At Road 2018, the Long Beach Modern Quilt Guild created the beautiful quilt exhibit that rose above everyone’s heads as they entered the venue. 
The Long Beach Modern Quilt Guild was established in January, 2015 to bring together individuals who are passionate about modern quilting. Their goal is to inspire, educate and develop friendships and they continually strive to use their love of quilting to bridge the needs of our community. 
Guild Members were active participants with this year’s Quilts from the Ashes, the initiative created to support the Ventura Modern Quilt Guild’s efforts in supplying quilts to the survivor’s of the devastating Thomas Fire in Ventura County, California. 
Another philanthropy the guild supports is the Memory Pillow program. On the one year anniversary of the passing of a child, the guild makes a memory pillow which is customized to that child and which the hospital presents to the surviving family members. 
The Long Beach Modern Quilt Guild is also a member of the worldwide Modern Quilt Guild, founded in 2009 as an online community of modern quilters by one of Road 2018’s vendors, Latifah Saafir. 
Road 2018 was Latifah’s first time hosting a retail booth for her Latifah Saafir Studios. She really enjoyed being in front of customers and putting faces to names. 
Latifah also hosted a Special Exhibit, Expanding Traditions. One of the quilts included in the exhibit was Latifah’s first free motion quilt. Because it was her first quilt, there were a lot of mistakes. Latifah felt it was important to show this “not perfect” quilt because learning to quilt is a part of the quilting process. 
Thank you Long Beach Modern Quilt Guild and Expanding Traditions for sharing modern quilting with Road 2018 guests.
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Archive for the ‘Road to California 2018’ Category
Up, Up And Away With Modern Quilts
Saturday, April 28th, 2018The Batty Lady Is Resilient And Resourceful
Wednesday, April 25th, 2018 The Batty Lady is a familiar vendor at Road to California. Started in 2008, The Batty Lady’s mission is to “provide quality quilt batting, at a reasonable price to quilters all over the world. Plus, share quilt batting knowledge to those quilters whether they be beginners or advanced quilters.” Alicia went above and beyond to fulfill that mission statement at Road 2018 when she had to overcome a robbery of her merchandise just days before Road started.
The first week of January, Alicia was returning from a show in Arizona with her trailer loaded with product. She took her trailer to her brother’s business in Yorba Linda, California, to store temporarily until Road to California. On January 6th, around 5:30 AM, the trailer was stolen.
Alicia immediately went to social media to get help in locating her trailer. She sent out two separate posts that combined, received over 200,000 impressions!! On January 9th, the trailer was located in a church parking lot in Anaheim, about 10 miles away. Unfortunately, the trailer was cleaned out. How was The Batty Lady going to keep its commitment to their customers at Road to California in nine days?
Having a high quantity of product in a high-quality booth is important to Alicia. Luckily for her, having shared her plight on social media, individuals and businesses knew of her circumstances and rallied to help out:
- Companies like Hobbs, Fairfield, and Quilter’s Dream got her product within 24 hours
- Friends gathered notions to be sold in the booth
Not only did Alicia have to worry about keeping The Batty Lady booth running, she also had a $5.00 Lecture Class – Batting, Batting, Batting-So Many Choices — to teach on the first day of the show, adding to her stress. Teaching about the different types of batting for different types of quilting was the easy part. Alicia was worried though about the samples that were promised to attendees in the advertising materials. Thankfully, Quilter’s Dream came through and donated prizes for her students. 
In the end, Alicia felt that a very negative situation came out positive. “I could have been crying,” said Alicia. Instead, she experienced first hand the warmth of the quilting community on her behalf—and it wasn’t just from all the batting in her booth!!
The Batty Lady travels to different quilt venues throughout the country as well as operates the The Batty Lady Warehouse and Wonderfil Threaducation Center in Orange CA.. For information about warehouse hours and locations where The Batty Lady will be headed in the future, please visit their website.]]>
Jenny Doan And Her Love For Precuts
Thursday, April 19th, 2018“Share the knowledge you have with someone else or it will die with you” –Jenny Doan
Jenny Doan has a lot of quilting knowledge and she never hesitates to share it. During her Trunk Show at Road to California 2018, she touched on a lot of quilt topics including why she values using precut fabrics in her quilts.
Jenny admits she is a utilitarian quilter. Whenever she makes a quilt, she intends the recipient to use and love that quilt and wear it out. If you make a quilt from precut fabrics, Jenny insists that that quilt will be used by its owner.
