ADIOS UFO- BIENVENIDO NEW PROJECTS, Class #5070C, is being offered Friday night from 6:00 – 9:00 PM and will be overseen by Pat Yamin of Come Quilt With Me and expert quilter, Stevii Graves. Both are excellent teachers and problem solvers that are anxious to help students make it past the finish line with their lonely UFO’s. This unique class is also a great way to meet old friends, make new friends, and enjoy projects made in a Road 2019 class. Sewing machines will be provided, so there really are no excuses not to start the New Year off right.
Pat has been talking about offering this type of class to show promoters for years and finally got the chance last year at Road 2018.
Why was she so passionate about coordinating this class? Pat shares that she has found over the years that many students want to take a completed project home from a workshop or conference. But after the class has ended and their project needs just a little more time to complete, students usually find that there is not a place for them to sit, sew and maybe even get some additional help. Also, Pat has had customers stop by her vendor booth to show her their class projects and often they say, “I wish the class had been a little longer, so I could have finished it,” or “I know when I get home it will remain in that plastic bag since I have lost interest and I will have no help.” (Does that sound familiar?!!)
And did we mention that the class will also be a lot of fun? There will be door prizes and special surprises for all of the students.
Anyone and everyone is encouraged to come to this class. It will be especially useful to the gal or guy who doesn’t live near a quilt shop or belong to a guild to offer them additional support. Stevii and Pat circulate around the room and oversee the projects that are brought to class from home or learned at a class at the show.
Both Pat and Stevii have been associated with Road to California for many years and both will be coming from the east coast for the event. Pat lives in New York and Stevii lives in Virginia. They both know that there is never just one way to do something. They appreciate the many talented teachers that are out there and will never criticize someone else’s techniques.
Besides teaching this class, Stevii is on the Road to California staff. One of her many responsibilities is overseeing the judging of the contest quilts.
Pat will also be teaching five other classes at Road 2019 focusing on hand work and English paper piecing as well as manning her vendor booth. To learn more about Pat’s other classes, please visit our website.
Whether you bring a project from home or one that you worked on during Road, let Stevii and Pat help you start the New Year right!!]]>
Archive for the ‘Road to California 2018’ Category
A New Class To Help You With Your New Year’s Resolution
Monday, December 31st, 2018Holiday Baking: A Reese And Road Tradition
Monday, December 10th, 2018 What better way to step away from the hustle and bustle of planning Road to California 2019 than doing some holiday baking.
While the recipe is pretty simple, Jen and her family have made some changes along the way. For one, instead of using oleo, they use butter. (Shortening also makes the cookies “extra tasty”).
Another important step is to mix-mix-and mix some more. After the dough is mixed thoroughly, Jen wraps it in plastic and sets it in the fridge until its firm. This makes rolling it into balls so much easier and less messy.
To insure the balls are the same size and that they will cook evenly, Jen uses a cookie scoop. After the balls are made, she rolls them in sugar and puts them on a cookie tray, not too close together so they have room to spread out.
Bake 8-10 minutes until golden brown. Cool on a cooling rack and watch them disappear.
Are you a holiday baker too? What is your family’s favorite holiday treat?]]>
So You Want To Make A Winning Quilt? Best Domestic Machine Quilting Road 2018
Wednesday, September 5th, 2018 Susan E. Stewart received $2,500 for Gilded Roses from Sponsor Baby Lock
When you ask Susan Stewart how long she has been sewing, her reply is, “All my life.”
Susan spent many years doing heirloom sewing for a company in Alabama. She started her quilting path in 2004 and won a blue ribbon at Quilt Festival in Houston for her very first quilt. No wonder she exclaimed, “I was hooked!” Gilded Roses was inspired by the lacy, watercolor-y rose machine embroidery design from Urban Threads. Susan said she could picture the roses done in a rainbow of different shades, adding a touch of variety to an all-white and gold quilt. She added some lacy, scroll-y gold swirl designs from OESD to pick up on the lacy designs in the rose motifs and then added some large lace designs. The lace designs are John Deer Adorable Designs are stitched on the fabric and are also done as free-standing work along the edges. The quilting was done to add interest and to highlight the embroidery. It took Susan 2½ months to complete Gilded Roses, “the shortest time ever to finish a quilt!” She said that she had just finished another quilt and guessed that she “was on a roll!” What was Susan’s biggest takeaway from making Gilded Roses? “I learned that it is very time-consuming to stitch the binding on entirely by hand!” Susan said she had forgotten that she had entered Gilded Roses in Road’s 2018 quilt contest. When she received the notice that she had won, she was at home, recovering from some physical issues. Susan was thrilled and delighted to win Best Domestic Machine Quilting for Gilded Roses and exclaimed, “Woohoo! $2500!” What was Susan going to do with her prize money? “Honestly, it will go toward bills.” Susan isn’t sure what the next step will be in her quilting adventure. “I don’t know. Recent events have thrown a big curve ball at me, and I don’t know where I’ll land. If I can continue making contest quilts, I will. If I can’t, then I’ll re-invent myself! Where will you see me next? Who knows!” Congratulations Susan for winning Best Domestic Machine Quilting for Gilded Roses and best wishes for your future endeavors.]]>Pair Up For A Quilting Adventure
Tuesday, August 14th, 2018 Road to California is a great place for couples to experience a quilting adventure.
