Favs from Road to CA 2017

Here's Lookin' at You by Wendy Knight, San Diego, CA

Art-Critter category 

Always drawn to the machine quilting, 

I absolutely love how she used feathers for the crest. 

A second horse in the same category

 White Knight by Patt L. Blair, Mt. Baldy, CA 

was just as amazing, also hand painted with lots of machine quilting 

Blue Anemone by Andrea Brockenshire of Round Rock, TX 

Another hand painted art quilt with lots of thread painting :0) 

 Yuja by Linda C. Anderson, La Mesa, CA 

Hand painting, applique and amazing machine quilting! 

Emma in the Looking Glass by Lenore Crawford, Midland MI

Several paper pieced quilts...

Sunset in Maui by Rebecca Belsaas, quilted by Rebecca Smith, Rapid City, SD

Cattails at the Lake by Leslie Milde, Scottsdale AZ 

Midnight Dreams by Lorilynn King, Loveland, CO

Many of these last ones were not ribbon winners so you won't see them 

on the list of winning quilts on Road to California's website

(use the link above to see all of the ribbon winners)

A few more of the quilts I was drawn to because they are ALL winners! 

 Antelope Canyon by Barbara Barrick McKie, Lyme, CT

(out of focus but I loved the machine quilting ;0) 

Carpathian Mountain Sunset by Mrs. Cathy R Geier 

  Jars of Clay by Sharon L Schlotzhauer 

French Feathered Stars by Peggy Carr of Ventura, CA 

Kaboom by Suzy Webster 

Amazing machine quilting by well known quilter Claudia Pfeil of Krefeld Germany

Woven Journey 

This lovely lady tugged on my heart strings for a different reason... 

* Link to all the winning quilts *

It was the first time I attended Road to California. It was an amazing experience! especially being there as a vendor for Innova. It was allot of fun along with allot of work. I loved demoing the machines and sharing my experience as a longarm quilter and Innova owner with other quilters. Thank you to Jim and Nicky Davis and Rick Cherne. I also met Neal, the President of Innova. I learned tons! 

btw, Rick's wife, Teri entered a quilt and won first place in her category... 

Chasin' Rainbows by Teri Cherne of Henniker, NH 

Congratulations!

Going to get some customer work done on the longarm today. It took me a couple of days to recharge my batteries!!! after doing the show. New classes for Painted Forest have been set up at Honey Run Quilters for those of you on the waiting list that didn't get into the first class. Going to make it a short day tho, the weather is so nice today... 

hope you get out and enjoy it!!! 

Tot ziens, Jo

 

Road to California

Anyone going to Road? 

My Innova dealer is flying me out to join them in the Innova booth 

 to meet and greet and answer questions

plus enjoy the show for all 4 days :0) 

Can't wait to see all of the quilts and exhibits! 

Hope to see you there! 

Tot ziens, Jo

Boot Camp at Quilts on the Corner

Jo, Joy, Renae, Ruth Anne, Paul, Pam and Shelly

Boot Camp attendees August/Sept 2016 

at Quilts on the Corner in Sandy Utah

Just spent an incredible week with these amazing people! In addition to those of us pictured here are Renae's staff at the shop, equally as amazing! Janene, Roberta, Vicki, Cindy... all so nice and helpful from setting up our class to lunches for everyone everyday! 

Renae customized the classes for each of us, letting us decide each day what we wanted to learn be it computerized or hand guided. That is incredible in itself because it makes more work for Renae to teach. 

Day 1: Pantos: Shelly was all hand guided and was set up with a paper panto. Pam has Pantovision so Renae set her up on an Innova set up for that. Joy, Paul and I spent the first day on Mach3! Each of us on our own Innova machine set up with the new computerized system! We were in heaven...

Here I am Day One on Shrek, the big guy, a 32" Innova set up with Mach3 doing a panto!

Behind me is Fiona, a 26" Innova, also set up with Mach3 and where Joy worked all week. 

Jo, Roberta and Joy

Janene, Vicki and Roberta all help Renae run her shop. Roberta and that wonderful smile greeted us each day. She helps Renae with the classes anticipating each of our needs and is she good at it! Each time she and Renae spied someone with that 'deer in the headlights' look, they were at our side! Renae does a wonderful job of teaching. We spent each morning with Renae sitting at a table taking notes and discussing our goals for the day. Then, we each spent the day at our designated longarms. 

Day 2: I chose to do hand guided and spent the day on a different machine, a 26" Innova like I have here in my studio. Wow, I learned so much about design, tools and markers. Used lots of different methods from using a stencil, laser from the back, laser from the front, free hand and ruler work. We started out the day cleaning our machines, learned how to change out the feet, set the needle bar, center and adjust the height of the foot and time the machine! Some of this I already do on my machine and it was good to do it again with Renae, learned some new things including using the new Timing Tool. LOVE it! So much easier. Prior to this I had trouble with timing. Needless to say, I purchased the tool! It will pay for itself the first time I need to use it because the price is about the same as a service call. Then we got to play on our machines the rest of the day using all of the tools provided to each of us in a box... rulers, circles, markers. Another day of heaven!