A precut fabric is cut to a specific size shape and is often sold as part of a collection so that the designs work well. They include fat quarters, jelly roll strips, and squares in either 5” charm packs or 10” layer cakes.
Jenny shared that 99% of the quilts she makes is from a precut and that she has learned so much from using them. One reason they appeal to her is that she considers herself a matcher; she doesn’t do colors. “Being good with fabric is a gift and a talent,” declared Jenny. And she also noted that not many people – like herself – have that talent. She would much rather trust the designers who put the precuts together then her own fabric matching ability.
Precuts also cut down on the overwhelm factor noted Jenny. “Your mind gets easily overwhelmed. It’s a lot easier to choose between 10 fabric precuts that have been coordinated in to one collection than try to match yourself from 40 different bolts of similar yardage.
Best of all, precuts save time. Time in cutting out fabric and time in sewing. “It only takes 1-1/2 hours to make a quilt from a layer cake pack,” said Jenny.
Missouri Star Quilt Company offers a handy, spiral bound pamphlet, Quilter’s Precut Companion, that has everything you’d want to know about making quilts using precuts including a chart that explains how many precuts you will need to make a particular quilt.
Jenny cautioned (from her own experience) that if you like a particular precut design, buy all you need for your project at one time. Since precuts are only cut and packaged once, they probably won’t be there if you go back for more.
Jenny will be the first to admit that “precut fabric is truly the best thing since sliced bread. They let you skip the hours of cutting and get right to the good part. Precuts help quilts come together like magic!”
What do you like about using precut fabrics?]]>
Beginner’s Luck
Tuesday, April 17th, 2018Do you have it?
Beginner’s Luck– Noun. The initial good fortune or success commonly supposed to come to a person who has recently taken up a new pursuit.At Road 2018, Thalia Patricio had it.
She won 3rd Place-Fantasy for her quilt, The Witch.
When Thalia saw the pattern, she immediately thought that it would make a perfect witch. So, she contacted Laura and asked if she would mind if she changed up The Dress to become The Witch. Laura’s reply was, “It would be a compliment.” So off Thalia went.
The fabric used was the key to the Thalia’s inspiration. Starting on the collage part first, she would put different fabrics up on her design wall and just let it take on a life of its own. The face of The Witch was based on Tula Pink’s fabric line, Nightshade.
Thalia had been to Road 5 times in the past and felt she could “never make a quilt good enough to be shown there.” After she finished The Witch, Thalia began receiving lots of good comments on Instagram, Facebook and in the quilt shop. So many, that Thalia decided that maybe this quilt was the one “worthy” to enter in Road’s Quilt Contest. When she received the letter saying that The Witch was accepted for judging at Road 2018, Thalia “cried.”
A couple months later, Thalia was in a casino at the slot machines when she got the email that she had won—and she cried again!! Going to Road 2018 and seeing her quilt on display was “the icing on the cake.”
Where does this beginner’s luck recipient go from here? “I hope I’m not a one-hit wonder,” said Thalia. “I will be taking more quilt classes at Quiltique and want to try machine embroidery. I think I have an original design in me.”
Congratulations Thalia Patricio for your first win on your first try at entering a quilt in a quilt show. We were glad you chose Road to California.]]>
Trending: Award Winning Bags
Friday, April 13th, 2018 ByAnnie.com sponsored a Bag Challenge at Road to California 2018.Participants submitted their finished bags to compete for cash and prizes which were awarded during the show.
The judges were delighted at the 31 entries and had a difficult time choosing the top five prize winners. Here are the winners along with the judge’s comments: 
Karen’s original design received $400 from sponsor Road to California. Karen has used her bag for numerous family reunions. The bag carries plates, wineglasses, wine bottle, silverware. napkins, placemats, potholders, serving spoon, & napkins. A unique feature is that she used elastic ponytail holders for the expandable side closures and the bow is a separate pattern that consists of bias strips sewn and turned over yarn.
Comments from judges: The silverware set on the front button is awesome! This bag is incredible! Bias strips OVER YARN are perfectly done. Amazing. Never would I have guessed this was not commercial cord. Well done!
Mirla used a Cecile Franconie pattern to showcase her large collection of African fabrics. This jewelry bag has pockets for make-up as well as jewelry.
Comments from judges: Love the Bohemian feel of this bag, with its intricate and unusual construction. Love the bells, charms and special gold stitching. Great use of different fabrics, and nice, consistent mix of textures.
