Quilt-A-Long – Page 5 – OccasionalPiece

It was a lovely ride.

Road to California began as a local quilt juried quilt show that over 20+ years has built itself up to be a nationally-ranked show with outstanding quilts in all categories. Unlike other popular national quilt shows, they limit their entries to three per person, so this year’s entries totaled just over 500. After jurying them, the field was narrowed to about 250 quilts. You can imagine my surprise to learn that I’d been awarded a ribbon in the Traditional, Wall, Pieced category, a high moment given this past year of sturm und drang (German, for “storm and stress”). When I found out about my ribbon Tuesday night after my guild meeting (they sent out emails), there was a lot of whooping and hollering and hugging my husband in excitement. He was as thrilled as I was, as he has been there every step of the way.

I was also happy that Colorwheel Blossom was accepted as well, shown here on the right in one of the bays at the quilt show, hanging among other fine entries. Overall, many of us were saying it was an outstanding quilt show, from top to bottom, and we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly.

Ewe Are My Sunshine, by Janet Stone, won the Marie White Prize of $7500.

Silk Road Sampler, by Melissa Sobotka, won Best of Show (and a $10,000 prize). This was created with raw edge appliqué, and some use of paints for shading and tinting. Both of these quilts were so different, but so stunning.

All of the prize winners can be found on *this* page; above is a screen shot of how it looks–when you click on the photo it enlarges it to a nice size so you can see the details. I also put a lot of the quilts on my Instagram feed (button is to the right), along with their names and titles, if they were posted.

On Wednesday, I took EQ7 out of the Box, taught by Barbara Vlack, a terrific class where I learned a few tricks. After class I stayed for a while to help hang quilts, joining the incredible army of volunteers who had been at that all day long. On Thursday, I enjoyed David Taylor’s You, Too, Can Stipple. Even though I passed stippling long ago, I also learned a lot. If you ever get a chance to take a class from either of them, sign up immediately. Some famous quilters aren’t teachers, but Taylor’s class flowed well and was really fun (he’s also pretty funny with a dry sense of humor).

Thursday afternoon Sherri, a friend, joined me from out-of-town, and on Friday morning we met up with a large contingent of the Good Heart Quilters, a local group of quilters in my area. We carpooled in, then split up to ~~shop~~ see the quilts. At noon, we were joined by more Good Heart Quilters, and two more quilters from the LA area (Megan and Michelle), and we all went over to El Torito for lunch, enjoying a few minutes off-site to celebrate Simone’s birthday. Back in the cars for more quilt show, then home again.

Saturday, Sherri and Laurel (one of the Good Heart Quilters) and I did a mini shop-hop, hitting three stores in the Temecula area, and enjoying lunch at a local Mexican restaurant. We were buying wool for their Oh Christmas Tree QAL, which begins next week in earnest (so I hope you are all getting your supplies, too). If I look funny, it’s because I was standing on my tiptoes to see over the high rails of the antique bed I was posing in front of. Plus I’m really tired from ~~too much fun~~ seeing the quilts.

Sunday, Sherri flew home, and Dave (my husband) and I headed up to Road for one last blast of quilts, to pick up a flier so I could subscribe to both QuiltMania and Simply Moderne (it took me a while, but I’m finally going to do it) and pick up my quilts. We were back home by 5 p.m., the fun ride over.

After last year’s high of having three quilts accepted into Road, I didn’t think my quilting life could get any better. That year still remains a high, but this year was really amazing, too. In reviewing the year, I must also add in the lovely emails from all my readers, the relationships we’ve developed, as well as the quilting, the ups and downs, the travels, the successes and the failures you’ve shared with me. As I explained to one white-glove volunteer, who asked about my Pineapples and Crowns quilt, that quilt is really a collaboration, a celebration of community.

And so I celebrate us all, as we begin the year!

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Quarterly Reveal on February 1st

See you on February 2nd to begin our Oh Christmas Tree QAL!

The winner of our giveaway is Quilter in Motion, aka Marsha. And no, she doesn’t get a chicken dinner–I just like saying that. Thank you so much for all your birthday memories–I loved reading them! I have a couple of favorites, and have read many of them to my husband, who also picked a few of his favs. You are all the best.

You’ve all been busy out there in Quilterland, contacting felted wool/wool felt suppliers and I have a few more pieces of information for you, as you collect and gather.

First up is a note from Stephanie, saying she contacted Errin Rissberger at QuiltingAcres on ETSY, and bought this fine array of colors of felted wool, all for about $69.50:

Stephen had shopped around at some other sites and found this one to be most reasonable. Erin has those bundles up there, ready to go, if you want one too.

Brenda contacted Donna, of Prairie Woolens, and she wrote that she does: “create custom kits for pretty much any pattern whether it’s something we carry or not and there are no requirements. I checked out the picture and I would say it would likely be the hand-dyed colors [of wool]. The 100% wool felt and the felted wool are similar in thickness so I think you could use them together in the same project. I’ve mixed felt and wool together in the same project and it works wonderfully. Hopefully this helps but if you have any questions, please let me know.”

This screenshot is Primitive Gatherings’ offering. I was down in there shop this past week, and they stock felted wools, but no wool felt. They are beautiful, though. You can purchase them on their website, too.

Whether or not you’ve already purchased your wool, you can bet that halfway through the project, you’ll be wanting a different color, so either head over there now, or save this for later. I so appreciate those who have written in to pass on information for others to benefit from.

The next post on this will be in a couple of weeks, just after the beginning of the February. On February 1st, we have the reveals for our art quilt group, Four-in-Art, a collaborative group of quilters who wanted to try something different. We post four times a year (hence the name) and work in the chosen themes. This year’s theme is Color, and February’s challenge is Microscopic.

Before that, I’ll be going to Road to California, where I’ll have two quilts hanging in the show–if you are going, please DM me on IG and find me–I’ll be the girl with the goofy smile standing in front of one of these quilts. I generally ~~post a lot on~~ flood Instagram with quilt photos from the show, so you can find me there: occasionalpiecequilt (the button is on the right, if that’s easier).

Okay, Marsha, I’ll be in touch with you to get your snail mail address and get your magazine off to you!