Road to California - Day Four

Another spectacular day in Southern California. RAIN and more RAIN!!!!!  And single digit temperatures. I don't think it went above 9 degrees today!  This is some totally crazy weather. We were toasty warm in the main building today and we were dry. That was a blessing. The people in the tent fared not badly, but the rain was drumming on the roof all day and it wasn't as warm and there was water seepage into the tent.

I did feel a bit for those that had to pack up their trailers at the end of the day. But the rain is desperately needed here.

So this morning when we walked across the street, I wore my crappy little shoes. It wasn't raining too hard, but there was a lake in the middle of the street and within seconds, my shoes were like a boat with the bottom cut out. My feet would probably have been dryer if I had been barefoot!  Thankfully, I took extra shoes to the centre and I changed into them and so I had dry feet all day.

When we left the convention centre, it was raining a bit harder so I managed to snag a plastic garbage bag as a rain coat. OK - looked ridiculous, but it kept my fleece jacket from getting wet. We carried the quilts we're taking home with us in a box wrapped in shrink wrap so they wouldn't get wet!  My feet were instantly wet the moment, I put the shoes back on and back outside where it was like walking in a stream. The water literally squished out of my shoes once we were in the hotel.  Ah - fun and games. At least, it makes a good story!   The crappy shoes are now in the garbage and I will need to go shoe shopping when I'm back home.

The show started a bit later today and so I went to the convention centre early so I could wander around and look at the quilts. They were magnificent. Some I had seen before, many I had not. I didn't bring my big camera - I decided to only use my phone camera. I know - shocking!  Now I have to figure out how to download those pictures to the computer as a group. The one thing I noticed is that almost ALL the quilts were quilted to death. I mean, every square millimetre was quilted. While in most cases, the quilting enhanced the quilts, in others it was so distracting that you couldn't enjoy the actual quilt. And the whole cloth quilts that were long arm quilted??  Stunning.  Not my cup of tea - I'd be bored to death before I could get halfway through, but stunning.

I think I managed to get around to all the vendors.  It's so nice when people recognize you - had a little chat with Edyta Sitar who remembered me from Houston. Met other people including Barb and Mary from Me and My Sister. Saw John Flynn and probably a few other names who escape me at the moment.

The booth is packed up, we had a successful show and we're ready to go home, but that will be in the morning as we shuffle our way through the morning rainy traffic to LAX.  Yeah! I can hardly wait for that.

I'm doing two posts this morning - one for the show and one for Motivational Monday - be sure to read them both.

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!!

Oh - I forgot to mention that I am writing on the QUILTsocial blog this week.  Head on over to have a peek at what I wrote.

Road to California - Day Three

Let's start with the weather report. While the sun was out yesterday and we managed to actually see the mountains in the valley, it was chilly.

Mountains in the distance

So while you might be envious of that clear blue sky, don't be deceived. The day started off not bad as far as temperature, but by the end of the day in the convention centre, we will all little blocks of ice. It was nice to get in the car for dinner and crank the heat UP.  It's currently single digits here in Southern California.

At least it wasn't raining which it is supposed to do all day. I notice out the window that it is raining, but NOT pouring. That is a good sign.

We chatted to a lot of people yesterday. Obviously lots from around this area, but we've seen people from Sweden and the UK,  Canada (mostly the western three provinces) and from all over the US.

People are loving the collections we are showcasing in our booth - Naturescapes and Stonehenge Gradations.    They are available for purchase through some of the shops here so consumers can get it now which they love.

Today is a short day. The first three were 9 hours long, today is 5 1/2 so I'm looking forward to that, but I have three things on my TO DO list and I haven't really looked at the quilts. I'm hoping to get over early this morning to do that.

Then we get to pack up the booth which won't take us that long.

Remember I talked about how close we are to the Historic Route 66?  Well, we went out on an errand last night and oh my - here we are just mere minutes from the signs. After we had a bit to eat, I drove up to the sign (a bus pull out conveniently located right out front) and I got my picture.

Route 66 marker in Rancho Cucamonga

How cool is that!

On that note, I'm out of here to get breakfast and get to the show.

Have a super day!

Ciao!!!

Road to California - Day Two

It's crazy when the exciting news of the trip is the weather!  Well, it's not exciting, but it's the first thing on everyone's mind.

Thank goodness for extra shoes. When we left the hotel to walk across the street, I wore my old shoes and carried my new funky running shoes. Thank goodness for that as I think those shoes are still wet.

