A friend and fellow certified judge, Linda Rasmussen, serves as the awards clerk each year at Road. This year she also coordinated a special exhibit called Stringy Fowl based on the vintage quilt below owned by collector Julie Silber. Quilts were created by Road’s Judging Floor Staff.

Owner, Julie Silber
This first quilt is by Linda herself.

Maker, Linda Rasmussen
The following quilt is by Sandy Bradfield who hired me to judge the Glendale Quilt Show, two years ago.

“Pure Envy” by Sandy Bradfield
The playful quilt below is by one of my Two-Day Judging Seminar students, Maribeth Benedict, also an enthusiastic volunteer at Road.

Maker, Maribeth Benedict
Another special exhibit was “Fly Me to the Moon” organized by Suzanne Miller Jones. Here are my favorites, although there were a number of wonderful pieces.The first two are striking portraits of two famous astronauts.

“Alan Shephard” by Margaret Williams

“Captain James A Lowell” by Ellen Icochea and Jayne Gaskins
The quilt below was made by my friend Lynne Goulette. She wrote a touching artist statement. If you are able to see the exhibit as it travels the country, I encourage you.

Maker, Lynne Goulette
Another one of my Two-Day Judging Seminar students, Inger Blood, created this op-art piece.

Artist Inger Blood
For a change of pace, these are two quilts I liked for different reasons.
“Raggedy Ann” was done by a local Portland quilter Janet Fogg. I really admire the way she used the tumbling block pattern.

Maker, Janet Fogg
Darn. I can’t read the title and maker of the quilt below. But I’m fascinated by the image.

“X”
During the show, the rains hit that part of California. I was soaked walking between the convention center and Doubletree Hotel where I was staying one day. I spent two hours or more with the hotel blow dryer drying my shoes, socks, and pants. Then on the last morning, I was stunned to pull the curtains in my room to discover the beautiful snow-covered mountain view that was waiting there all along.

View from the Doubletree Hotel

Snow-Covered Mountains outside of Ontario
On my last day, I took a half-day class called “Print That! With Photoshop Elements” from instructor Jennifer Rapacki. Following along with her on our laptops, we went over the various steps to prepare and manipulate a photo for either printing on a home computer or downloading it to one of the on-line Print on Demand companies. Great class. I recommend her. She teaches quite a few digital imagery workshops.
I should also mention that on the last evening of trip, while we were having a “goodbye dinner”, Carolyn Reese, the owner of Road surprised us with a visit. She had noticed a large group was staying at the Doubletree to attend the show and stopped by to thank us. She ended up spending a good 20 minutes with us. I was surprised to learn she is retiring and will be selling the show to a grandson. Thoroughly interesting woman. I really enjoyed her discussion with us.