Welcome to the Road to California Blog

You’ve probably heard about Matt Reese proposing to his girlfriend, Jen Bennett, during Road to California.  Now, we’d like to share the details.

Jen and Matt first met while attending Etiwanda High School almost ten years ago. They were both involved in marching band and became good friends. Jen claims that Matt had a huge crush on her the whole time.  After graduating, they went their separate ways to college. Jen to study education and Matt , music performance.  A few years later,  Jen posted an inquiry on Facebook seeing if any of the old band group wanted to get together.  She was on break from teaching junior high math and was looking for something  to do. Matt responded to her post and invited her out for drinks and some “What have you been up to” conversation. Safe. Very safe. They mostly talked about school and work. Jen shared that one of her co-workers was the sponsor of an after-school sewing club on her campus and Matt offered to give free passes for her and her students to attend the upcoming Road to California. As a thank you, Jen asked Matt out to dinner (he refused to let her pay however). Little by little, they started to hang out  just “as friends” as Jen put it. Finally, Matt asked Jen out on an official date by sending flowers to her classroom. How cute was that?  In time, they got to know each other by doing their favorite things together: Disneyland, watching TV, and just enjoying each other’s company. Matt loves Jen’s cooking and how she  “knows how to lighten my day and give  me …joy.” Jen says, “Matt makes me smile. He goes out of his way to find things to make me happy or to make my life easier.” Awww….

Why Road for the engagement?  As Matt puts it, “Jen was starting to get very nosy,” about when and where the inevitable engagement would take place. Matt’s Uncle Dave suggested that the show floor during Road would be the perfect place to surprise her. After all, she knew how busy and stressed out Matt got during the quilt show, so she would never expect the big event to happen there. Jen’s family (parents, aunt and uncle, brother and his girlfriend) had planned to attend the show on Saturday so they would all naturally be around when Matt popped the question. He sent them all to walk around the vendors and look at the show while he went and staged himself in front of a quilt that had LOVE as its theme (thanks Angie Steveson for creating and entering the perfect back drop!). When he was in place and could hardly contain himself any longer, Matt sent Jen a text message to meet him in aisle 500. When she got to the aisle, she saw all of Matt’s family but didn’t see him and practically ran past the quilt where she was supposed to be looking for him. Matt then started talking over the intercom and that got her attention. The rest is history!!!

So, when is the big day? Some time in May, 2014.  And in case you were wondering, yes, Jen does know how to sew and has made one quilt so far. A match made in Reese family/Road to California heaven.

Congratulations Matt and Jen!!!

P.S. Matt was wondering if anyone at the show took  pictures of the engagement, he would love to see them. Please email them directly to: matt@roadtocalifornia  

My “Quick” Trip to Austin

This past week I made a quick trip to Austin, Texas for the Inaugural Quilt Con Show organized by the Modern Quilt Guilds.  Yes, I actually drove 2, 614 miles just to go to a quilt show.   I am one of those “queer ducks” that enjoys cross country driving. 

Stevii and I left Tuesday morning and drove to Las Crusas, New Mexico.  We saw lots of pecan groves that were just beginning to turn green.  Wednesday evening we spent the night in Fredericksburg, Texas.  Did you know that they raise Angora Goats on their ranches in the hill country of Texas?  We saw more goats than cattle and even saw a few buffalo.

We spent Thursday at the show.  Lots of quilts were on display and I am beginning to understand and appreciate what is a “Modern” Quilt.  There were quilts with piecing but not necessarily repetitive patterns.  Many of the modern quilters incorporate negative space in their quilts and they do a great job of quilting those areas.

Quilt Con invited their sponsors to participate by having a booth at the show.  Some that I visited with were fabric or book companies such as Andover, Robert Kaufman, Marcus Brothers, Michael Miller, Moda and Stash Books. Each of them were offering either “make it and take it ideas”, giving demonstrations, offering product information to the attendees or photo ops.

We spent the day visiting with people we knew, looking at quilts, checking out the vendors, shopping and just having a good time.  I enjoyed attending Quilt Con.

Friday we began our trip home.  We stopped in Van Buren, Texas to have lunch at a Mexican Restaurant named Chueys, which had been a favorite stopping place for the late John Madden, the football guy.  The building was painted inside and out with the brightest neon green, fushia, and orange.  It really shows up among the West Texas brown scenery.   We arrived home on Saturday.  You can really cover the miles in West Texas with cruise control and an 80 MPH speed limit. 

Now, I will have to work on the class schedules and other things for the January 2014 Road to California.

Carolyn

After a day of honoring our presidents, it’s time to talk about their first ladies.  And what better way to pay tribute to these historic women than through quilting.

Eleanor Burns, self-proclaimed “First Lady of Quilting,” presented not once, but twice, her one woman lecture extravaganza, Tales of the First Ladies at Road to California this year. For two hours, Eleanor had her guests laughing, singing, and acting out fun facts mixed with quilting inspiration. By far, it was the rowdiest quilt presentation of the conference.

Twelve inch blocks created from traditional, antique fabric reproductions made up Eleanor’s “Quilt in a Day,” Tales of First Ladies . The famous women chosen to be represented in the various quilt designs and techniques included Martha Washington, Lucy Hayes, Frances Cleveland, Dolly Madison, Anna Harrison, Mary Lincoln, and Eleanor Roosevelt. Eleanor also shared additional quilts she has collected over the years representing the eras in which the women served. 