Donna and Mark came for their second Road quilting adventure from Tempe, Arizona. Donna considers herself “a simple quilter” who has been quilting for 7 years. Mark, on the other hand, is a “computer genius,” setting up embroidery for quilts. Whenever they travel, Mark finds different quilt shows for them to attend. This way, they get to different quilts from different angles. At Road, they both enjoy seeing the variety of vendors, especially those they have made friends with. At one show, Donna was having a hard time using Cuddle fabric. She went to the Shannon booth and made friends with Julie who gave her some great tips on how to sew with Cuddle. 
Pat and Bud are also from Arizona–Tucson, Arizona to be exact. Bud is new to quilting and Pat has been quilting for 12 years. Bud’s interest in quilting began when they went to Houston. He got all excited seeing all the quilts and wanted to start right away creating art style quilts. They have also experienced a quilting adventure on a quilt cruise. Road 2018 was their first time at the quilt show. They came to support their daughter who had an entry in the fantasy category as well as find new quilt ideas and inspiration.
Cindy and Johnny’s Road 2018 quilting adventure included attending Jenny Doan’s trunk show. They split their time between two homes; 6 months they live in Big Bear, California and the other 6 months they live in Homer, Alaska. 
Cindy has been quilting since 1974 and Johnny since 2015. Johnny has entered a “men’s” quilt in the Kenai State Fair and won 3rd place. Cindy has attended Road’s quilting adventure 6 times. She comes to see the “Amazing vendors.” Road 2018 was Johnny’s first time at Road. He really enjoyed looking at all the quilts on display. They included seeing Jenny Doan on their quilting adventure because they love her YouTube videos.
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Quilting Tips From Road 2018 Teachers
Tuesday, August 7th, 2018Great takeaways and quilting tips from some of Road 2018’s popular Classes and $5.00 Lecture Series
Jenny Doan– Missouri Star
Quilting Tips: Take classes to learn new techniques. Use the ugliest fabric in your stash to practice what you are learning because you will make mistakes. Mistakes are essential to learning.
Michelle Flores-Hoffman Fabrics
Quilting Tips: Online retailers that carry a wide variety of Hoffman Fabrics: eQuilter, Batik Plus, Hancock of Paducah, and Nancy’s Notions.
Hobbs Batting-
Quilting Tips: How to avoid Bearding (batting that pulls up through holes in the fabric): Use a high thread count fabric; Check thread tension to make sure thread isn’t too tight; Use a new needle; and Make sure the batting is good quality.
Pat Simon-Quilting with Templates
Quilting Tips: Rulers are for measuring; Templates are for quilting. Do not use free motion, darning or other thin feet as they will slip under the template. Instead use high shank feet. Practice, Practice, Practice with a fabric sandwich and moving the fabric around while seated. Start out with smaller templates to get control.
Joyce Teng-Painting on Fabric
Quilting Tips: Kona Cotton and Tsukineko Ink are the perfect combination for the best results. Play around with the ink. Mix it with different mediums to create different effects. Use different tools to get the ink on the fabric. Experiment with different patterns.
Annie Unrein-Zippers
Quilting Tips: Always use zippers 2-3 inches longer than called for. Shorter than that is so much harder to work with. Use “Wonder Clips” to hold all the layers together. Flat on the bottom so they don’t catch on machine; They won’t poke you; They won’t make holes in vinyl; and They hold everything tight.
Jamie Wallen– Long Arm Quilting
Quilting Tips: Don’t wait until you’re ready to quilt to start learning quilting techniques. Print “contour line quilt blocks” from the Internet and come up with 3 different ways to quilt it yourself. Practice every day 30-45 minutes with a pencil to build muscle memory. Anything a pencil can do, a longarm can do.
