Road to California 2015

The Road to California quilt show is in its last day now.  It is typically a show of high quality quilts from around the world.  I entered last year and to my surprise took a huge award.  This year I entered 3 quilts, not really sure how things would turn out.  This Tuesday I got word that not only did all three ribbon, but two of them took 1sts!  In past years, if you didnt get a "top" ribbon, the money was pitifully low for this caliber show.  This year they changed the winning amounts.  A first place was a nice $1000!  

These three are the ribbon winners for the traditional wall pieced category.  I actually had 2 in the category -- something most shows don't allow.  I figured that getting both to ribbon was a real longshot, but there's the surprise!  Autumn's Surrender took the 1st and Kaleidoscopic Calamity took 3rd.  The biggest surprise for me though was that my quilt beat the one on the left, "October Sky", made by Bethanne Nemesh.  She's a friend of mine, and this is one amazing quilt.  Her's and my Autumn Surrender have both won Best Machine Quilting at subsequent MQX shows.

Her style of art quilting is totally different from what I do -- I am no literal artist!  The quilting on her quilt is incredible,

It is loaded with animals and scenes of fall. Her's is silk also.  Wish I was a fly on the wall of the judging room when these were judged! 

My other quilt from 2014 (Springtime in the Geisha's Garden) also placed 1st in the wall traditional applique category.  I have to wait until I see a show book though to know who else had quilts in that group.