A lot of people have been sewing in 2020. With a slower pace brought on by lockdowns and quarantines, many individuals have either started to sew, returned to sewing, or upped their sewing game. All that sewing and quilting means a lot of sewing machines are being used – which is a great thing. But it also means that those sewing machines need some purposeful attention to make sure they are working at their best. That attention includes regular and frequent cleaning – some of which can by be done DIY at home.

Why DIY Sewing Machine Cleaning

Road reached out to Bill Pollard, co-owner and frequent Road Sponsor, Pollard’s Sew Creative, who has been kept more busy than usual in 2020 servicing sewing machines. Bill has over 30 years’ experience repairing sewing machines.

Generally, he fixes 3 sewing machines a day, five days a week, and keeps a log of all his repairs.

Bill started off by saying many of his customers feel so proud when they bring in their sewing machine and brag to him, “I’ve had my machine for 25 years and this is the first time I’ve ever had to bring it in.”  What that is actually telling Bill is that they have neglected their machine for 24 years. Undoubtedly, when he opens the machine up, he finds that it is filthy inside and many of the parts are not working. Bill says that some of this wear and tear can be avoided if the owner spends some time with DIY Sewing Machine Cleaning. Here are 5 most common complaints Bill receives and what a sewing machine owner can do to avoid them:

Thread

Using poor quality thread wears a machine down. Thread begins to rot after 5 years. Old or bad thread causes lint to collect, both in the top and bottom of a machine. When thread is old, it also frays, disrupting the tension. “The biggest problem I find in older sewing machines is that the sewer is using old thread,” said Bill. What is considered good thread? “Any thread that costs more than $2.50,” replied Bill. Thread from Road Vendors like Superior Threads, Sulky of America, and Wonderfil Specialty Threads.  

To avoid thread issues, Bill recommends cleaning out the tension area regularly.

Needles

Did you know that one out of every 100 needles produced is a bad needle? Therefore, there’s a chance the brand-new needle you are putting in your machine is a bad needle. Another way needles get in the way of efficient sewing is that they wear out and become dull.

What DIY Sewing Machine Cleaning attention should be given to avoid issues with your needle?

1. Change your needle every 10 hours or with every project
2. Use the right needle for your project
3. Never use a “Singer” needle in a European sewing machine
4. Be careful not to overtighten a needle when inserting it into the machine as it might strip the screw. When possible, only tighten by hand.

Tension

When customers come in and complain that “My machine doesn’t sew,” or “I’m getting looping,” Bill knows right away there is a tension issue. Bill related there are two areas to pay attention to with tension: flossing the tension and the tension dial.

Flossing your thread means making sure your thread has gone through the tension unit. The tension unit is made up of two washers that push together during sewing, putting pressure on the thread. To make sure the tension is working properly, as you thread your machine, the pressure foot needs to be up so the washers are open. If the pressure foot is down, the washers are closed, and the thread just lays on top of the washers. This results in looping on the back side of your project.  Bill added that you can test to see if your tension is set properly by lightly tugging on the thread. If it resists, you are ready to put the pressure foot down and begin sewing.   

Regarding the tension dial, Bill said it should never be set to zero. He always encourages customers to play with the tension dial especially when using different weight thread.

Bobbin Case

A bobbin case should be cleaned out after every use due to lint collection. DIY Sewing Machine Cleaning in the bobbin area is easy. Simply blowing on the case will get rid of the lint.

Another area of lint collection is with the feed dogs. Take off the plate and use tweezers to remove the lint.  

Bill says that you should never use a bobbin that wasn’t made for your machine. Buy bobbins only from a dealer and not online. Generic bobbins that “works with” a type of machine are similar in size and shape but are not an exact fit.

Never wind a bobbin with more than one color thread. This plays havoc with tension especially if the threads are different weights.

Clean the Outside of a Sewing Machine

Bill related that this should be an obvious DIY Sewing Machine Cleaning step but many people ignore it. Dust it off after each use to avoid lint build up using a rag and a general-purpose cleaner like 409. Don’t put stickers or permanent ink on the outside of the machine.  