Amy was looking for a way to use up her stash when she created this bag. It was inspired by a 1950’s style vacation souvenir tablecloth and two leftover garment sewing fabrics, red wool and blue/white striped cotton. Recycling these materials helps Amy remember memories of past trips.
Comments from judges: Very interesting! Love the wool (stunning) and rivets. Good fussy cutting. Very well made! Love the special pocket inside.
Kathy loves to wear backpacks when exploring and traveling. She has an RV and travels throughout the US in it. Backpacks free up her hands and can carry a lot of things. The train case bottom separates items for easy location. It also has a convertible strap that can be changed from backpack straps to a cross body or over the shoulder style bag.
Comments from judges: Beautifully made and perfectly done. Great job with all the zippers. Love the cork-bottom and fabric combinations. The cording in seam is beautifully done!
Rebecca gives lectures on her quilts to local quilt guilds as well as teaches Orange Peel machine applique. She needed something to hold the money she gets for selling her patterns as well as her iPad when she is doing her presentations and came up with this idea to showcase her skills with this purse.
Comments from judges: The Trapunto flowers are gorgeous! 5 stars on the cotton, lining and quilting. Love the Orange Peel design. Good contrast. Beautiful!
Road and ByAnnie.com will be sponsoring another bag challenge soon. Start thinking about your designs and styles and stay tuned for details. 
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Siblings That Quilt
Tuesday, April 10th, 2018Karla and Karen took Jenny Doan’s class together at Road 2018 as a chance to meet up and
learn some new quilting skills. Karla is a retired teacher living in Alta Loma, California and Karen lives in San Diego. For 15 years when she was teaching, Karla helped her students create 12- block quilts as a memory of all they learned in her class that year. Now that she is retired, Karla uses her free time to take advantage of taking classes at Road for the first time, quilting at home, and embroidering. Karen has been to Road to California 8 times and “absolutely loves it.”
There’s no better place to spend a “Sister’s Week” then Road to California says Cheryl,
Sandy,and DeNese. All three sisters are quilters. DeNese started quilting in 2012 when she retired from Delta Airlines. Cheryl was inspired to start quilting from her mother-in-law. Sandy figured that since her sisters were quilting, she might as well too. They get together two or three times a year to share quilting techniques and go to quilt demonstrations. They enjoy piecing, paper piecing, and collage applique and make quilts for their children and grandchildren.
As far as their opinion of Road to California, DeNese, who lives in Utah, said, “It is bigger than anything I have been to and I spent more money than I thought.” Cheryl, who also lives in Utah, said that Road was “Really fun. I thought I would get bored but there were so many interesting things to see.” And Sandy, a resident of Palm Desert, California, commented, “There are lots of gadgets to make quilting easier that I didn’t know existed.”
These three sisters and one sister-in-law all have their roots in Iowa. As quilters, they chose
Road to California 2018 for their “Sister’s Retreat.” Karla lives in Escondido, California and planned their retreat to include Road. Karla has attended five times in the past, but for everyone else, it was their first time. When the Road 2018 class schedule was posted in July, the women were notified that an Aunt had left them money in her will. Karla said “it was a sign” that they should use the money and take classes at Road. They each took two classes plus attended Preview Night and Jenny Doan’s Trunk Show. And of course, they did a lot of shopping!!
All four are established quilters. Oldest sister Karen, Karla and Pam grew up sewing. Their grandmother taught them how to quilt and they‘ve been quilting for 30 years. Sister-in-law Liza learned how to sew in a 7th grade Home Economics class. Her quilting influence came from her mother and grandmother. She said that she couldn’t believe “how many people are here” at Road and was excited to see so many other quilters, especially those who had quilts in the show.
Will you be bringing a sibling to Road 2019?]]>
DIY Fabric Painting
Thursday, April 5th, 2018 Joyce Teng, owner of TSC Designs and 2018 Road to California Vendor and Teacher, says not to worry. She has spent the last 30 years developing tools and techniques to create your own, specially designed fabric.
When creating your own fabric design, Joyce says you need to first consider 3 important elements:
Medium
What are you going to mix with your ink to get the effect you want
Tools
What are you going to use to apply your medium to the fabric
Pattern
What do you want your end design to look like
Medium: Joyce and TSC Designs sells and uses only one kind of ink: Tsukineko. A high quality ink that has been around for over 1,000 years, it is archive quality and child safe. Tsukineko inks come in a ton of colors and can be used on any fabric. 
