Road to California

I went to the Road to California quilt show on Thursday with four of the ladies from The Oasis Quilt Guild.  We had a blast!  This is the largest quilt show that I have ever gone to; I've attended each of the last four years.  The quilts are exquisite, and there are a lot of vendors to tempt me.  The show runs from Wednesday night through Sunday at the Ontario Convention Center, about 1 1/2 hours away from me depending on traffic.  Some year, I'm going to plan ahead and actually take a class!

Quilt in a Day had a booth, and Eleanor Burns was holding court.  It's amazing how many people wanted to have their picture taken with her!  Alex Anderson was and Ricky Tims were also manning a booth for The Quilt Show.  (Note:  Guess the man at the show with Alex was her husband, John, and not Ricky Tims.  Must work on my accuracy - and watch more tv!) Alex is just as pretty in real life as she is on tv!  I'm not really a celebrity watcher, but it was fun to spot these quilting heroes.

The real heroes of the show, though, are the gorgeous quilts on display and the quilters who designed them, created them, and quilted them.  Here are some of the ones that spoke to me:

I kept coming back to this one again and again, probably because it is so striking.  My photographic skills are minimal, even with these wonderful digital cameras, but I hope you can imagine the impact of this quilt.  What you cannot see from this photo is the intricacy of the quilting.  By the way, I made a huge mistake in not jotting down information about these quilts.  I apologize to the artists!  The background of this quilt is black.  I can't even stitch a hem on black without cursing!  Here's another picture showing the beautiful quilting:Many of those viewing this quilt stood at the back just admiring the detail.  I know because I kept coming back to this quilt over and over.  A few more that caught my eye (if you click on the picture, you'll get an expanded view):

And, lastly, here's a ribbon winner that I really fell in love with.  This quilt won for Best Pictorial Quilt.  Don't you just love her eyes?  Has to be a female, don't you think?