These are great DIY Sewing Machine Cleaning Tips that should be done regularly to preserve your machine. However, Bill also recommends taking in your machine for professional cleaning and care at least every year. If you are a heavy sewer (sewing daily), you should take your machine in every 6-8 months.. One of the most important things a professional sewing machine repair person does is oil the inner most part of your machine. While you might think your machine does not need oiling, (that statement only refers to consumers doing the oiling), Bill reminds us that all machines require oil that only professionals can do.

A sewing machine is an investment. Like an automobile, it needs to be maintained and serviced regularly to perform at its best.

This guide may look the same, but with Road@Home, there is one additional step to register. Please pay close attention to how to change your conference so registration appears!

In the photo above you can see our main website at www.road2ca.com which now has a login button and a My Account tab.

Here is the log in page where you can log into your account. You can also reset your password if you forgot it.

This is the reset password page where you can reset your password. 

If you have never taken classes before you can create a new account. Please note: accounts must have a unique email address. If your friend wants to take a class with you, they need their own account to register for a class.

If you are trying to register on a mobile device or your computer screen is smaller you will not have the login button or the tabs at the top, but instead three bars in the right hand corner.

You will want to click on the three bars and you will receive a drop down menu where you can login.

Now we need to make sure we are in the correct conference. Due to us postponing Road to California 2021. You can actually still register for the classes as they are postponed to 2022.

How to Change Your Conference

You want to make sure once you are on the Choose Conference page that your active conference is listed as Road@Home. If it is not you can change it using the drop down menu on the page.

Now that you are logged into your account and in the correct conference you will use the My Account Tab to enter the Registration process by clicking Register.

The Registration system is similar to how the old system is. You will click Add to Cart to add a class to your schedule and use the drop-down menu to travel between days. You can click the title of a class to go straight to that classes specific information page. Also, you will find a separate page for Volunteer Opportunities.

All of your classes and volunteer shifts will end up in your schedule as shown above with your Events/Classes to be Purchased below. The Registration Fee is only charged once and is added to your cart automatically.

The last section is the payment section which will then lead into the Registration Confirmation section.

When you click the Register Button please only click it once and do not click the reload or back button on your browser, wait for the system to take you to the next step. By clicking it multiple times you are causing the system to record multiple error payments. 

On the first day of general registration at 8 am we always suggest having the list of classes you want to take written down and that you prioritize registering for the class you want the most. Sadly, some classes can sell out quickly, but you can always add to the waitlist in case of an opening later.

If you have any questions about classes or the cancellation policy you can find them at https://online.roadtocalifornia.com/pageroad.php?ID=92.

Remember, General Registration begins November 3rd at 8 am PST for Road@Home.

One of the highlights of each Road to California Quilt Show is the anticipation of which quilt, from the over 200 accepted for the quilt contest, will be recognized as the Best of Show Winner by the judges.  

Because Road is moving forward in 2021 with an all online quilt show, Road@Home, the decision was made not to have our traditional quilt contest. Details for a quilt contest that is more conducive to the online format are being finalized and will be announced soon. Road is confident that they will receive many entries from excited quilters and can’t wait to see everyone’s creativity with the new categories.

Even though going forward for 2021 means no Best of Show quilt, we can still appreciate all the hard work and dedication from the makers and quilters of the last two Best of Show quilts.

Janet Stone

Janet Stone first started making quilts out of printed panels and tied with yarns back in the 80’s. Moving forward, she started quilting again, between lots of cross stitching, about 1995. Janet finally got “serious” about quilting in 2006 when she bought a new sewing machine. She entered a show in 2008 with the first quilt that she designed that had an alphabet in it and won 3 ribbons. That first winning experience, “immediately hooked” Janet on quilting for shows.

Janet is known for her trademark alphabet quilts. She decided to do a series of 26 alphabet quilts and Garden Variety Sampler, the 2019 Road to California Best of Show, is number 17 in the series.

Garden Variety Sampler was inspired by Janet’s many years of stitching reproduction antique cross stitch samplers. She was also inspired by some Japanese quilts that she had seen in several shows that use taupe fabrics, which Janet loves. The layout of Garden Variety Sampler was loosely based on a page from an antique children’s book, written by Walter Crane in 1878. It took Janet about 7 months to complete. She works a regular 9-6 office job, so is only able to quilt in the evenings and weekends. The quilt was designed the old fashioned way – using graph paper – and was quilted on a domestic sewing machine.

