More About "Road"

 

We met a lot of people, including Ann, at Kismet.  This is me in front of Ann's beautiful Kantha quilts.  She has the same taste in fabrics that I do!

I ran out of space on my previous post, because there was just so much excitement and so many photos and so much to talk about!

The lighting on C's entry was way too bright, and it washed out the colors, so this photo is not doing it justice.  To see all the little details, click on the photo below.

Wouldn't it be fun if we could all come next year?

Edna Goes to Road to California!

Edna here.  As you may know, I live in Northern California.  I visit my quilt posse in Idaho a couple of times a year.  Our friend, C, is a mad quilter.  She has only attended local quilt shows and the one in Sisters, which is fairly close.  She submitted an art quilt piece to 'Road to California', and it was accepted.  This is a big show in Ontario, Calif.  She decided to go to the show, so I met her there and we had so much fun!

We were there for a few days and took a couple classes.   Following are photos we took at the show.

This is the huge corridor outside the gigantic rooms that have the vendors and the quilt show.  Vendors in one big room, quilt show in the other, plus more quilts hung everywhere.  Lots of local quilt groups have their own displays, which are amazing.

Examples are Santa Clara Valley Quilt Association, Inland Empire Modern Quilt Guild, So Cal/So Nev Regional SAQA group, and Glendale Quilt Guild.  I have no idea whose quilts are hanging from the ceiling.

A favorite by someone in the Glendale Quilt Guild.

This is at the Santa Clara Valley Quilt Assoc, 50th Anniversary Challenge.  All the quilts were golden yellow.

This was my favorite golden yellow quilt.

This is a Round Robin quilt made by nine quilters, each adding a border around the previous quilter's creation.  It was a challenge by the Inland Empire Modern Quilt Guild.

It is one of my favs, so C snapped a photo of me and this amazing quilt!

There was a marvelous display by the So Calif/So Nevada SAQA Region, of quilts they created as inspired by their favorite artists, such as Jackson Pollack, Georgia O'Keefe, Pablo Picasso, Kehende Wiley, Anne Bellas, and others.  A couple of my favs:  above Jackson Pollack; below: Anne Bellas

And so many other amazing pieces in the show:

This one looks amazing!

It looks more amazing with me posing in front of it!

Carlton Brown is one of my favorite abstract art quilters.  I was so pleased to see one of his creations up close and personal.

I really like this quilt of protest.  Things are so crazy in our country right now.  Even though the quilts in this exhibit were mostly done in 2017, it speaks extremely well to what is happening right now.

To enlarge, click on the photo.  Then you can read the words on this flag quilt. Or look at all the photos close-up!

Yes, this is a lengthy blog post.  SO MANY AMAZING QUILTS AND THINGS!!!      We also walked between the show and the hotel and to a restaurant or two.

Oh!  There were also exhibits in the section with the vendors, and they included a SAQA Display of Primal Forces: Wind        Over-the-top!  I will let C post all those on her quilting blog, but here is one:

Then, there was the Cherrywood Challenge:  The Abyss

There are 12 quilts in this photo.  There were probably over 100 on display.  

This was the last day of the show.  We were getting ready to walk back to the hotel.  It was so much fun!  We met so many friendly people like Cindy and Ann!

Jane's January Tutorial!

 

This is my annual quilting tutorial.  I hope you will take a little time, out of your day, and try to make some fabric units.  It is pretty simple.  This year I am teaching how to use solid colors in small units, which get joined together to make bigger units, and finally an entire quilt top!  It is so fun and amazing!

Someone just pointed out that this is another improvisational quilt method.  True!  I can't seem to get enough of that.

We start by piecing some scrap fabric pieces together:

Remember, to see the photos closer, just click on the photos and they will enlarge.

These are my starting pieces.  Just chain-piece some little pieces of fabric to each other. Do it until you grow each piece to a desired size.  I think 5" or 6" is good.  It is up to you and depends on how big your fabric scraps are (you can cut them smaller).  Let them be not exactly square for now.  Following is an example of how to add thin wavey/irregular strips to your creation.

And add all around to grow each "unit."  You can do this until you are satisfied with the size (and how cool it looks!).  

Place your completed units on a design wall or arrange them on a flat surface.  Move them around until you are happy with the composition.  Twist them and turn them.  Then decide what else you need to add.  Maybe add a couple more units or grow a couple that are already on there.

I thought I wanted all mine together, so I placed them with edges touching, and I decided I preferred it with white spaces in between.  I spread them out again and added a couple more units and started trimming them to go with each other.  It is like a mosaic!

I placed my units in rows, so had to add a little to a couple to make them longer.  I added a little wonky tree unit.  I started sewing white fabric to my units and then sewed them together into sections, then I sewed the sections to each other.

You will have to think strategically, if you have many angled pieces.  Go for it.

This is after all the white has been added, even on the edges.  This is my quilt top.  You could decide to add another border or just more white space around all those solids.  

Next you make a backing that is larger than the quilt top, and some batting, and do the quilting.  After that you have to decide on the binding color.  Below is a photo of my finished "Solid Magic" quilt.

The hard part was deciding which color of binding to put on.  I think the blue is great and I am happy with the results.  Thank-you for following along on Jane's January Tutorial.

To see another amazing quilt grown with solid-colored fabrics, check out the one MARSHA did last fall.

What's on the Design Wall in January?

We have to get Kirsten and Jane's design wall cleared off, so Jane can complete her January tutorial.  We all put some of our orphan blocks (blocks that are in the "Parts Department") up on the wall, to see what could be made of them.  

It is a bit of a mess, but Astrid and Jane think they can make some sense of it and use all the pieces in a medallion quilt.  They should probably take it all off of there, throw it in the air and pick it up, then take it over to Astrid's to work on.

Check back, later this month, for Jane's January Tutorial.  She will be teaching improvisational piecing with solid colors.  I can hardly wait!

Happy New Year!

Kirsten and Jane's design wall have a convoluted mess on it, but it will make sense as soon as someone tries to make sense of it.  It may be a collaborative effort.

It has been such a busy year, quilting to get the Gwen and Freddie Tribute Quilt Show up and running and then having Gracie arrive on our scene in July.  We did make 13 new quilts in 2025, including several by Edna and Gracie.

Back (L to R):  Marsha, Edna, Jane, Astrid

Front (L to R):  Kirsten, Willa, Gracie

A Christmas Post Card from the American Girl Dolls

 

A Christmas greeting from Kirsten, Marsha, Willa, Astrid, Jane, Edna, and Gracie.

Gracie Completes Her Rail Fence Quilt!

Greetings and happy November!  Kirsten here.  I helped Gracie hold up her latest creation so Marsha could take a photo of it. I am glad Marsha came over, as we had a lot to talk about, as usual.  Gracie and I have been trying out a Husky Star sewing machine, that MaryKaye gave us, when she moved back to California.  It had only one foot, so we could not zig-zag or make any fancy stitches.  We found out that C's old Necchi uses the same size feet, so we got the darner on there and Gracie stippled her quilt all over.  It is such an amazing quilt job!

P.S. With the cooler weather, I sometimes like to stay in my jammies, all day, and just sew.