Quilt Vendor « The Backroads to Road to California

Posts Tagged ‘Quilt Vendor’

Author, Vendor, Teacher: Meet Jodi Barrows

Wednesday, November 8th, 2017

Did you know Jodi Barrows has authored three quilt-themed novels and 26 quilt pattern books?

Her novels take place during the 1856-time period and is based on her own family. Since she enjoys the 1800’s, she likes to look at fabrics, clothing, museums, antiques, homes – just about everything that comes from that time period. She also spends a considerable amount of her professional time giving lectures on women and quilting. In addition to being an author, Jodi’s quilts have appeared in numerous publications and she has been a guest on several television programs.

Did you know Jodi Barrows started her company Square in a Square® over 25 years ago as a way to promote her own quilt technique and tools?

Jodi says “that one tool does all triangle units and all of them can be done in any size.” During Jodi’s early days of quilting, she felt that “cutting out templates one at a time and putting them back together always seemed like a big waste of time. My grandmother always did multiple projects at the same time similar to today’s modern strip piecing techniques. So it was natural for me to realize that there has to be a better way to produce triangle units without all of the hassle. Doing, quilt biology, I was able to dissect the units in my head and it started my way of thinking that lead to the Square in a Square piecing technique.”

In her booth at Road 2018, Jodi will be featuring Square in a Square® books, rulers, patterns, fabric, fabric kits and education. In addition to everything Square in a Square® , she will also have her newest novel, Threads of Courage, to go along with her two others. Plus, being a fabric designer, she will feature her latest fabric collection complete with quilts made from the new designs.

Did you know Jodi Barrows has been teaching quilting classes for over 24 years?

Jodi has a family history of quilting. She “really got in to piecing” at her local church attending an outreach class that combined bible study with quilting. Jodi will be teaching 2 classes at Road 2018: On Monday, 1001C Square in a Square (Concentrating on Square) and on Tuesday, 2001C Square in a Square (Concentrating on Diamond) What does Jodi enjoy most about teaching? The “thrill” of seeing “the student when that lightbulb moment” happens; when they first see “the unlimited possibilities” of her teaching. Jodi says that she likes to inspire her students to realize that they can achieve projects that they never thought possible. In her classes, Jodi likes to “teach knowledge” — something that the student can still have long after the class is over. Instead of taking home an unfinished project (UFO), Jodi refers that her students take home information and knowledge which provide motivation for the student to keep sewing and working on projects.

Did you know Jodi Barrow’s best quilting tip has to do with a sewing machine?

“When doing any sewing, including quilting, always keep a “runner” in your sewing machine. Our sewing machines are happier when they have fabric in them, so always put your “runner” in before you clip off or take your project off of the machine. I teach this in every class and it doesn’t take long to convince the student of its value. Give it a try.”

To learn more about Jodi and her books, her company, and her teaching, please visit her website. ]]>

Tags: Jodi Barrows, Quilt Author, Quilt Novels, Quilt Teacher, Quilt Vendor, Square in a Square
Posted in classes, Road to California 2018, Vendors | No Comments »

Meet Road 2018 New Vendor: Traditional Primitives

Friday, October 20th, 2017

Traditional Primitives is looking forward to coming to beautiful Southern California in January to share their products with the guests at Road to California. Owner Missie Carpenter alternated between two hobbies in the 80’s: quilting and English smocking. In the mid-90’s, she became totally devoted to her quilting, enjoying small stitching groups in the towns she has lived in across the Midwest. Traditional Primitives began when, out of necessity, Missie created an original tote for carrying sewing supplies. Her family’s pup, Ginger, loved to find sewing goodies in her basket and chew on them; everything from leather thimbles to spools of thread and even some of the fabric she was sewing with. Thanks to Ginger, the Sewing Bee Binder, a zip up tote for sewing supplies, was created. When Missie took the binder to sewing groups and quilt shops, people began asking her for the pattern. Those requests started a “very tiny business” which grew to her larger business today. Traditional Primitives offers not only original patterns for quilting, punchneedle and wool appliqué’, but also some original notions that make English Paper Piecing “so much more precise and quick.” What does Missie like most about her business? Sharing her technique for basting English Paper Piecing (and applique’) with starch and the notions that make it work so great. Missie says she “loves sharing this technique with anyone who WANTS to enjoy EPP, but STRUGGLES with the basting. It’s FUN to see them enjoy EPP due to this technique and the notions I’ve created for this purpose.” What will Road 2018 guests be able to find at the Traditional Primitives booth? “Lots of eye candy for those who love traditional quilts with a touch of primitive style.” Traditional Primitives works with both reproduction and traditional fabrics along with wools, adding the primitive touch. They also will be offering original punchneedle designs, wool appliqué and lots of English Paper Pieced designs along with their notions. Items such as The Starch Brush, Fingertip Stiletto, Premium Freezer Paper and Hexie Shaped Pressing Mats. Demonstrations will be offered throughout the show. To learn more about Traditional Primitive, please visit their website. ]]>

