking pictures at the show with Kim in them. Kim has been a sewer “forever” and a quilter for “a couple years.” She is glad that they don’t live too far away so they can see up close all that Road has to offer. Besides taking pictures, Paul enjoys seeing the art quilts and other “unusual things.”

Both Pam and Tom are involved in quilting. Pam has been quilting since the early 1980’s while Tom has been doing longarm quilting since 2005. They have been long time fans of Road to California. Pam started coming Road’s very first year when it was in the hotel across the street from what is now the Ontario Convention Center, 22 years ago!! Tom has been accompanying Pam for the last 15 years. Pam won the Tin Lizzy contest a few years back. She likes coming back each year to “have a good time” and see “lots of innovations.” Besides his longarm work, Tom is also an artist who enjoys painting on fabric. In 2016, he had two of his quilts entered in the show!!

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Tags: Art Quilts, Couples, Couples that Quilt, Couples traveling to Quilt Shows, Longarm Quilters
Posted in Road 2017, Road to California | No Comments »

So You Want To Make A Winning Quilt – Road 2016 Outstanding Innovative Quilt

Thursday, June 9th, 2016

Really ‘Wild’ Flowers! Third Season was made and quilted by Sharon L Schlotzhauer of Monument, Colorado. She won $5,000 from sponsor, SewBatik.

Sharon Schlotzhauer has always loved fabric. She had done occasional garment sewing and fabric-related crafts from her teens into adulthood.

Sharon began quilting in 2000 shortly after “inadvertently’ watching a portion of Eleanor Burns, Quilt-In-A-Day program one Saturday morning. (Truthfully, Sharon was actually waiting for a different program to come on and had tuned in a bit early) Sharon thought that Eleanor made quilting look so fun and had made such a beautiful block, that her interest was piqued. After that initial introduction, Sharon started tuning in each Saturday morning and eventually became hooked. Prior to that chance encounter, she had had no interest in either quilts or quilting! The inspiration for Really ‘Wild’ Flowers! came from Sharon wanting to do something dimensional and unusual. Ever since she began making art/wall quilts in 2004, she has worked in dimension and embellishment in some way. This quilt is the newest in her ‘Wild’ Flowers! series which began in 2008 with a smaller Robert Kaufman challenge quilt. The three larger, “Really ‘Wild’ Flowers! ‘Seasons’ quilts began in 2009. All the ‘wild’ flower quilts are different but similar to each other and the flowers have evolved in different shapes and forms. The required commonality is the dimensional open-centered flowers, which to Sharon’s knowledge is uniquely her own. The idea for each quilt comes with a thought, a sketch, and what she imagines that she can do to make the next quilt a little more interesting. [caption id="attachment_4088" align="aligncenter" width="406"]

Really ‘Wild’ Flowers! Second Season – 62″ x 65″
went missing in November 2011 in Houston, Texas.
There is a reward for its safe return[/caption] Sharon spent a little under 400 hours in 2015 working on this quilt. (Her second “Season” quilt took 700 hours!!) Every competition quilt Sharon makes is a learning process as she attempts to create a more interesting or more innovative element with each consecutive one. What did Sharon think when she found out she won Outstanding Innovative Quilt at Road 2016? “I was absolutely stunned for a few moments – and then filled with incredible excitement!! I had to read the email twice to be sure I didn’t misunderstand it! I never take any award of any size, at any show, for granted. I’m always grateful, and it’s a blessing for me when my work is given recognition by judges or viewers alike.” What does Sharon plan to do next with her quilting? She wants to continue to” follow my interest and my heart.” Sharon plans to keep on making show and competition quilts along with benefit and personal/gift quilts in between. There are two more pieces to her ‘Wild’ Flowers! series that are currently drafted and waiting to be made. Making miniatures is also an increasing interest for Sharon – usually hand-appliqued landscapes. Sharon says that she loves detail and enjoys working in small scale. To learn more about Sharon and her work, please visit her website. ]]>

Tags: Art Quilts, Eleanor Burns, Miniature Quilts, Quilt in a Day, Robert Kaufman, SewBatik, Sharon Schlotzhauer
Posted in Winning Quilts | 1 Comment »

Meet Kathy McNeil: Road 2016 Director's Choice Winner and Road 2017 Teacher

Tuesday, May 10th, 2016

Kathy McNeil of Tulalip, Washington, won $5,000 for Song of the Sea, from sponsor Moore’s Sewing Center.

