Postcard from Guatemala (top) by Sherry Davis Kleinman of Pacific Palisades, CA and Raspberry Sorbet (bottom) by Phyllis L. Green of Tustin, CA

HOT STUFF: The Chicago School of Fusing Faculty Exhibit: Dancing Trees by Frieda Anderson of Chicago, IL

MEN OF BIBLICAL PROPORTION Exhibit: When It Rains, It Pours, OR It’s 3:40, Do You Know Where Your Daughters Are? (Lot) by Jim Gatling, Merrilton, AR

There was way too much to see in the short time that I had. I should have come prepared with a list of everything I wanted to see, because I missed quite a bit. It was great to see quilts in person from the 2006 $100,000 Quilting Challenge winners, Men of Biblical Proportion, and Alzheimer’s Forgetting Piece by Piece exhibits that I’d only seen in photos before. You can see the 2007 showcase winners on the Road to California website when they post them, I wanted to share a few you might not see otherwise. Citrus Belt Quilters‘ own Don Beld was a featured artist this year. He is the founder of the Home of the Brave Quilt Project and also pieces and quilts all his work by hand. If I had written notes on who made each quilt I photographed, I could have shown you even more.

I took the class, Fine Hand Quilting from Cindy Walter and can now hand quilt forwards and backwards! (but not in my sleep yet). Backwards was easier for me. Below is what I worked on in class and practiced on every day since:

There was also great shopping! My favorites were Azuba-Ya Japanese fabrics and Cheri’s Crystals.

I received only positive comments from the showcase judges for Zéphirine Drouhin. At first I was actually slightly disappointed, as I was hoping to discover areas where I need to improve. After the shock wore off and the comments sunk in, I celebrated! Since there were no major problems with Zéphirine Drouhin, now I can dig right in to the second in my Old Garden Rose series, Reine des Violettes.

happy quilting!