What is the most popular color ink Joyce uses and sells? Champagne Mist. Joyce says that it makes “all the colors shimmery.”
A bonus when using Tsukineko inks is that the fabrics don’t have to be pre-treated. Just follow the care labels on the fabric and heat set the ink when you are done. Her favorite fabric to use is White Kona Cotton.
Joyce touts to “Never use just ink alone.” As she says, “Play with it.” Experiment with mixing different colors together. Then, try different mediums to mix along with the ink to create different textures. Some of her favorites are rubbing alcohol and shaving cream.
With the rubbing alcohol, always use 90% Proof, spraying small amounts directly on the fabric before applying the ink to enhance the colors.
Shaving cream can be mixed with the ink and a little water to create a collage pattern. Joyce recommends the Barbasol brand. It is inexpensive and has “never” failed her.
Tools: Joyce and TSC Designs has a large line of brushes to help you get the look and texture you desire. For instance, she carries an alcohol brush that retains both ink and water together to create water color designs. A batik brush has bristles made from man-made leather to create a realistic batik-like overall background. TSC Designs also carries nine different shapes of marbeling tools to help you achieve the precise look you envisioned.
Other common tools can be found at your local Dollar Store like soft paint brushes. Sea sponges also add a nice texture. And Joyce reminds, “Don’t forget about your sewing machine’s brush!!”
Pattern: There are many sources of pattern designs: fabric, nature, textiles and stencils. As with the inks, Joyce encourages playing around with stencils: “Don’t use them as is.” To prevent bleeding when using stencils, apply shaving cream directly to fabric by dabbing it lightly before applying ink to the stencil. 
Why does Joyce spend so much time developing new techniques? Because she firmly believes that everyone needs to “share their passion with the next generation. We have a responsibility to teach the next generation.” She wishes there were “48 hours in a day” to create all the new patterns she has in her mind to share.
To learn more about how to use ink, tools and patterns, you can use Joyce’s book (with a new edition coming out soon) or go to her website.
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A Survivor Motivated By "So Many Dreams"
Tuesday, April 3rd, 2018Her first dream was to become a pharmacist. In her native Taiwan, she not only taught at a Pharmacy School, but as a chemist, she developed a heart medicine. With a medical background, how did she become involved with fabric arts? Joyce confides that she was born with an eye for color and always liked design.
The transition from science to art happened on a trip to the United States, attending the International Quilt Festival in Houston. Joyce’s next dream was to own her own art-related business which she started in 1984–TSC Designs. This family-run business started out in Joyce’s garage as Teachers Stamp Company, where she manufactured her own line of rubber stamps and other educational arts and crafts products. Joyce later designed and produced brass embossing templates and other accessories for paper crafts and scrapbooking. In 2005, Joyce and her husband retired from the stamping business to focus solely on providing unique and innovative products for quilters & sewers. Since 1990, they have worked with Tsukineko Inc. to provide the highest quality paper and fabric inks to their customers. During this 20-year relationship, they have helped thousands of creative minds develop new ways to “color” their world.
What others might call “tragedies,” Joyce survived two life-threatening events that actually increased her desire to be more creative. The first event happened while she was attending Paducah in April of 2014 when she suffered a massive stroke at the show. Lucky for Joyce, Paducah’s hospital is a major stroke center and was able to give Joyce the best treatment from the best doctors available. She says that after the stroke, “God opened her brain” and ever since she has experienced non-stop creativity. “New things come out every day,” insists Joyce.
More recently, as a resident of Houston, Texas, Joyce and her family were affected by Hurricane Harvey. Their home was completely flooded and FEMA told them that they had to get rid of everything. With the help of 30 volunteers, any salvable goods were packed up and put in a warehouse. Joyce said she and her family were living basically day by day to get back on their feet. Some people ask why Houston? Joyce replies, “Why not Houston?” She feels they were blessed by the manpower and community spirit present during those struggling times.
Just four months after Hurricane Harvey, Joyce and her husband were at Road to California 2018, manning the TSC Designs vendor booth in the Tent. Joyce also taught several classes including a $5.00 Lecture and at Roundabout, mentoring others to pursue their artistic creativity. 
