road to california AND visions, too!

I had the good fortune to visit Road to California on Thursday, and then Quilt Visions on Friday. I was impressed with both. Road to California had higher quality quilts this year, in my opinion. The prize winners all seemed to have heavy, elaborate, intricate machine quilting. Yikes, I can't compete with that. There were some great special exhibits; I think my favorite one was on portraits.

It was the first time in maybe 12 years that I did not have a quilt at Road. Between Noble Elements, Noble Seasons, and various Quilts on the Wall challenges, I always had at least one thing there. The Noble series are over, and I haven't belonged to QOTW for a few years, that's why. Maybe next year!

Then on Friday I finally paid a visit to the Visions Quilt Gallery, before the Quilt Visions/Brainstorms exhibit ends in February. I was relieved to see that the quilting was more organic, generally less meticulous than many of the pieces I saw at Road. The accent was on the Art, not as much the Technique. One of my favorite pieces was by Lisa Kijak.  I also loved the one by a Korean woman.

It's been 10 years since I had a quilt in Quilt Visions. I didn't enter this year; I've only entered maybe half the time since 2002. Maybe I will be inspired for next time.

A quick snapshot with quilts by Sherry Kleinman and Hollis Chatelain, taken at Road.

Road to California photos

Here I am next to my quilt, "Summertime Cat." Shy Olive is finally in the limelight. This is part of the "Noble Seasons" exhibit, which just debuted at Road to California in Ontario.

This is my "Hope is the Thing" quilt, part of the "Unfettered Letters" exhibit from Quilts on the Wall.  It's nice to see it again - last time I saw it was at Pacific International Quilt Festival in October.

Unfettered Letters at Road, too!

I just heard that the Unfettered Letters special exhibit from Quilts on the Wall Fiber Artists will also be at Road to California this weekend. Woohoo! My "Hope is the Thing" is part of this exhibit.

Summertime Cat at Road to California

The Summer exhibit, which includes my "Summertime Cat," is making its debut this weekend at Road to California. Here's a list of all the places the exhibit is going this year.

Road to California
January 14-17, 2010
Ontario Convention Center
Ontario, California
www.road2CA.com



Denver National Quilt Festival V
April 29 - May 2, 2010
Denver, Colorado
www.quiltfest.com



Quilting, Stitches & Crafts Expo
Reno NV
June 24 - 26, 2010
www.qscexpos.com



Quilting, Stitches & Crafts Expo
Cincinnati, OH
September 9 - 11, 2010
www.qscexpos.com



Pacific International Quilt Festival XIX
October 14 - 17, 2010
Santa Clara, California
www.quiltfest.com



A stint of 2 months - date TBD at Soft Expressions

In January, I had a couple of quilts shown at Road to California. One quilt, "Gaps," is part of Ami Simm's "Alzheimer's: Forgetting Piece by Piece" exhibit. I can't show the quilt here, but you can get more information about it at www.amisimms.com/alartquin.html. I worked at the booth for 3 hours on Thursday, the first day of the show, and it was a very powerful experience. Many people were moved enough to say something to me about their mother, their uncle, their husband, their neighbor, etc. One person told me that she herself had recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer's. The group of 52 quilts will be on tour for the next few years, and there is a CD. It will be at the Mid-Atlantic Quilt festival in Hampton, Virginia February 22-25, and AQS Quilt Show in Paducah, KY April 25-28.

The other quilt I had at Road was part of the "Essential Elements: Earth" exhibit organized by Margrit Hall. It was shown in the tent section of the show, and the wind was blowing so bad that they closed the tent down on Sunday. My quilt is called "Landslide," based on a photo I took of a landslide on PCH in Central California (shown on the left). This exhibit will be traveling around the country in 2007. I will try to post a schedule of its whereabouts.

In previous years we made quilts of other essential elements, namely water and fire. Now we have to do one for wind. I have an idea for it but haven't started yet.