Marilyn Badger

Marilyn Badger has won several awards at Road to California and was even the Featured Artist in 2013. But moving forward and winning the Best of Show award at Road’s 25th Anniversary Show in 2020 was extra special. Marilyn commented, “I know how difficult Best of Show awards are to come by – the competition is incredible today! I also know how lucky I am when I win, whatever the award.”

Claudia Clark Myers came up with the design for Christmas at St. Andrews and challenged Marilyn to use the plaid fabric in the background. After all the piecing, appliqué and quilting, Marilyn really “had fun” adding the hand details and trims.

It took Marilyn about 9 months to complete Christmas in St. Andrews. She said that she tends to be somewhat obsessive about getting a quilt finished before starting another one. Quite a few were waiting in line when she was working on this one. By the time it was finished, she was more than ready to move on to the next one. Marilyn said she really learned a lot about matching plaid seams while making this quilt. She eventually used 6 yards of fabric by the time she fussy cut everything.

While we are moving forward with a new and innovative Show for 2021, we know we will be seeing more outstanding Best of Show winners starting again in 2022.

To learn more about Road@Home, please visit our website and be sure to opt in for our new and improved newsletter.

This past week, our show’s owner, Matt Reese, announced changes to our annual quilt contest for Road@Home 2021. There will be three categories:

Could Be Your Grandma’s Quilt

A spin on traditional quilts including traditional blocks

What You See

Realistic imagery featuring pictorial and animal designs

What You Think You See

Non-realistic images

Details about the quilt contest will be available soon.

As we prepare for a different kind of show with a different kind of quilt contest, we wanted to spend some more time remembering some truly amazing quilts – Best of Show winners 2017 – 2018.

Remembering The Twisted Sister

In 2017, Margaret Solomon Gunn of Gorham, Maine, won $10,000 for The Twisted Sister. This quilt is the sister quilt (hence the name) to Margaret’s 2015 quilt, Bouquet Royale.  The earlier design featured the elongated hexagons of Lucy Boston, set on silk Radiance.  Margaret loved the process of hand piecing the fussy-cut pieces so much, she decided to do it again.  The Twisted Sister also has fussy-cut pieces, but they are regular hexagons.  They are not English Paper Piecing, but rather a hand-pieced technique Maragret developed that is much better for custom quilting.  The colors in the quilt are Margaret’s “current fave” – pinks, greens and orange.  She also has a current addiction with silk, so Margaret revealed, “you can expect the backgrounds of my quilts to be silk Radiance for some time to come! It allows me to use bolder prints elsewhere because the quilting will always show beautifully on the silk.”  The Twisted Sister’s blocks feature a crazy zebra print (because Margaret says this sister is a whole lot more wilder!), and an asymmetrical twisting border.   There is also a twisting motif in the quilting of the outer border. It took Margaret about 16-17 months — from the time she started the blocks– to complete the quilt.  There is about 180 hours in the quilting alone and about 120 hours in the binding.  Margaret realizes that small points in judging “can be won and lost with finishing, so most of my quilts feature more unique edge treatments.”

2018 Best of Show: Fractal

Like Margaret Solomon Gunn, German quilting pioneer, Claudia Pfeil, found new quilting creativity after she purchased her longarm machine in 2005. Remembering her purchase, Claudia said, that she found a way to “express myself through fabric and thread that was exciting, addictive and fun.” Claudia says that free-motion quilting gives her the freedom–“like an eagle flying over the mountains”– to play with spaces and quilting designs.