Day 3: We played with thread and winding bobbins... ALL kinds and brands... Metallics, silk, cotton, polys. I went back on to Shrek and used Mach3 to stitch out designs, while learning how to adjust the tension for each thread. Another fun day! 

That was the end of Boot Camp. Shelly and Pam are hand guided only so left us at the end of day 3. The top photo was taken just before they left. Ruth Anne is Paul's wife and partner, working together as a team. Ruth Anne did hand guided, she is the piecer and applique artist and is she ever good at applique!

Day 4: It was just three of us... Paul, Joy and I learning how to do a custom layout with Mach3. I was on Shrek again all day. Prior to this I was sitting on the fence about purchasing and using the new software.  I jumped that fence and came home with the new software! 

Renae and I at Shrek on Day 4 doing a custom layout with Mach3

What a difference learning hands on with Renae, a person that not only knows the Innova longarm, but knows how to do custom computerized quilting. She not only answered all of my questions, I got to do and see what the new system offers hands on. That's how I learn best. Thank you Renae... you are the best! 

btw... the quilts on the walls are quilted by Renae, just seeing her work is amazing! Altho she knows digital, her award winning quilts are hand guided. Did you notice all of her ribbons lining the wall in the first picture? The best of her quilts are not there because they win Best of Show and now live in the AQS museum. I did get to see the newest one she is working on at the shop in her office on her Innova. Wow! Renae works with Karen Kay Buckley who does the piecing and all of the applique work, it's gorgeous!!! For all of her accomplishments, Renae is very humble and down to earth human being. I would recommend attending her Boot Camp or taking a class from her when she is out on the road. She has a couple of shows coming up this month... Las Vegas next weekend and Utah Quilt Festival Sept.21 thru 24th. Wish I was going!!!

What an experience I will never forget. 

Tot ziens, Jo 

Yuba City Quilt Show 2015

Brandie and I had a fun afternoon with a drive to Yuba City and attending Valley Quilt Guild's 32nd quilt show. This is the first quilt we were both drawn to in the first isle. Very cute and fun! The theme of the show was 'Not Your Grandma's Quilt' and this quilt fit that theme :0) Brandie loved the flamingos wearing boots. Very cute, Glamping in lots of bright prints! Hand quilted too!

Kim Buzolich was the featured quilter. Her quilts were stunning! She was there with her quilts in the next isle, we loved her work. Lots of machine as well as hand quilting on Hawaiian applique quilts. Kim's most recent work are quilts combining photography and free motion quilting. Gorgeous work and I didn't get one photo, we were so taken meeting Kim and admiring her work. Plus, right then we bumped into a friend that I haven't seen since my return to Chico. Nice! Link to new blog post with pix of Kim's quilts.

From that isle I spied Jim's big smile and headed over to visit the Sew So Shop's booth. I spent allot of time visiting with Jim and Nicky, owners of the shop and my Innova dealer. Caught up on the latest Innova news.  I've been hoping for a longarm event like Birds of a Feather on the west coast. Well that wish may come true later this year... Yea!

Back to quilts... my draw to quilts of course is the machine quilting :0)

Brandie and I both loved this one with piecing and applique. 

I like the cornerstones/sashing and the fill on this one.

 This quilt was just across from it and also beautifully quilted!

 This medallion quilt was fun, 

we both liked how she used the sun in the top and bottom borders.

 Another quilt with Civil War fabrics 

used to make these unusual blocks set on point and more wonderful quilting...

 Named Civil War Stars made by Linda Matsumoto

and quilted by Karen Litvinchuk

Karen Litvinchuk and Quilts by Kathy did allot of the machine quilting for the quilters at this show. Really nice work by both the piecers as well as the longarmers. I'm usually better at documenting who did what but Brandie and I were there for another purpose as well, connecting with vendors and we were getting short on time. We are the vendor chairs for our guild, Annie's Star Quilt Guild and it was nice to meet and greet vendors that will be coming to our show as well as inviting new vendors.

 More quilts, this one had some fun quilting done by it's maker

 A Sue Spargo inspired quilt of birds

I like the beaded neck on this one

and Brandie liked this one below, we both loved their feet :0)

 A second quilt made by Linda M and quilted by Karen Litvinchuk

Love the ruler work Karen did on this quilt

 Nice curved cross hatch on this one

:0(I took a pic of the placard but it's not readable)

 LOVED this one... with it's feathered stars

 Sandy Klop (American Jane) fabrics

 and the quilting WOW! These are some REALLY small stitches!!!