Tags: Fingertip Stiletto, Hexie Shaped Pressing Mats, Missy Carpenter, Punchneedle, Quilt Vendor, Sewing Bee Binder, The Starch Brush, Traditional Primitives, Wool Applique
Posted in Road to California 2018, Vendors | No Comments »

Meet Road 2017 Vendor and Teacher: Janna Thomas

Friday, December 23rd, 2016

Bloc Loc Rulers. Janna’s mom came with duct tape stuck to a ruler because she was tired of the rocking and slipping. Janna’s husband, Paul, being Mr. Fixit, took the ruler out to the garage and filed a groove in it. At this point the Thomas’ knew that they had to start their business. It took a couple of years to get their seed money to start things up and their company began selling rulers in 2009. Janna and Paul live and run their business in Loveland, Colorado. Janna says that people might think that when she’s not running the business with Paul, there would be other things that she would like to be doing. But she insists that she “absolutely love(s) quilting and “ and isn’t interested in doing anything else. Janna keeps thinking “that when I’m an old woman I’ll try to take in some knitting and gardening, but honestly, I know there’s no room for that..quilting is too much of an obsession.” What does Janna like most about her business? “I love seeing the happiness quilters have when they use our rulers because their projects turn out better than the way they’d hoped. The most wonderful thing is, they will come up to us at shows and show me photos and talk about how Bloc Loc has made their quilting an absolute joy. The Bloc Loc Rulers vendor booth will be featuring a new ruler, the Pineapple Ruler. It gives the quilter two strip width options, any size center for the square in a square, any pineapple block size and rulers can be combined for special effects. The Pineapple Ruler is very easy to operate and making the block is very easy. Another new addition in their booth is Bloc Loc’s Traction Tape, a completely non-slip material that quilters can peel and apply to rulers they already own. The most wonderful aspect to Traction Tape is its ability to stay adhered to a ruler for a very long time and can turn up to 8 layers of fabric without a turning mat. In addition to working the Bloc Loc Rulers booth, Janna will be teaching three classes that incorporate many of the company’s rulers. Janna will be teaching on Monday, 1010C Millefioiri Tuesday, 2014C Blooming Cogwheels and on Wednesday, 3019C A Tarted Up Pineapple Janna says that she loves “helping students learn in any way possible. Seeing them get excited about doing things they never thought they could do is extremely rewarding.” Janna feels it is important that her students realize they can do anything in quilting; there’s always a way to achieve what they want to do and it doesn’t have to be difficult. Janna and Paul can’t wait to come to Road to California 2017. They consider Road to be “theworld’s biggest and best quilting bee, filled with friendship, learning and magnificent shopping.’ Whether in the classroom or the demoing in their booth, Janna is always ready to teach how to pull off the best techniques at the right time, and how to set her customers up for success in every quilting situation To learn more about Bloc Loc Rulers, please visit their web site. ]]>

Tags: Bloc Loc Rulers, Quilt Teacher, Quilt Vendor
Posted in classes, Road 2017, Vendors | No Comments »

Meet 2016/2017 Vendor: Eye of the Beholder

Wednesday, July 6th, 2016

Eye of the Beholder Quilt Design will be returning to Road to California in 2017

How does someone go from professional dancer to quilter?

That is exactly what Margaret Willingham did. For many years, Margaret taught choreography for a modern dance company specializing in classical ballet and modern dance. When Margaret developed major back problems (she had 5 surgeries in 2 years), she realized that teaching dance was no longer an option. Newly divorced, Margaret had to find something she could do to make a living. So she turned to her passions to find the answer. [caption id="attachment_4151" align="aligncenter" width="552"]

Photo by Brian Roberts Photography[/caption] Margaret loved being creative, artistic, and quilting. For Margaret, fabric was “fun to play with.” She “followed the doors God had given” her and started Eye of the Beholder Quilt Design. She has been in business going on 6 years. Instead of choreographing dances, she is choreographing quilts. Eye of the Beholder Quilt Design specializes in original applique patterns inspired by the world around us. Margaret has developed a reverse applique process that is “a no brainer.” Just Trace-Baste-Snip-Stitch. Margaret shared that she’s even had 10 year olds master her technique. “People are amazed at how easy and simple of a process it is.” Eye of the Beholder Quilt Designs can also be done as machine reverse applique because Margaret has found that some people don’t like to do hand work. [caption id="attachment_4148" align="aligncenter" width="625"]