Eleanor had lots of trivia to share, information on each of the first ladies before they moved to the white house and during their tenure there.  Some of our favorite facts included:

Martha Washington- sewed buttons on the soldiers’ uniforms when they were in the battlefield.

Lucy Hayes- nicknamed “Lemonade Lucy” because of the “no alcohol” policy in the White House. She got all the blame for what her husband actually instituted.

Frances Cleveland- was 21 when she became first lady and is best known for opening the White House to the public on Saturdays.

Anna Harrison- her husband won the election but died before they could occupy the White House. Later on, her grandson became President, making him the first of their family to actually live there.

Mary Lincoln– her dresses were made out of 35 yards of fabric!!!

Thank you Eleanor Burns for highlighting, with such charm and showmanship, the women in the white house.  

Do you have a Valentine tradition?

Carolyn has one that she has been observing for the past 50 years. She makes a Maraschino Cherry Cake for her family.  She uses heart shaped pans to bake the cake in and serves it to her family to celebrate Valentines Day.  When she was asked, “Is there a special reason why you make this cake?” her reply was simple: “Because it is good!!” Here is the recipe for Carolyn’s family’s traditional valentine cake.  Maybe you will want to make it for your family on Valentines Day too.

Carolyn’s Maraschino Cherry Cake

2-1/2 cups flour

1-1/2 cups sugar

3-1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup shortening or butter

3/4 cup milk

1/4 cup maraschino cherry juice

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 teaspoons almond flavoring

4 egg whites, unbeaten

18 maraschino cherries, finely chopped

1/2 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped

Sift flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder in to a bowl. Combine juice and milk. Add 3/4 cup of this mixture with the flavorings. Beat for 2 minutes. Add the remaining liquid and the egg whites. Beat for 2 more minutes. Add the cherries and the nuts. Blend.  Bake in two, deep 9 inch layer pans (heart shaped ones if you have them) at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

For the icing, beat together 1 cube butter, 1 box powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons milk, 2 tablespoons maraschino juice, vanilla and almond flavoring.  Chopped cherries can be added to the frosting. Carolyn usually garnishes the cake with the cherries instead of adding them to the frosting. 

No matter how you spend it,  the Reese family wishes you a delightful Valentines Day.

2013 Road to California Entry 

What color says valentine to you? Is it the traditional red? Or formal black and white? Could it be hip yellow? Or a sultry blue?  At Road to California, we would have to say pink, as in the Pink! Exhibit. 

Curated by Cindy Rennels of Cindy’s Antique Quilts, the Pink! Exhibit featured 16 antique quilts in various hues and patterns of pink from Cindy’s own collection. The quilts were dated from the 1880’s to the 1940’s.  A couple of  years ago, Cindy had seen The December National Rodeo Finals from Las Vegas. What impressed Cindy was seeing all the “macho cowboy riders” wearing pink in commemoration of breast cancer awareness. Their theme, “Tough Enough to Wear Pink” inspired Cindy to come up with a pink and white quilt page on her web site.     

Last fall, Carolyn approached Cindy to create an exhibit featuring only pink quilts just for Road. Cindy wanted the exhibit to reflect more than just a color.  She wanted the feel of pink . She researched the different definitions that described pink and came up with passion, love, femininity, practical, and pretty. She also found out some cool pink facts. Did you know that in the early 1900’s, pink was the color for boys, not the blue that we associate with them today?  Apparently, pink was considered the stronger color of the two. I wonder when it changed?  And were you aware that it was Mamie Eisenhower who brought pink to the White House, using it as a theme in one of the bedrooms?  

While pink isn’t exactly a predominant color used in quilts today, Cindy noted that several conference goers remarked to her that seeing the exhibit inspired them to want to use it in their next quilt projects. It was fun for Cindy to see all the pink quilts put together in one group with their various patterns and designs. She was glad these quilts were exhibited, shown, and enjoyed by others. 

How do you feel about pink?

“Quilts Celebrate Rites of Passage.” That’s what guest lecturer, Julie Silber, pointed out in her Saturday evening presentation, “Keeping Them in Stitches.” Quilts tell stories of the women who made them and of the people those women lived with. They often represent values that are important to society: babies, marriages, friendships, social organizations, religions, and death.

Making and sharing handmade quilts for life events has been a familiar tradition for generations. It is a tradition that is understood by young and old alike. Just recently, a local elementary school was celebrating its’ 60^th anniversary and part of that celebration included presenting a patchwork quilt depicting the schools’ milestones.

Sometimes, quilts intended to honor special events, fall a little short in design and execution.  Julie pointed out, that just as with life, quilts aren’t always perfect and some of those imperfections can lend themselves to some pretty humorous results. She spent well over an hour amusing her audience by sharing photos from quilts spanning 60 years (from the late 1800’s to the 1940’s) that depicted the shortcomings of their creators. Whether it was unusual color combinations, mismatched patterns, or silly messages embroidered in the quilt, Julie’s examples reminded everyone that just because things don’t go as planned, you can still have a rich experience.  

The next time your quilt project doesn’t turn out exactly how you expected, don’t get discouraged. It’s story will still be appreciated – one way or another.  

What story does your quilt tell?