We had a terrific meeting this past Tuesday, where we looked at the Road to California Quilt Conference in the rear-view mirror. We are lucky to have a national, juried quilt show (with vendors!) so close to our city, and called on our membership to bring in their quilts and projects from classes and to talk about this experience.
First up was Susan Helier, who talked about entering a quilt into a juried quilt show (she was a minute-man, taking over for the speaker who was scheduled). These are things to pay attention to:
- Deadlines — pay attention to what the forms say about when you have to enter (you can download most Juried Quilt Show Forms online at their respective websites). Some of them are up to three months ahead.
- Quilt — make sure your quilt is clean and an original design. That doesn’t mean you have to dream it up; you can take traditional blocks and arrange them in a new way, or use new colors and borders. At Road to California, no kits are allowed for the Quilters’ Showcase (their quilt show).
- Quilting — your quilting should suit the quilt. Susan emphasized that it should be evenly distributed all over the quilt.
- Photographs — Make sure you don’t have a lot of clutter in the background, and that you have good lighting. It’s okay if someone holds up the quilt for you, but crop them out. The guidelines for photograph resolution is in their entry form. (This image is how Elizabeth Eastmond photographed her quilt for this year’s entry — in her bedroom, on a quilt rack, where the light from the windows was really bright. She cropped out the background before she submitted it.)
There are basically four kinds of quilts we see at Road:
- Show Quilts — these are the ones that get the awards, that the makers spend one year making one quilt.
- Our quilts — we can enter just like the show quilts. Sometimes there are up to 1000 quilts vying for about 200 slots, so they have to be looked at by the judges to see if they can be accepted into the show. From that selection, they award the different prizes.
- Vendor quilts — we see these and notice them and buy them, but generally, vendors don’t enter the quilt show.
- Specialty exhibits — Famous Quilters will often offer up their collections for Road to display. We also have a SCCQG exhibit (see their website for more information), Hoffman exhibits, and this year we had a special exhibit at the back of the hall for thread-painted flower quilts.
Paula Wilcoxin brought a mini trunk-show of quilts from classes she has taken this past year and previous years. (Click to enlarge the pictures below.) It’s impressive how many she has finished up from her classes.
- A three-hour class on appliqués stitched on a machine
- Class using a photograph that is drawn onto fabric pieced over with Organza
- She also brought a quilt by Marsha Welch (Ruth Ann Berry?) – floated 3-D designs
- She talked about a Mini Splendor Appliqué Stitch Lab class she had taken from Linda Sullivan with Colorworkz (a previous teacher the Guild hired several years ago). She put each flower in its own square on a table runner.
- Then she showed her Vintage Windmill from Krista Moser’s class.
- She took a three-hour class on Watercolor class
- Showed a quilt called Island Breeze from Denton Quilt Works – when you buy a pattern you also have unlimited access to the videos on their website to accompany the pattern.
Paula ended by announcing that Road2CA 2025 classes will be on the Road website June of 2024, with registration for classes to begin on July 1, 2024.
And I found a photo of that Island Breeze class she took, standing there with our very own Susan Miller.
Another photo from Road this year, from Krista Moser’s class (Janice B., is that you?) Looks like we support the classes at Road very well!
Barbara Mathews talked about her time volunteering at the Roadies Give Back Booth. One year Road had a pattern called X’s and O’s, that was assembled by volunteers for charity. Barbara also talked about taking a French embroidery class. She also visited the booth Lucky Deluxe Fabric that had fabric, books, supplies, and lots of interesting things at reduced prices. Barbara show a great book she purchased for $2.00. Website: http://www.LuckyDeluxeFabrics.com.
Charlotte Byrne was next up, showing the quilt she was able to make based on her brother’s T-shirts. She learned that in a night class, The Easiest T-Shirt Quilt. Nighttime Road has a very different vibe. Fewer people, a more quiet time, smaller classes and more one-on-one time with the teacher. The teacher also had a vendor booth, Legit Kits and uses the website and email, crankykangaroo.com.
Sue Carter took a class called Diamond Days using a Sew Kind of Wonderful ruler. She showed the blocks with various sizes of Diamonds.
Shelly Niles was then up and showed her vendor purchase of a Carolina Moore Glow Ruler. The ruler lights up so it’s a great tool for fussy cutting fabric areas. (Carolina Moore will be a guest speaker at the next IEQG.)
Nancy Roth spoke about a really FUN time she had bringing a friend to Road that was new to quilting.
Dorothy Martinez talked about her volunteering to unpack quilts. In four hours a few volunteers unpacked 200 boxes. All of the details regarding how the quilt was packed were noted and entered into a computer program, which would then be used to repack the quilt when it is being prepared to be shipped back to the owner. This volunteering assignment earned a lunch on the unpacking day and an armband for access to the full Show. As soon as the show closes quilts are removed from the walls. Those that aren’t picked up by waiting quilters are taken to a group waiting in a special room for repacking.
