The Road to California Quilt Show

Debi and I had a blast at the Quilt Show, walked our feet off, and came home laden with all sorts of "must have" goodies.  The quilts on display were true works of art in their own right. The talent from around the world displayed here was almost overwhelming. And an inspiration for what is possible given time and talent. Quilts are so much more than bed covers. 

Here is a description and aerial shot of booths in the main hall, courtesy of the Road to California website:

Road to California is the premier consumer quilt show West of the Rocky Mountains, awarding over $92,000 to fiber artists from around the world. More than 42,000 visitors from all 50 states and several foreign countries come each January to view exhibits featuring antique, traditional, art and modern quilts designed by both national and international quilt groups. A vibrant vendor mall of over 225 nationally and internationally known retailers feature the very latest to see, try and buy in quilt making supplies, machines, notions, antique quilts and gift items. Classes taught by a distinguished faculty are geared to all levels of quilters, offering assistance with traditional to modern techniques, hand and machine quilting skills and the latest in surface-embellishment using paint, thread and embroidery. Join us at Road to California Quilters Conference in Ontario, California for a complete immersion into the quilting world.


Judging by the number of folks attending, I would guess that anything to do with fiber arts is alive and well in the US. And it's surely the largest platinum-haired group I have ever seen gathered in one spot!

this one-block wonder quilt displayed in the foyer caught my eye

The convention center is huge and both halls were packed with vendors and attendees. There was also a large tent set up outside with even more vendors, as well as food booths.


There were quilts on display throughout. Several caught my eye in passing. 



This booth had fabrics from South Africa and I chatted with the owner who lived there for a decade after completing her studies in Cape Town.


Several quilt-related t-shirts caught my eye as we made our way around:




Aisles were devoted to displays of various categories of quilts and fiber arts. This one with science-fiction costumes was intriguing.

As were these garments....


The detail and workmanship in these quilts was quite astounding:


I wondered how many hours this quilt took to complete.




I loved the modern quilts:






This fabric rendition is of a topographical map:


And this whimsical quilt, with fully functional zippers, was created by a male quilter:






I especially enjoyed the many landscape and portrait quilts, something I want to focus on for future quilts:

loved this one of twins after their bath, with their favorite animals!

This prize-winning portrait of a grandmother was outstanding and looked very life-like.

There was a section of quilts created with a technique called thread painting. This one is entirely constructed with colored threads and the quilter in the one below used only black thread.






Many years ago I watched a quilt program on TV in which the quilter demonstrated how she used confetti-sized fabric snips to create her mosaic-like landscapes. And at the quilt show there was one for me to view up close.




The many animal quilts were equally stunning.






This prize-winning quilt of mountain goats was spectacular, and the white wool fiber made the animals look quite realistic.


The detailed quilting on this elephant was exquisite.


As was the intricate piecing.


The section on floral quilts was equally riveting with its variety in techniques used.












This wall hanging depicting different seasons was interesting. The detailed thread work used on the tree was beautiful.


The various techniques used for landscape quilts was most interesting.








I liked the use of blue and gray in this Scandinavian quilt.


More traditional quilts using what I call old-fashioned blocks:


Another award-winning quilt with ingenious use of various fabrics, including lace, that produce a 3-D effect:






This was created by an 8-year-old girl! I predict she will go far...


At the Bernina booth, I finally met Kari, face to face. She is the moderator of our Bernina software Yahoo group and over the years we have corresponded but this is the first time we met face to face. 


One of my favorite quilting ladies had a booth at the show and I got to meet her and chat with her too. I first heard of Edyta Sitar of Laundry Basket Quilts on a quilt show and have loved her quilts and method for creating perfect half-square triangles ever since.  

My old neighbor also likes her quilts, and one other Alpine quilter made one of her house quilts. So it was a rare treat to see Edyta's house quilt in person.

Edyta's heritage, like mine, is Polish. I knew that about her but what I didn't know is that her parents lived in the same area of Eastern Poland and like my parents, when war was declared, hers were also shipped off to Siberia as POW's. I know many offspring of the Siberian deportees but this is the first time Edyta met one with similar roots and could chat in Polish with her.