What is your favorite quilting tip you learned in a quilting class?]]>
So You Want to Make A Winning Quilt: Best Applique
Thursday, August 2nd, 2018 Kathy K. Wylie won $1,500, from Sponsor, Pink Sand Beach, for Best Applique on her quilt, For Such a Time as This
For Such a Time as This is Kathy’s original design focusing on “time.” The first thing Kathy considered when embarking on this quilt was, “What does a quilt about time look like?” She brainstormed lots of ideas such as clocks, calendars, seasons, and celebrations. One shape that kept recurring in her mind was a circle. Kathy considered that “a clock is a circle divided in twelve. Twelve hours in a day; twelve months in a year. I began with a medallion divided into twelve equal sections. From there, I added birth flowers and birth stones around my “clock” to depict the months of the year.”
How did the circle clock idea evolve? Kathy said, “When a medallion is placed on a square background, it leaves a lot of blank space in the corners. I decided to use those areas to depict the seasons by the changing color of the leaves on the branches.” Kathy incorporated several machine quilting motifs to complement the original time theme: “The hours on the clock; ogees, that form the shape of an hour glass; the phases of the moon; and the symbol for infinity. This shape is echoed around the outside edge by quilting half scallops and then hand tying them with black embroidery floss.”
It took Kathy three and a half years to make her Best Applique quilt, For Such a Time as This. She began the quilt in November 2013, working on the initial clock design. The hand appliqué was done from January 2014 to November 2016.
Kathy then spent almost 200 hours of machine quilting her Best Applique design which she finished in April 2017. All the finishing steps were completed in May 2017.
What techniques did Kathy learn along the way for her Best Applique quilt? “All the shapes on the quilt are turned-edge appliqué and sewn by hand. My favorite method is needle-turn appliqué and approximately 75% of the quilt was done this way. But the very small shapes, like the tiny circles that connect the birthstones, and the very detailed shapes, like the lily of the valley blossoms, were done with a new method I learned called Apliquick. Using stainless steel rods for surgical precision, these shapes were turned and prepared in advance before stitching.
What is Kathy’s next project? She is working on a series of block designs featuring the birth flowers from For Such a Time as This and hopes to release those patterns later in 2018. Kathy also will continue to teach workshops. Her next quilt is taking shape in her mind; she wants to get the blocks done before she starts in on it because “otherwise they won’t get done.”
Congratulations Kathy on your Best Applique winning design. For more information about For Such a Time as This and other patterns developed by Kathy, please visit her website or Facebook Page.]]>
Best Piecing Winning Quilt – Road 2018
Thursday, July 19th, 2018 From The Inside Out won Best Piecing at Road to California 2018. It was made and quilted by Catherine Butterworth who received $1,500 from Sponsor, American Professional Quilting Systems.
Catherine comes from a family of seamstresses and quilt makers. She became interested in quilting over 30 years ago when patchwork fabrics were introduced into the family business. Up until then, the business only carried ladies’ dress fabric. Born and raised in Ohio, Catherine has made her home in Sydney, Australia for the past 44 years.
The fabric is what inspired Catherine to make From The Inside Out. Says Catherine, “It’s all about the fabric! I fell in love with an Alexander Henry design and fussy cut the center cream motif just because ‘I had to.’ I rather like Feathered Stars so that seemed a logical plan for the beginning of this medallion quilt. As the quilt name suggests, I worked from the inside out. At every stage it was the fabric motifs that dictated the design.”
It took Catherine over 2 years to make this Best Piecing quilt which included 8 months of solid work. As each border was added, Catherine not only looked at her color choices but also critically analyzed the overall tonal balance within the quilt. Touches of machine couching, hand applique, Suffolk Puffs, 3 dimensional triangles and the odd French Knot were added for fun and extra interest. The quilt was machine pieced and machine quilted on a stationary machine.
Catherine received the news that she had won Best Piecing while on her family’s annual summer holiday on the mid central coast of New South Wales in Australia. Her reaction? “I let out a rather loud scream despite the fact that I was alone at the time catching up on email correspondence.”
What does Catherine plan to do with her prize money? The money will “cover my international postage bill” and “perhaps a plane ticket back to the United States for a visit.”
What is in Catherine’s quilting future? “I would like to take my machine quilting up a notch or two.”