When Claudia begins a project, she likes to work with a theme. Themes challenge her, get her out of her comfort zone, and start her thinking “out of the box.” Her theme for Fractal was kaleidoscopes. Claudia searched Google for pictures of kaleidoscopes and endless links introduced her to fractals. She admits that before then, she really didn’t know what fractals were.  She became fascinated by their dynamic, vitality and vibrancy. Before falling asleep at night, she would collect dreams and visions of her theme and began thinking about how she could translate her visions into realistic designs. She began by preparing circles in different sizes out of white Dupioni silk on freezer paper templates. Next, she drew designs on to the circles, first with pencil, then if she was satisfied, she drew them with a black pen (Faber-Castell)  filling in the details and painted them with acrylic colors (Stewart Gill) and Tsukineko ink pens. Playing and creating the layers is one of the main parts of the quilt. Claudia tried to enhance this impression with the choice and placement of quilting designs. Using 100 wt black silk thread, it took several backtracking stitches around the outlines of the circle designs to repeat and enhance the black drawing lines. The design was couched with different yarns (for example Razzle Dazzle and Yli ) around all outlines, respecting again the different layers to create a foreground and a background. Her final touch? 30,000 Swarovski Crystals!!! Besides learning about fractals, Claudia also learned by trial and error how to use mixed types of ink and paints and pens while making Fractal. She commented, “I learned that it is hard to get rid of pencil drawings on silk.”

Remembering past winners is a great way to be inspired for new quilting ideas.

With the pause in our traditional quilt contest, Road realized that there are probably a lot of quilters who were forced to pause in their creating of potential show winning quilts. Also, there’s probably been a pause for quilters who were looking for new inspiration as well as missing the opportunity to show appreciation for outstanding quilt work. Since we temporarily won’t be able to look forward to our next contest winners, Road realized that perhaps for now, great quilt inspiration will have to be found by looking back. Do you remember these past Best of Show winners and their award-winning quilts?    

Once Upon a Time

Sharon Schamber of Payson, Arizona, received $6,000 in 2014 for her Best of Show winner. The quilt was inspired by her love for the romantic and delicate details of the Victorian era. Said Sharon, “I love how things are both simple and complex at the same time. I wanted to create a medallion quilt that spoke to that romantic notion.” Sharon chose blue roses because “they were unique and the quilt asked/demanded something special like them.”  At the time she started on the quilt, there were no actual blue roses, but by the time she had finished, they became available. Sharon likes to think that “maybe the quilt knew something that the rest of the world hadn’t thought about yet.” Sharon actually began Once Upon A Time in 2000. Her lengthy process to complete this best of show winner taught Sharon that each quilt truly has its own schedule and identity. “You have to follow the clues it gives you if you want the best out of it and yourself,” remarked Sharon. Even though it took 14 years to finish, Sharon felt it was an amazing adventure and she “enjoyed every minute of it.”

Vivaldi by Moonlight

In 2015, the prize for Best of Show increased to $10,000. That year, the winner was Sandra Leichner, from Albany, Oregon.  Regarding her winning design, Sandra shared how she wanted to make a different style of wholecloth and at the same time, challenge her skills. She said that she was mostly known for her handwork skills and felt that her machine quilting skills were “inevitably overlooked because the viewer focus was always on my handwork.” From the onset, Sharon said that “I knew I did not want feathers etc. I wanted to create a totally original design in my artistic style using only machine quilting to create the overall design. Although it is a wholecloth, I have used a subtle monochromatic thread color palette to create added depth and incorporate more visual dimension to the intricate twining quilting design.” Vivaldi by Moonlight was originally made for Sharon’s bed but when the quilt became “too fancy to allow my neurotic kitty Milo, who lives on my bed, to sink his claws into” it, she decided to enter it and “see what would happen.” What happened was the best of show winner for 2015.

Silk Road Sampler

Do you remember the fuss this 2016 best of show winner caused on the show floor? Road received many complaints that maker and quilter, Melissa Sobotka, just stitched around one piece of fabric. It wasn’t until one looked up close at the immense detail of this art quilt, that one realized that Silk Road Sampler was truly a masterpiece. It took Melissa 5 months to complete this best of show winner which was inspired by a picture she took in the spice market in Istanbul. She thought the designs on the pillows were something that many appliquers would appreciate and that it would be a busy enough design for her to enjoy working on for many months. About 4 months into the project, Melissa wondered. “What have I got myself into?” The detail on the bottom section nearly put her into “a straight jacket.” But as with all her quilts, Melissa just “faced the challenges head on, a little more each day, until it was finally completed.