Before Kathy McNeil became an award winning quilter, she was a hospital nurse for over 35 years. During that time, she loved the community quilts that guilds made for her patients. When Kathy’s daughter asked her mother to make her a quilt for her dorm room, Kathy vowed to try. They went to the quilt store to buy fabric and that is where Kathy saw her first pictorial quilt. As Kathy remembered, “It was like being hit by a lightning bolt of excitement. I still wake up surprised and excited that I have found this passion that makes me so incredibly happy.”

Kathy got the idea for Song of the Sea from a trip to the Seattle Aquarium with her grandchildren. The octopus came out and literally danced across the glass in front of them. Kathy thought the octopus, “was so incredibly, a real diva of the deep.” Kathy wanted to capture the octopus’ playful, intelligent spirit. The word “diva” that Kathy used to describe her encounter with the octopus inspired the unusual setting of the quilt. As Kathy says, “What better to show off a diva than an Art Nouveau setting?”

It took Kathy about 400 hours of turned edges using the Apliquick technique to make the quilt. Kathy is a US distributor of those tools and loves watching students gain confidence in turning the smallest little shapes so quickly. Kathy shared her progress with the quilt in her monthly newsletter.

It was her readers that chose the name of the octopus—Ophelia. The biggest challenge for Judy was figuring out how to make the suckers for the 8 octopus legs. She finally came up with making 321 tiny silk organza yo- yo’s to fit the visual look and texture that she wanted. When Kathy heard she had won the Director’s Choice at Road 2016, she said, “I leaped, I twirled, I danced, I sang and shouted with joy….. Thank you, thank you for falling in love with my crazy octopus.” Ophelia has been loved by so many people as she has traveled to different shows. She has won two “Best Original Design” Awards and an international art collector has purchased her to be part of a collection of “sea creature art.” Winning the Director’s Choice was such an unexpected gift that Kathy and her husband decided to use her winnings to make some awesome family memories. They took their daughter and her family on a cruise to the Panama Canal while Kathy was teaching.

What is on the horizon for Kathy and her quilting? “A wonderful balance of teaching trips, time with Mother Nature for inspiration and taking the summer off to write a new book on borders. I wake up every day feeling very blessed to be part of the quilting community.” To learn more about Kathy McNeil, please visit her website.]]>

Tags: Art Quilts, Award Winning Quilts, Kathy McNeil
Posted in Road 2016, Winning Quilts | No Comments »

2015 Featured Artist: Meet Sheila Frampton Cooper

Wednesday, February 4th, 2015

Award winning artist, Sheila Frampton Cooper, has come a long way in her six short years as a quilter. Prior to quilting, Sheila had an extensive art background in oil, acrylic and watercolor painting, jewelry-making, and architectural photography. Her first foray in to quilting was in 2009 when she made quilts for the Project Linus. Sheila began working on her first art quilt in January of 2010 and completed that project in October of the same year. Titled, “Life in the City,” it was her first entry in to any quilt show. And that first quilt show just happened to be Road to California 2011!

[caption id="attachment_2845" align="aligncenter" width="497"]

Life in the City by Sheila Frampton Cooper[/caption]

In 2013, Sheila was asked by Carolyn Reese to curate the special exhibit, Perspectives: Fantasy and Reality, which showcased quilts that were inspired by maps, aerial views and topography of actual or imaginary places. Then, in November 2013, Matt Reese asked her to be 2015’s featured artist.

Sheila’s favorite quilting technique is taking piecing, using her hand dyed fabrics, and pushing the piecing to “the max” using engineering, thought, consideration, and forward thinking to see, “how far I can go to bring my vision to life.”