(again, placard is not legible, time for a new camera!)

or operator

One more, a row quilt

Not my favorite style of quilts but I do like this one

Especially with the row of little Swoon blocks :0)

It was a wonderful afternoon

Enjoy the week

Make the time to take some stitches because...

"We will be known forever by the tracks we leave."
Native American Proverb

tot ziens, Jo

Good day for Quilting

A thunderstorm come thru the Chico area last night and it's a bit chilly and cloudy this morning. Good day to stay indoors and quilt! Made good progress this week, both with my goals and my longarm. Binding is sewn on my April goal MidWinter's Blues quilt but not sewn down by hand yet plus I started a new quilt! A kit I picked up last summer at the Sew So Shop in Yuba City while I was deciding on the Innova. Sometimes a girl just needs some instant gratification! 

This is Cactus Flower with the addition of a few of my fabrics to brighten it up! The kit came with all Stonehenge fabrics from Northcott and the pattern is by Kate Mitchell Quilts. The centers of the SIC blocks were supposed to be a rust color but I plugged in that fuchsia, a fabric I knew I had when I bought the kit! The gold fabrics in the star blocks are from the same line. It's been up on my design wall since last weekend while I play around with the layout. Distractions can be helpful on a frustrating day :0) and I've had plenty of those! 

Hal, Harley and I are on back on the road to quilting! This week parts were installed and Wednesday I attended an all day training for Hal and the AP software. Yesterday, after some practice I started this log cabin quilt for Tina. Here is a sneak peak of the work in progress...

The loose threads are tie ends that will be buried in the quilt layers. We were going along just fine and then the tension devil hit again! Shut it down, picked out threads and called it a night. Since I could hear the thunder storm coming our way, it was a good time to unplug anyway. 

Well, last night the 'light bulb' went off and I know exactly why it happened. Breaking in a new machine is allot of work! Speaking of... time to get to it. 

I took one last picture of Shelly...

Shelly and Michael left for Texas on Monday morning and arrived safely for Michael's dad's 90th birthday on Wednesday. Happy Birthday Dan! Wish I was there with you all! Georgine, I love you! I'll be out to visit soon :0) You all have a wonderful evening tonight!

 Thank you for stopping by, enjoy your weekend!

 Jo

Update: So much for quilting all day today. Mom fell, EMT's were called out. She is fine, they checked her out and determined that nothing was broken and did not take her to a hospital. By 1:00 we had another thunderstorm right on top of Chico, not just yellow, it was red to magenta on the radar. Hail, hard rain and lots of lightning. Had to shut down all electronics including the longarm. Our home is old and the wiring needs updating big time. Most of the house doesn't even have grounded outlets, so I have no battery backup. It's the old fashioned unplugging until the storm moves out of the area! Radar is still showing yellow and it raining but I haven't heard any thunder for about an hour. Thank goodness for wireless :0) The storm that passed over us was small compared to what went over Sacramento about the same time today. It's headed East and according to Micheal will be in Texas by Sunday. Hope everyone has a safe weekend. Bear hugs, Jo

April Goal

Considering how hopelessly behind I am in my longarm quilting duties I am setting another easy goal for April for A lovely Year of Finishes. My goal is to quilt, bind and label a flimsy. This is MidWinter Blues, a QAL with Lori ~ Humble Quilts blog. The link will take you to her post and the linky with everyone's finished tops. I am the only crazy person that made the original inspiration quilt. I do wish I had taken the time to add sashing like Lori did in her version for the QAL, it would have been way more forgiving with these blocks set on point and all of those little triangles!

I plan to do a b2b (border to border) in the center field and a border with corner design for the outer border. I have a feather and scroll design in mind. Found some tea stained muslin in my stash for the backing and am good to go! It will also be good practice to do on my Innova. I love my Innova... and the Auto Pilot, well lets say we are beginning to get along a little better! 

This week as I was chatting with Nancy and Marna at Cathy's Honeyrun quilt store, Nancy was asking about my Innova. We started brainstorming ideas for names and I mentioned it had chrome handlebars, which I have yet to see on another Innova! With the names Innova and Auto Pilot she thought it sounded more like a spaceship or fancy motorcycle! So we thought of Harley! I like it!!! and the Auto Pilot, I'm thinking it needs it's own name... Hal because that computer has a mind of it's own!!! 

Harley and Hal. What do you think?

Quite happy that it's Friday altho I will be working this weekend to try and catch up. Had a wonderfully evening last night. Met for dinner with Donna, Esther, Brandie and Gail at the newest TBar on Forest/FlyingV in Chico that opened last week. Food was great! After we all went to our Annie's Star Quilt guild meeting with a trunk show with Rob Appell. Very entertaining!

Enjoy your weekend! 

Jo, who is looking forward to some Spring soon!