It is so fun to look back at past best of show winners. Stay tuned for the best of show winners from 2017 – 2020 in our next blog post.

Have you ever wondered how a quilter ends up writing a quilt book? Meet Teri Lucas, an accomplished quilter, owner of TerifiCreations and a new quilt book author.

Getting Started in Quilting

Teri shared that for her, quilting “started while working on a project for the kids at Church that led to making patchwork placemats for my sister and her fiancé. While working on these projects my husband watched the joy I was experiencing and told me I needed a hobby. The patchwork placemats led to quilting. A friend showed me how to hand quilt and off I went.”

The aspect of quilting that Teri likes most is machine quilting. She says that it brings her the greatest joy. “The hum of the machine, the designs in my head forming under the needle, seeing the whole work come together.”

A Quilt Teacher

Before becoming a quilt book author, Teri was a quilt teacher. She formally began teaching quilting in 2009. She likes to help her students realize that it’s okay to make mistakes, and then she likes to present to them different solutions to move past the mistakes. She also tells her students that quilting outside the lines is “kinda cool” and that wherever they are in quilting is the right place to be.

Quilt Book Author

Teri calls herself a Chief Creative Weirdo. Her creativity led her to publishing her first quilt book, Color, Thread & Free-Motion Quilting: Learn to Stitch with Reckless Abandon in July, 2020.

Teri explained the reason why she focused on thread for her book: “As machine quilters know, thread color can dramatically affect the look and mood of your quilt.”  By using color theory and solid design principles, Teri uses her book to explain how specialty threads in different weights can make motifs stand out the most against the fabric. She shares free-motion tips and tricks as well as her “Impractical Color Wheels.” Teri’s intent is to help quilters learn the thread choice rules so they can be broken!!

Teri’s COVID-19 Adventure

Last April, when COVID-19 was still relatively new, Teri and her husband moved from New York to Texas. They drove 1,700 miles to their temporary home, living in a hotel from mid-April until the end of August. They are still settling into their new home and much to Teri’s dismay, her sewing room still isn’t organized.

What has the pandemic taught this quilt book author? “The biggest affirmation through this: we are built and made for community. This separateness has been hard on everyone for many reasons. The second is: no matter what be kind and presume good motivation/intent. There may be things going on with someone that we do not know.”

Road wishes Teri Lucas the best of luck on her new quilt book adventure.

By now I’m sure you all have read our newsletter discussing the postponement of Road 2021 in-person. I wanted to personally reach out to all of you and answer some questions we got in our email.

Hotel Reservations

If you filled out a form at Road in 2020 for a hotel room for 2021 you have not lost your reservation. A representative from the Ontario Convention & Visitors Bureau will be contacting you to confirm you want to transfer your reservation to 2022. We are currently negotiating to ensure there is not a hotel rate increase for 2022. This process does take some time, but we are hoping to begin contacting individuals within the next month.

If you want to cancel your reservation, please let them know when they call you. We will not be processing any hotel reservations or cancellations in the Road office.

Show Postponement

I know the terminology that we used is very confusing. Here is the longer story.

Back when my grandmother owned Road to California, she would sign year to year contracts. This allowed the family the option to close the business with minimal issues should something happen to her.

When I purchased the company, we started signing multi-year contracts. Our last contract with OCC expired in 2021. OCC holds dates for us 5-10 years in the future, however they are not contracted dates, just courtesy holds. 

When we had our meeting to determine the fate of Road 2021, OCC exercised their right under the contract to postpone the show to later dates. Rather than attempting to guess when the pandemic would end, we encouraged them to select our 2022 dates. They kept our advanced deposits and adjusted our 2021 contract to 2022.

That is why we considered this a “postponement”. We knew that OCC would be able to exercise this option back when we opened class registration. That is why we posted both “cancellation” and “postponement” options for the registrants prior to the start of class registration. Also, we included in all our teacher contracts that should the show be postponed, their contract could automatically be transferred to our 2022 dates.

We will be adding to our class catalog as time goes on. Our yearly class fees increase will take place on March 1, 2021 – so for the best deal make sure you sign up for Road 2022 prior to the price increase. We will be taking our class registration system off line for the time being until we update with new dates for 2022. We expect to open 2022 registration up sometime in mid November. If you already registered, we have emailed you and your registrations are confirmed awaiting your decision.