Because there are still many more dreams for Joyce to pursue, she wishes she had “48 hours in every day to play.” In the meantime, she will make the most of each 24 hour day as she develops new ideas to share. To learn more about TSC Designs, please visit their website.]]>
Director’s Choice Winner
Friday, March 30th, 2018 Matt Reese. Because he has a Bachelor’s Degree in Tuba Performance from California State University, Long Beach, in the past, he was partial to choosing quilts with a music theme like last year’s, Yuja made by Linda C. Anderson.
For 2018, Matt left his music roots behind and chose Marilyn Badger’s Champagne SuperNova. Marilyn received $5,000 from Sponsor, Moore’s Sewing Center.
Marilyn is an accomplished, multi-award-winning quilter. She was Road’s last Featured Artist, chosen for that honor in 2017.
How did Marilyn start out in quilting? Reading the first edition of Quilter’s Newsletter Magazine in the 1970’s!! At the time, she and her husband were living on a boat and didn’t have much room for sewing equipment so she hand pieced a design she saw in the magazine. As she finished the blocks, she would send them to her mother in Tennessee and her church group hand quilted them.
Known for her unique quilt designs, Champagne SuperNova was another Marilyn Badger original. Star Quilts had always been a favorite of Marilyn’s. This quilt evolved from her desire to make a hand embroidered, embellished, red and black quilt. The black gradated fabric was the first purchase for the quilt. Marilyn added the fireworks because as she explained, “What’s an exploding star without a few fireworks in the background?!” After the quilting, when she added the paint, the quilt went from a silverier look to gold. Thus why she chose the name, Champagne SuperNova. Marilyn confided, “The gold theme sort of popped out unexpectedly.” It took Marilyn 9 months to make the quilt. She finished it right before the entries were due to Road.
In January, she was packing to come to the show when she decided to look at her emails one more time before going to bed. It was then that she saw Road’s name in the sender box. What was her reaction when she won? “My heart was beating a little faster than normal when I read the part that said ‘Congratulations.’ Then I read on and saw where it had won Director’s Choice and $5,000. I was totally thrilled and said a big silent thanks to Matt for choosing my quilt!!”
Marilyn hasn’t decided yet what she is going to do with her prize money. Maybe put it “towards my dream car.” She is already ready to put her next quilt on the quilting machine and is hoping it will be ready by Road’s next entry deadline. We will definitely be watching out for it!!
Follow Marilyn on Facebook to learn more about her quilting adventures.
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Bringing Up A New Generation of Quilters
Friday, March 23rd, 2018 
In an effort to keep the art of quilting alive and well for the next generation, some grandparents are making a conscious effort to teach and encourage their grandchildren in the art. In addition to sharing techniques, sewing machines, and being a sewing mentor, grandparents also take their grandchildren to Road to California for inspiration.
Kennie has brought her two granddaughters, Amber (17) and Kylie (12) to Road to California three times. She herself has attended Road six times. Kennie first opened her home for a sewing teacher to come and introduce Amber and Kylie to sewing. Today, the three sew and work on crafts all the time. Road 2018 was the first time the two granddaughters took a class with their grandmother. Kylie said she really liked “sewing stuff with Grandma” and Amber liked seeing lots of “neat stuff you don’t see every day.” For Kennie, she enjoyed the 1 on 1 and 1 on 2 time with her granddaughters. It is especially important for her to have the girls be interested in things they can do all their life.
Both from the San Fernando Valley in Southern California, McKenna is Susan’s 11-year-old granddaughter. McKenna has been spending the past year going to her grandmother’s house on weekends. Her first project was making pillowcases. She thinks “sewing with grandma is fun. She lets me choose fabric and projects and then she helps me.”
Susan has been sewing for over 60 years. She learned from her mother and still has the 1938 Singer sewing machine that she learned on; “It works perfectly.” For Susan, her satisfaction comes from “teaching McKenna something useful” that has begun as a hobby and could turn into a vocation later in life. 
For Grandmother Lu, her daughter Cassie, and granddaughters Hannah, Hope and Alexis, enjoy being together and encouraging each other with their sewing creativity. Lu learned to sew from her mother 47 years ago and has been quilting the past 20 years. Cassie made her first quilt for Hannah when she was born. How did Road spark their creativity? Alexis liked the variety. She is working on a quilt and learned a lot of techniques to incorporate in the future. Hannah liked seeing and reading the stories behind the van Gogh Special Exhibit. Cassie loved seeing all the quilts on display. And Lu admired the artistry on display.
With grandmothers like these women, taking the time to share their passion of sewing and quilting with their grandchildren, the tradition and art of quilting has a bright future.
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