18^th Annual Southern California Quilter’s Run which will be held June 16^th – 19^th and June 23^rd – 26^th, 2016. Visit all 24 participating quilt stores during the Quilter’s Run, have each store stamp the official Score Card, and turn the Score Card in at the last store visited. One lucky winner will be chosen as the Grand Prize Winner of 4 days of classes at Road 2017, a 4 night stay at a local hotel near the Ontario Convention Center, and first pick for registering for the classes before registration is open to the public. Last year’s winner of the Quilter’s Run Grand Prize sponsored by Road to California was Tom Preston of Apple Valley, California. How else can you enter to win first choice of registering for 4 days of classes and 4 nights at a local hotel for the next Road to California Show? Come to Road 2017 and enter the Tin Lizzie Contest. That’s exactly what Sherryl Zurek did at the Road 2015 Show. Sheryl had attended Road for “at least 15 years.” She entered the contest because her friends were entering, and as Sheryl put it, “If you don’t enter, you can’t win.” Sheryl did not expect to win so when she heard she had won, she thought someone was playing a trick on her.  “I was flabbergasted!  Then I became very excited.  It meant a lot to me to win because my young dog had passed away 2 months prior and my car with all my sewing gear had been stolen 1 month prior.  I really looked forward to going to Road 2016. Whenever I got sad, I reminded myself that I had the retreat coming up!” The classes Sherryl picked at Road 2016 were: The Thrill of The Fill by Linda Taylor changed to background Fills by Karen Sievert; Carry On Travel Bag by Annie Unrein; Mystical Shapes by Jamie Wallen; and Feather Fills by Laurie Tigner. She chose the 3 longarm classes to help her improve her quilting and took the carry-on bag class because she wanted a custom travel bag. Sherryl felt her classes gave her confidence to do some really neat quilting. She remarked that the teachers were very inspiring, and helped all their students to recreate some of the techniques they used.  She added, “My fellow students were very friendly; it was like getting back together with friends you haven’t seen for some time.” [caption id="attachment_3869" align="aligncenter" width="555"] New Quilting Friends (l-r) Robin McKnight, Michelle Shook, and Sherryl Zurek[/caption] Even though Sherryl just lived 45 minutes from the Ontario Convention Center, she loved staying at the Road hotels because she didn’t have to make the drive each day and didn’t have to get herself up so early to make it to her classed. For Sherryl, it was “like a mini-vacation.” What did Sheryl think of the experience? “I had the most wonderful time at Road on my Retreat this year.  Road is an amazing quilt show!  I highly recommend attending and taking classes, for everyone. I learn something new in every class I go to.  I also highly recommend signing up for the drawings; you never know when it might be your name that is drawn!” And so it continues… At Road 2016, the winner for the Tin Lizzie Road to California Retreat was Mary Van De Brake, a resident of San Dimas, California. Mary said she entered the contest because “she was excited about Tin Lizzie’s shorter, 5 foot long arm machine. I completely forgot about (entering) as I never seem to have my name drawn. I was ecstatic when Carolyn Reese called and told me that I had won.” Mary has never taken a class at Road before. She wants to sign up for a doll or fairy class as “they are hard to come by locally.” By staying in a hotel, “I don’t have to worry about parking.” Mary has already shared “this adventure” with many of her friends and can’t wait for Road 2017 to get here. Thank you to Tin Lizzie and Road to California for sponsoring these once in a lifetime prizes. Will you be the next winner? You won’t know if you don’t enter!!]]>