Newsletter

As some of you may have seen, our new newsletter provider decided that our email newsletter list was all spam….. This required us to have everyone re-opt in again to our newsletter. As annoying as that may be it’s the only we can put your email address in our new system. Make sure you opt in to receive our newsletter by going to this page.

Once you opt in the system will sent you the most recent newsletter.

Road@Home Classes

Road@Home classes will be posted online no later than October 20, 2020. Our catalog includes over 150 classes, lectures, panels, professional development seminars and events. You’ll definitely be super busy in January with all that we have planned – you really don’t want to miss it.

Just like an in person show you will have the ability to shop vendors, attend lectures, classes and special events. We will have chat rooms for you to chat with fellow quilters and even RoadTV – our new TV network.  Our special exhibit gallery is absolutely stunning. These aren’t flat pictures of quilts – you’ll be amazed at the quality of the images.

We know there is so much to do with Road@Home that it may be overwhelming. No worries – we will be posting articles and RoadTV videos on how to access everything!

Road@Home Registration

I know many of you are excited for the opening of Road@Home class registration. We are too! Priority Registration for Road@Home is automatically granted to those individuals with active class registrations for Road 2021 (Now Road 2022).  Priority begins on October 23, 2020. General registration begins on November 3, 2020.

Concluding…

Although we won’t be able to be together in person, Road@Home is the next best thing. Stay tuned for even more announcements and updates regarding Road@Home! I can’t wait to virtually see all of you in January!

Matt

What is a Quilt Sleeve?

A quilt sleeve allows a quilt to hang evenly. It helps to prevent stretching that occurs when the quilt is hung from a wall when using a type of fastener. A DIY quilt sleeve can be permanent or temporary and it can be sewn on after or at the same time you apply binding.

How to Make a DIY Quilt Sleeve

Road Staff came up with their version of a quilt sleeve that is easy to make:

Hanging Your Quilt

Once the quilt sleeve has been attached to the quilt, slide either a wooden dowel or slender piece of wood that is 1″ longer than the finished sleeve into the sleeve and hang as desired.

A consistently popular vendor at Road to California is Cherrywood Fabrics – 100% Cotton hand dyed fabrics that have the look and feel of suede.

In addition to their booth, since 2015, Cherrywood Fabrics has also presented Special Exhibits of their unique Cherrywood Challenges. Road 2021 was supposed to be the debut of the Cherrywood Challenge, Diana, in honor of Princess Diana. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, the Diana Challenge Special Exhibit has been put on hold.

How else has COVID-19 impacted Cherrywood Fabrics? Road reached out to Karla Overland, owner of Cherrywood Fabrics, to find out the latest.

How has Cherrywood Fabrics Adapted to COVID-19?

When the pandemic first hit, Cherrywood immediately went in to “Face Mask” mode, cutting and donating hundreds of facemask kits for local seamstresses to make masks for healthcare workers. Because of this, Cherrywood did not have to furlough any workers. They were also able to keep filling online orders due to a healthy website following. In May, the company decided to take the leap into social media selling. Karla recalls, “It was a very steep learning curve, but we now have five months of weekly Facebook shows under our belt. I am also doing Zoom sewing workshops now and inviting guests to join me on both formats.”

The Facebook LIVE sales have been “fantastic.” Karla believes this was due to several factors: “We already had a large following and they were craving beauty and color. We had one-of-a-kind products that were not available on our website, and our faithful customers have a genuine interest in seeing our small business prevail during COVID-19.”

What Happened to the Cherrywood Challenge Schedule?

Karla explained the logistics of rescheduling Cherrywood’s popular exhibits:

“Not only were we horrified to see our full vending schedule shrink down to absolutely nothing, we had even more cancellations to deal with for The Bob Ross Cherrywood Challenge. It is a huge job to handle all the requests and logistics for the five different trunks, and almost as big a job to un-do it all. Then the question – what would happen to “Bob?” Would anybody get to see “Bob” in person before “Diana” took over?”

