Road to California

I spent last weekend at the quilt show, Road To California. As usual it was a wonderful weekend filled with great moments. I have been involved and attending this show since 1996, when in my role as president of the Southern California Quilt Council, we helped put together the first of the quilt shows that were to be connected with the quilters retreat Road to California. It's amazing to see how Carolyn has grown this show, and how everything works so well and continues to just get better.

At this time of year it's really fun to walk through the show and take in the festive feeling as friends meet, entrants have their photos taken in front of their quilts, and folks shop for all that is new and wonderful. And, shop they did!

This year I had a great time showing my new quilt patterns as the 'stunt quilter' in Natalie Barnes booth, Beyond the Reef. We worked really hard but had an absolute blast cutting fabric, helping with color selections and meeting so many people from all over the country. There's always a lot of laughter in Natalie's booth and this year was no exception. Thank you Natalie... and of course my cohorts Vickie, Barb & Lisa. There is a photo of the five of us, but by the time I got my camera out only Natalie and The Vixter were holding down the fort.


The quilts were great this year as well, and it was the opening venue for Noble Elements: Spring Forward. This is a group of quilters who have been exhibiting together for a number of years, and this is the first of our new series of quilts that will thematically cover Spring, Summer, Fall & Winter. My plan is have these pieces be a place for my ravens to appear, and my quilt this year is called, It's in the Air. It's always fun to see how the theme is interpeted and this year was no different.



On Sunday I was in Eileen Alber's booth, The Quilters Studio signing books. Sunday is the quiet day at Road. It starts out very low key... (probably due to the party fun happening on Saturday night) but by noon it is hopping. I had a great time. It was fun to talk with so many people and be able to sign copies of my new book. One woman stood in front of the table where I sat and said to her friends, "this is the magical book", and when I told her I was the author she was so excited. I just had to have my picture taken with her, and want to thank Debra for her wonderful description of my book.

A great time was had by all, and by Sunday I was contentedly tired. As I left I took a last quick tour to see everyone enjoying the festival atmosphere and soak up that feeling to recall and enjoy another day.

Now I'm off to northern California to present at council.
~Rose

The New Year is Here!

Someone blinked and the month of December was gone. I do hope that your holidays were filled with wonder and that '09 got ushered in well. I personally spent the week between holidays relocating my studio and making all kinds of changes to make this happen. I am hoping to have most everything tucked away in it's new home soon.

I also went in search of words to get the New Year started right. I found a lot of beautiful quotes from some amazing sources but I knew when I found the one I'm sharing here that it truly summed up my hopes for 2009.

'Be careful what you water your dreams with. Water them with worry and fear and will produce weeds that choke the life from your dream. Water them with optimism and solutions and you cultivate success. Always be on the lookout for ways to turn a problem into an opportunity for success. Always be on the lookout for ways to nuture your dream." ~ Lao Tzu

May 2009 bring you waters of optimism and creative ideas so your dreams may be watered turning any problem into opportunity.

Light & Happiness
~Rose