Jeri Read talked about purchasing a Silicone Pad for ironing and making pull-through fabric binding. Other activities available at Road were Lectures from Vendors for $5.00 per person, and Make & Take short classes for $20 per person. Future Quilting Show opportunities: Quilt-Con will be in Phoenix, AZ February of 2025. There are other quilt shows around, put on by quilds, so watch for them.
NOTE: All of the notes for this write-up were taken by Charlotte Byrne — thank you Char! More details are on our Minutes from this meeting.
After the break, Charlotte Byrne talked about this month’s Block of the Month block: Alaska Lily. Only two blocks are left for our 2023-2024 quilt. Stay tuned for what’s coming next time!
- Ladonna Evers – a UFO reboot from a quilt she did not like.
- Barbara Mathews – Baby clothes for her grandson.
- Linda Kim – Valentine’s Quilt
- Kaye ?? – Dragon, Apples and Bones
- Carrie Alldis Valentine themed Table Runner, Mug Rug
- Laure Dike
As usual, click on images to enlarge. If you know the missing names from Show and Share, please send a note to our email: raincrossqg@gmail.com and we’ll update this post.
To keep track of all our outside activities, please refer to our Activities Tab, in our Header above. This will hold all the details for retreats, field trips, etc. NEW! today is the sign-up form for our Ayres Guild Retreat, November 2024.
- A N N O U N C E M E N T S for the Guild:
- 4th SATURDAY SEW DAY: 4th Saturday Sew Days are at the Lake Matthews location. Please drop Barbara Mathews a note ahead of time, so she knows how many tables to set up. Directory is in the Members Only section of our website. See sidebar for updates.
- GUILD TRANSITION COMMITTEE: Thank you to our volunteers: Maria Copak, Christine Oliver, and Barbara Mathews, who will be joining Jeri Read (with an assist from the Bylaws Committee members) to help us move (slowly) to our updated Guild. Jeri will let you know what and when, but please do read what has to happen with our transition here. For questions or info, contact Jeri Read.
- NOMINATING COMMITTEE is on the ball and ready to nominate you to serve for our of our positions, listed here (scroll down). Contact Debbie Warner, Linda Adams, or Elizabeth Eastmond for more information about serving next year on our Guild’s Board or as one of the Standing Committee Chairs. We need you!
- BYLAWS/STANDING RULES: The final copies of the Bylaws and the Standing Rules are posted under the BYLAWS & FORMS tab, above. If you have questions, feel free to email us at raincrossqg@gmail.com.
- PROGRAM FOR MARCH: We happily get to hear from Barbara Mathews, who will talk about Collage Quilts to us, and give us a trunk show of all the collage she’s done. Can’t wait!
- WE’LL SEE YOU IN MARCH: If you haven’t paid your dues, according to the new Bylaws, you have until the March meeting to get the payment in. Send it to our Membership Chair, Dawn Meade, along with your check for either $10 (for dues from now until June 2024) OR $45 (for dues from now until June 2025). We wrote into the By-Laws an “on-time reward:” your dues will be less costly if you pay by the March meeting; after that the amount goes up. For more information see the form online. Dawn Meade can also give you more information (contact info is in the Directory in the Members Only section).
- IF YOU HAVE AN ANNOUNCEMENT, please email us at raincrossqg@gmail.com.
We received this letter this past month, from Mark, of MCC. Every year they have a festival, and all profits go to help worthy causes; this year they are helping Ukraine and Gaza. They are in desperate need of someone to run the Quilt Auction. If you are someone who can help, or know someone who can help, send an email him at the address below.
My name is Mark and I love quilts. We have lots of them in my house – though neither I nor my wife have made them. The majority have come from the Southern California Festival and Sale which sends all its profits to an international non-profit called MCC that provides material aid to people world-wide. They are helping people in Ukraine and Gaza right now with things like food, blankets, and toiletry kits.
The Southern California Festival and Sale auctions off quilts to produce sales for MCC. I volunteered to lead this year’s event, May 3,4 and we desperately need a quilt expert who will lead the logistics behind the quilt auction. Our previous quilt expert finally decided to pass the torch on to others after many years of faithful service.
Do you know of someone who might be interested in being our expert and donating their time? Could you spread the word through an announcement at a meeting or via your email list? You could just forward this email to people who you think might be interested. I’ll have a full description of what needs to be done soon and will send that if you are interested in assisting in getting the word out.
Thank you,
Mark McReynolds
socalmccsale@gmail.com
Sale Link – https://www.socalfestivalandsale.org/?fbclid=IwAR1ZJkfaxppX7U1p0-XqIjGv8GKLeMvZgRFiyt1e5M8PwhDMHfDjdWU0YDo
MCC Link – https://mcc.org/events/relief-sales
If you have news for our Guild, or something of interest from the greater quilt world, the deadline for our next post is WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13, 2024, AT 9 A.M.
It’s always okay to send it early.
Send any items to our guild email: raincrossqg@gmail.com
If you miss the deadline (it happens), we’ll put it on the next post.
Raincross Quilt Guild • Riverside, CA 