“After running through every scenario we could think of, our tiny staff of four decided that we should treat the entire year of 2020 as a “do-over.” If a show had to cancel The Bob Ross Challenge in 2020, we offered it to them again in 2021.”

“The Bob Ross Cherrywood Challenge quilts are safe with us for the moment, with dates scheduled in 2021. I have created a “virtual tour” of the exhibit that has served as a “place-holder” for a few virtual shows. The hope is that they can indeed display the real thing next year.”

What is the Status of the Diana Challenge?

The Diana Cherrywood Challenge was announced in November 2019.

Cherrywood had already received many digital submissions when COVID-19 took over. Even though the Cherrywood Challenges have been so rewarding and positive for their business, Karla knew it was vital to make sure that her business stayed healthy during the pandemic, and her staff was the heart of that. Karla felt the company needed a little breathing room and that the customers did too. Consequently, Cherrywood decided to move the Diana submission date from July 1st to December 31^st, 2020. The juried exhibit will premiere at International Quilt Festival 2021 (honoring their prior commitment). This allowed Cherrywood several months to accomplish the jury process, photography, book design and printing, assembly of the physical exhibit and all the million details that the project entailed. (To put it into perspective, these details with the other Challenges were crammed into about two months…while still dyeing fabric every day!)

Cherrywood Challenge Exhibit for Road@Home

Cherrywood was “so thrilled” to put together a Retrospective of The Cherrywood Challenge for Road to California 2021. Remarked Karla,” This is the perfect solution since The Diana Challenge will not be ready and Bob Ross has already made his appearance (at Road 2020). We have hand selected 60 quilts that represent the first 5 years of this colorful journey from Wicked and Lion King on Broadway, to Van Gogh, Prince and Bob Ross.

Looking ahead to Road to California 2022, the beauty and grace of Princess Diana will fill Road’s quilt show with light during the year of the 25th anniversary of her death.

Sign up today to view all Special Exhibits at Road@Home.

Mountain Mist, maker of exceptional batting products and a favorite vendor at Road to California, has begun a new venture related to the Coronavirus.

Mountain Mist is one of the many product lines that Fibrix, LLC produces.  Their sister company, Fibrix Filtration, makes a filtration line of goods— including a DIY face mask filter media.  Mountain Mist is now in the position to offer this media to the DIY market. 

Why a DIY Face Mask Filter?

From all the research conducted by Mountain Mist, it appears that face masks are the new fashion statement. With the prediction of a second and a third wave of the pandemic, school districts all-across the United States are requiring facemasks for teachers and students when going back to school. In addition, individuals wearing face masks are wanting more than one mask for their wardrobe.  Consequently, the research states that mask making will continue.

DIY Face Mask Filter Media provides an added layer of protection to homemade and store-bought face masks. In fact, it is the same 100% polypropylene needle punched material that Fibrix sells to commercial face mask producers. This vital filtering layer, previously only available to the commercial sector, is now available for the home-sewing market.

How Does the DIY Face Mask Filter Work?

The filter media is made of 100% polypropylene that is needle punched through a polypropylene scrim. It is washable and easy to use. When a filter is placed inside two layers of fabric, it increases the effectiveness of the mask.  The filter media can either be sewn into the mask or be used as a removable filter for pocketed masks. 

What Has the Response Been?

Mountain Mist started shipping the DIY Face Mask Media in August 2020.  Says Linda Pumphry, Senior Account Executive for Fibrix, “The response has been over whelming.  A Mountain Mist retailer did one posting on Facebook of What’s New and sold out his initial order in 20 minutes and called to increase his order.  A consumer said she shared it with her oncology support group, and they were so excited about the product. They shared that the extra layer help in giving them a little more peace of mind when having to venture out for appointments.”

The response to the product was not surprising to the company. All their research indicated that face masks were going to continue to be part of people’s everyday wardrobe. Since Mountain Mist was not able to supply the DIY Face Mask Filter Media during the first wave of face mask making, they weren’t sure if the pipeline had been filled.  As it turned out, the need for wearing face masks has increased; individuals are adding to their initial supply.   

You can take part in using this timely product by purchasing the DIY Face Mask Filter at local independent quilt stores or on Amazon.com.