Married for 47 years, Les and Linda know the key to a happy marriage: they support each other with their hobbies. For Les, it is Classic Car Shows and Linda goes with him to Cruise Nights. For Linda, a quilter for over 40 years, it’s all about going together to quilt shows like Road to California. “Fair is fair,” remarked Les. While Linda has attended Road for the past 18 years, Les has only accompanied her for the last 10. They’ve even gone to a quilt show together when they were vacationing in Sydney, Australia (Linda said she knew nothing about it but Les swears “she planned it on me.”) Why does Linda enjoy coming to Road to California? To get inspired. She says, “You see things that you never would have thought of. It gets you out of your box to try new things.” And Les has learned another valuable marriage lesson: “I never ask her how much she spends on her stash and she never asks me what I spend on my car collection.”
Even a wheelchair bound Stacie couldn’t keep her and husband Ed from Road 2017. Both Ed and Stacie are quilters from Indio, California. They began their quilt journey together over 5 years ago by taking a quilt class. At first, Ed went to the class to just spend time with Stacie but he ended up liking it and has stayed with it ever since. Says Stacie, “He does it more than I do. I never finish my quilts and Ed keeps on me.” They bought their tickets for Road before Stacie fell playing with their dogs, putting her in the wheelchair. They didn’t want to miss out “looking at quilts and gadgets and finding new ideas to try.”
A brand-new quilter, Sophia appreciates how her husband, Erik, helps her with design and color. Sophia is also a knitter and crocheter and felt quilting was a natural progression for her fiber arts interest. She is self-taught, having never sewed before until she started quilting. Her first project was a baby quilt that “turned out great.” Erik helped Sophia design a wedding quilt that now goes on their bed. Road 2017 was their first time at the show. Sophia said she was “quite moved by the exhibits. They were amazing.” Erik thought he was just going to be seeing a lot of vendors (which he did) but he was also surprised by all the interesting exhibits.
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Posts Tagged ‘Couples’
Quilting Time Can Be Quality Couple Time
Monday, July 24th, 2017Couples Have Double The Fun At Road
Saturday, May 20th, 2017Road 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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Double The Fun: Couples On A Road Bus Trip
Wednesday, October 21st, 2015 Road Bus Trips, led by the Traveling Quilters, are a great way to expand your Road to California experience. Guests get to travel to key Southern California historical and quilt destinations. And, apparently, they are also a fun way to spend extra time with your spouse.
At Road 2015, four couples enjoyed sharing a bus trip that included stops to Hoffman Fabrics, Knotts Berry Farm for lunch and shopping stops to M & L Fabrics and an Orange County quilt store.
Laymond and Linda Pon are from Hollister, California. This was their third time attending Road to California and their second bus trip. Laymond liked visiting Hoffman Fabrics. He was interested in seeing how the fabrics change from year to year and how Hoffman stamps the prints.
Armando and Carol Orona came to Road 2015 from Morro Bay, California. They have been married 56 years and have attended Road together on and off for the past 20 years. Carol started out as a traditional quilter 25 years ago and now enjoys doing “anything that challenges” her, like art quilts. One of the reasons why they chose this bus trip was they wanted to eat at Knotts Berry Farm. When Carol was a little girl, she and her dad would visit her fraternal grandmother in Long Beach and after, get a chicken dinner. So, returning to Knotts, brought back good memories for Carol. Armando thought the bus trip was “fantastic” and said he “learned so much” at Hoffman.
Residents of Waterville, Ohio, Bill and Denise Kniss have attended Road to California two years in a row. They wanted to do something different this year, so they signed up for the bus trip. They had never been to a fabric manufacturer before and were looking forward to experiencing Hoffman Fabrics. Both Bill and Denise are quilters. Bill got started in quilting by cutting out the blocks for Denise’s block of the month quilts. Six years ago, when Denise went back to work, Bill was retired and looking for something to do next. He figured out how to work a sewing machine and made his first quilt block. After that, he was hooked!! They thought the bus trip was a lot of fun.
This was the first bus trip for Bob and Mary Flocker of Alta Loma, California. They have been attending Road together for the past four years. Mary is the quilter in their family. She started quilting six years ago. A visit from cousins from Minnesota inspired her to start. Bob says he comes along to Road to hunt for fabrics for Mary and to carry her purchases out to the car. It was Mary who told Bob that she thought he would enjoy a bus tour. He liked learning about the surfing background of Hoffman Fabrics because a good friend of his is a surfer. Both Mary and Bob had a great time on the bus tour. 
Information for you and your spouse to sign up for one of the two bus tours being offered at Road 2016 is on our website.
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Valentines Spotted At Road
Friday, February 14th, 2014Some couples share chocolate with their Valentine. Some couples share flowers or a nice dinner out with their Valentine. And some couples share their love of quilting with their Valentine.
Lloyd and Debbie have attended Road together for 3 years. Before that, Debbie had come by herself. Since 2006, she served 5 years as a VIP (Very Important Quilter) and one year as a Roadie. Lloyd accompanies Debbie, who has had a double-knee replacement, assisting her as needed. They stay for the entire week, going to classes and visiting vendors. They like coming to Road because it is close by, the teachers are friendly, and everyone is, “Down to earth.”
Michael and Julie came all the way from the United Kingdom to attend Road!!! It was their first visit. They heard about the show through some quilting connections. Quilting is a big part of their life. They own a longarm quilting business and hope to start offering quilt retreats in the UK in the next year or two. They were enjoying the good weather in California (the UK this year is having the most rain in two decades) and were looking forward to visiting quilt shops after Road.
Herb and Betty were holding hands as they walked down the quilt arcade. It was their first time at Road They heard about the show in a mailing from Eleanor Burns. Betty started quilting years ago as a teenager but stopped about five years ago. She’s ready to pick it up again, so they decided to come to Road to find out what was new in the industry.
Do you share a love of quilting with your Valentine?
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