Photo by Brian Roberts Photography[/caption] From August, 2015 to January, 2016, Margaret put 11,000 miles on her new van traveling to various shows. She spends most of the time in her booth demonstrating her applique steps with her customers. She has also put up tutorials on her website, has a booklet that explains her technique, and writes a blog sharing applique tips and experiences. [caption id="attachment_4149" align="aligncenter" width="625"]

Photo by Brian Roberts Photography[/caption] Road 2016 was Margaret’s first time at the show. She had never really been to Southern California before and was excited to be at Road as she had “heard good things about the show.” She is looking forward to returning to Road 2017. [caption id="attachment_4150" align="aligncenter" width="625"]

Photo by Brian Roberts Photography[/caption] You can learn more about Eye of the Beholder Quilt Designs on their website.]]>

Tags: Applique, Eye of the Beholder Quilt Designs, Quilt Vendor, Reverse Applique, Road to California
Posted in Road 2016, Road 2017, Vendors | No Comments »

Road 2016 Faculty: Meet Laura Heine

Tuesday, September 29th, 2015

Laura Heine is going to be super busy at Road to California 2016. She will be teaching a class on Tuesday, 2010R Paisley Bear Quilt. Her company, Fiberworks, will have a vendor booth, and Laura will be curating her Collage Quilt Exhibit on the front wall in the main exhibit hall.

Road 2016 marks the third year in a row Laura Heine will be coming from Billings, Montana to participate in the show. Previously, she traveled to Road in her pink trailer, “Flaura.” But Laura recently retired her 1956 Shasta that she had totally fixed from the inside out. Laura now uses the trailer to go camping a few times in the summer. It is mainly become a popular feature in her quilt shop, Fiberworks. She put in an overhead door in the shop so she could get Flaura in and out and still protect her from the elements. If you visit Laura’s shop in Billings, you will certainly recognize the trailer, complete with Laura’s floral collage logo!!

Laura loves coming to Road. She says, “The timing of the show is great as the holidays are over and everyone is ready to get back into the quilting mode! Customers have loved our products and looked forward to seeing what we have new each year. It is a long trek for us; it takes three days to get there. But it is well worth the trip when we see our new friends each year.”

What will guests find new this year in the Fiberworks booth? “I have new collage quilts of course and I have new pieced and hand applique quilts. My booth may also have a new look too…”

Laura will also be one of Road’s 2016 faculty. She is teaching her Paisley Bear Collage Quilt. When asked what inspired Laura to make this quilt, she replied, “I am from Montana so it was only natural for me to make a collage quilt with a bear! My bear quilt is the easiest of all my collage quilts to make, and it turns out it is great for the California area too. In the beginning, I designed patterns that I thought would sell and be generally popular to everyone. This is very hard to do because I have to at least like what I am doing. Now, I design collage patterns of the things that I love, for example, Pinkerton, the flamingo and Flaura, the vintage trailer. I am just following my heart and I find that my customers love them as much as I do.”

Being able to share her creative talents with her students is something Laura loves to do. Teaching collage is actually quite easy for her. She finds it much easier to show her students how to group colors and focus on value rather than writing instructions on how to do this.

What will students in Laura’s class learn? “They will leave knowing more about color and value. They may not even realize they are learning this while they are doing it! And they will not be afraid of using large scale prints. This class will open them up to a whole new world on how to look at fabrics.” Laura says her students always leave happy and that in itself is very rewarding for her.

New this year will be Laura curating her own exhibit, Collage Quilts. How did she put together this exhibit? “Last year when I was asked to do a special exhibit, I asked all of my students who were in my classes this year if they would like to have their finished quilt in the exhibit. They were all honored and I went on to accept the first 30 quilts entered. The show will consist of collage quilts that use my patterns. Quilters may have purchased one of my kits or they may have come up with their own fabrics. Guests will see how different a collage quilt can look even if they were all purchased from the same kit! Finished quilts will be shipped to me in December and I will bring them with me to Road in January.”

Laura has a special quilt that she made just for the exhibit and it will be unveiled at the show. It is a quilt made of all of the leftover motifs that did not get into any of her previous quilts. “Many times,” remarked Laura, “you cut more flowers than you actually use and this quilt, Wildflower Mix, has all of those flowers. There are over 300 flowers in this quilt! Nothing ever goes to waste!” Be sure to visit Laura in her booth or at her exhibit.]]>

Tags: Billings, Collage Quilts, Fiberworks, Laura Heine, Montana, Quilt Teacher, Quilt Vendor, Special Quilt Exhibit
Posted in classes, Faculty, Road 2016, Road to California | No Comments »