To prepare for her featured artist exhibit, Sheila began with Life in the City and created 7 new pieces just for the 2015 show.

Sheila was so “grateful to be invited as the featured artist. I enjoyed interacting with the show attendees, and was thrilled to see my work on the cover of the catalog.”

What does the future hold for this talented art quilter? Until April 4, 2015, a special exhibit she curated, Expressions in Equality, is on display at the Visions Art Museum: Contemporary Quilts + Textiles, in San Diego, CA. Sheila recently relocated to Pont Royal, Mallemort, France. Her new home in this small village is providing the inspiration for 10-12 new pieces she is currently creating for her next exhibit which will be shown at the European Patchwork Meeting being held September 16-19, 2015.

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Tags: Art Quilts, European Patchwork Meeting, Expressions in Equality, Project Linus, Visions Art Museum
Posted in Road 2015- 20th Anniversary Show | 4 Comments »

Road 2014 Faculty Spotlight: Meet Patt Blair

Friday, July 26th, 2013

Patt will be teaching a two day class on Monday and Tuesday, 1202 Painted Quilt Art and two evening classes, one on Thursday 4030 Media Mixer and on Saturday, 6034 The Art of Quilting. Patt will also be one of six instructors on Cruising with Road to California April 15-29, 2014.

Personal: The two t’s in Oklahoma born Patt Blair’s first name can easily stand for teacher-traveler. Patt loves traveling to find interesting new places and people as well as relaxing in familiar surroundings with nature all around. She has done quilt traveling to such faraway places as the Baltic and Ecuador. And as an experienced teacher, she “LOVES the peaceful, playful rhythm that materializes in a classroom of happy quilters/artists…Many of my students are new to my artistic approach to quilting and I work hard at making them a success.’

How did you get started in quilting? Had To!! Weekend walks with quilter friends left me out of conversations for a long time so I had to get into it and of course was hooked.

Does anyone else in your family quilt? My math minded fire captain brother in law abandoned his wood shop for a while as he loved quilters tools so he jumped in to learn and produced 2 beautiful quilts so far.

Where do you find your inspiration for your quilting? Having been born on the plains of Oklahoma with nature and a special dog being my earliest ‘friends,’ I find my favorite subjects in nature and am generally drawn to images that include a heartbeat. I love driving home the connection between two beings. As to the actual quilting of the piece, I sometimes think I need to join(or maybe just start) a special addiction group for quilters as I find interesting patterns of line everywhere… freeway walls, advertisements, bottoms of shoes, floor mats, fabric samples, etc., etc.

My Gentle Giant Ben ( Best Painted Surface Road to Ca 2012, Master Award for Machine Artistry 2012 Houston International)

What is the one quilting tool you can’t live without? I used to say my seam ripper 🙁 … but now I would say it is a Supreme Slider. Quilting atop this product makes my quilt life MUCH easier and eliminates some occasional stitching problems.

What has been the best class you have taken? That is easy to say… the one that got me started painting on fabric. In the year 2000, I took a two day, Hollis Chatelain painting with dyes class, at Road to California. I had been a long time painter on canvas and paper, and longing to transition to painting on fabric. That class opened the door for me to search for a medium that possessed the elements of transparency I so loved in watercolors. I eventually found permanent inks as my most used medium for painting fabric and I am eternally grateful for that first chance to explore wet medium on fabric.

In Quitos Market

What is the funniest or most embarrassing moment you have had while teaching? I find the funniest things often come up in class from lips of students… all in fun.

What do you want your students to get out of your class? I have always said I have one rule and one goal in my painting classes. The RULE is theirs ( no self-criticism) so they have a freedom to explore without anxiety. I do say that they can criticize me but hopefully when I’m out of earshot. 😉 And the GOAL is mine. I want students to leave at the end of the class feeling a wee bit “cocky” that they produced something of which they are enormously proud.

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Tags: Art Quilts, Cruising with Road to California, Patt Blair
Posted in Faculty, Road 2 CA Blog, Road 2014, Road to California | No Comments »