To learn more about Catherine and her patchwork expertise, please visit her website.]]>
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:
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.”]]>
Jenny Doan’s Heartwarming Trunk Show
Tuesday, July 3rd, 2018 Missouri Star Quilt Company’s own Jenny Doan presenting her Trunk Show at the Doubletree Hotel on Saturday night. Over 1,000 guests came to learn and be inspired by Jenny and her marvelous quilts.
While Jenny has given her Trunk Show many, many times, each presentation is unique. Before going on stage, Jenny ponders on what message of hope, creativity and support she wants to leave with the audience.
Jenny shared that she learned to sew as a young girl in 4-H. She appreciated the women who were patient and kind and taught her a skill that her own mother couldn’t. Years later, their example instilled in Jenny one of her core values:
“Share the knowledge you have with someone or else it will die with you.”
Missouri Star Quilt Company began 10 years ago with Jenny doing long arm quilting for clients. The machine was too big for her house, so she bought a building to house the business. She had a dozen quilt patterns in her repertoire and thought that was enough to keep her busy and fund her retirement. But her son had more in store for her: YouTube videos.
Jenny’s YouTube quilting tutorial videos began when YouTube was in its infancy. She broke her leg just prior to her first episode so in the first few tutorials, Jenny was filmed in a wheelchair, heavily medicated. “It was just terrible,” she recalled. Today, she has done over 500 tutorials, with a new one coming out every Friday.
After one early episode, a woman called and inquired about the fabric used in the video and asked where she could get it. Jenny couldn’t help her because it was some random fabric she had in her stash. But that phone call gave Jenny the idea that maybe Missouri Star should start selling fabric lines. At first, they would purchase 60-100 lines of fabric every 4 months. Each line had 20-30 bolts and it was becoming cost and space prohibitive to continue. Then Moda came out with pre-cuts and Jenny discovered a more economical way to store and use fabric.
Jenny shared that 99% of her work today is done from pre-cuts. “They have taught me so much.” Why are pre-cuts so popular with Jenny? First of all, they are precut– saving time and effort. Second, she is not a color matcher. She prefers to trust talented and gifted fabric designers to do the fabric matching. And third, using pre-cuts takes away the “overwhelm factor” because you know exactly how much yardage is in a charm pack, a jelly roll or a layer cake.
Adding to the fun of the Trunk Show was having Jenny’s husband, Ron, on stage with her, helping to show the quilts and tell their stories. Ron is a quilter too. He enjoys the technical and detailed aspect of quilting. “We quilt differently,” said Jenny, “But we do it together.”
Jenny referred to herself as a utilitarian quilter; she wants her quilts to be used and worn out. To Jenny, a quilt represents love, hope, warmth, ownership and kindness. “No other hobby can offer all this.”
At the end of the Trunk Show, Jenny left her audience with this message of encouragement: “The stitches you take by yourself in your sewing room is changing the world. Never before have we needed your gift than we need it now.”
Thank you, Jenny Doan, for sharing your quilting journey with your Trunk Show at Road 2018.]]>
So You Want To Make A Winning Quilt- Best Use of Color
Saturday, June 30th, 2018 Melissa Sobotka was awarded $1,000 by Sponsor, Carriage Country Quilts, for Santorini Sunset, in the category, Best Use of Color, at Road to California 2018.
Melissa became a quilter by accident. She was making some banners for her church when a friend suggested to Melissa that if she put some batting in the banners and added some stitching, the banners would become “art quilts.” At the time, Melissa had no clue what an art quilt was. She did some research and was fascinated by the art form so she got some scraps of fabric and taught herself.
Santorini Sunset was inspired by a trip Melissa took to Greece. She went specifically to Santorini to capture a photo at sunset. Melissa found the town to be “so picturesque.” She wanted to give a different perspective to Santorini so she changed her original image to be abstract.
The quilt was “the most difficult quilt” Melissa has made. That is why it took almost 5 months to complete. Why was it such a challenge? “In abstract there is a lot left to the imagination or implied. Sewing definitive lines of shapes that have a blurred boundaries becomes a challenge when quilting.”
Melissa had entered Santorini Sunset in another quilt show before Road 2018. In her words, the quilt “seemed to be the wallflower at the party; no one noticed it.” So she was both in “shock” and “delighted” that it was recognized for Best Use of Color at Road to California. Melissa intends to use her prize money with her project of building a new studio.
What can we expect from Melissa in the future? “I’m chomping at the bit waiting for the studio to be complete so I can get back to work. I have so many ideas ready to go. I see continuing with the process I have used but also experimenting with new ideas and techniques. Always learning and growing as an artist is my goal.”
To learn more about Melissa and her work, please visit her website.
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