New running shoes

There were no orange running shoes, but these are close enough and for the price, they are relatively comfortable for a long day of standing in the booth. It helps that we have a cushy floor to stand on.

It poured buckets throughout the day and at lunch which is in the big tent, along with some vendors, I think the rain was causing some issues as there were sandbags to direct the rain, people using brooms to push the water out of the main walkway between the building and the tent and I heard later that extractors were brought in to remove the water that was seeping in under the edges of the tent. Yikes - I mean - it is raining!!!!  There were also high winds were a cause for concern with all the rain.

A tad wet!!!!!

The weather warnings on my phone were HIGH waves along the beaches, erosion of the sand, damage to the piers, etc.

I'm happy to report that at one point we actually felt a bit warm in the convention centre. And NO ONEN complained.  I had to take my sweater off and loosen my scarf that was tightly wound around my neck. The others proudly wore their Target tights and were quite toasty!!!

After all that excitement - how is the show?   It's actually an amazing show. The calibre of the quilts (which are safely located in the main building) is spectacular.  I haven't really had a chance to get out and look at the quilts, but I did walk past the quilt aisles yesterday.  There are some amazing ones and I hope to get out today.  We were fairly busy all day and then as usual towards the end of the day, it gets quieter. Sunday will be a quiet day as in all trade shows so will get out then as well.

I did find a new pattern designer that I love. Too complicated to teach, I'm buying a pattern just for me! Lots of cool ideas for red/white quilts.

We received a list of local restaurants so last night we decided to check out The Old Spaghetti Factory. I love that place but haven't been in years. So plugged the address into the GPS and we were off.  And guess what - the restaurant is on Route 66.   OH MY GOD -  I was excited, the others not so much. But I was driving and couldn't take a picture of the marker. It was a bit too far to walk back so now that I know we are this close - I might try and get out to get a picture. I texted Ronda because she has driven the entire route. They didn't eat at the Old Spaghetti Factory but had driven past it.

More networking yesterday, connecting with old friends and meeting new ones. It's great. But if you think it's all fun - well - it mostly is but I did wake up this morning wondering where I was!  I was way off in dream land and woke up in a daze.

I did peek out the window and the sky is CLEAR.  I think the forecast is for NO rain today, but it's going to pour buckets tomorrow. The locals are excited about the rain, but not the quantity or the intensity.

On that note, I had better get myself ready for breakfast and the day.

Have a great day!!!!

Ciao!!!!

Road to California - Day One

What was I thinking? I did have a peek at the weather before leaving, but I must have been in denial. It's funny how we think of California as a warm place. I should know better as I used to travel to San Francisco for business and it's cold in San Francisco. Well - cool because of its location on the water.

We had rain in the morning yesterday, not a great sign when you wake up and hear it pouring outside. Fortunately, the rain slowed down a bit when it was time to walk across the street.  I had to zip out to pick up something later in the morning and the sun was out and it was quite warmish. That didn't last long. But today is rain and the forecast doesn't look too good for the next couple of days.  It's not the rain so much that is the issue - it's the cold temperatures. It's cool here - I could have brought my jacket that I wear back home at this time of the year and be quite comfortable. I also wish I had rain boots.

 At least I have long pants on to wear during the show because it's very cold in the convention centre. I have no idea if the A/C is cranked up, but it sure feels like it.  I hope they shut it off today and let us all be toasty warm. I'd be happy.  We made an emergency run to Target last night to get tights for some of the group who brought dresses to wear and no pantyhose.  I haven't bought pantyhose in years, and it isn't cheap!  Ouch - I was a bit cool at the end of the day, they were freezing!  I tried to find rain boots at Target and at Ross, but NOTHING.  They've had a drought in the area for five years - I guess finding rain boots would have been a miracle!

Did you know that Simplicity no longer sells patterns in Canada?   I was shocked when I found that out. Of course, the pattern that I wanted was a Simplicity and I managed to get it last night at Jo-Anns.  I was in and out - -didn't look at anything in the store.  Too cold, too tired and too hungry!

We've had a chance to look at some of the quilts and they are STUNNING.  Even though some we've seen at other shows, there are lots here that we have not seen.  I think the weather is affecting attendance somewhat and so we may have a bit of downtime today to get out and see the vendors and the quilts.

The one thing I love about the shows is the networking. I'm always up for a conversation with anyone and it's amazing what you can learn if you ask questions. No - I'm' not sharing the information that I have with you. I think I share enough.  I wonder who I will run into today!

Food at these shows tends to be hit and miss. You pay a lot and get a crappy lunch.  While the prices are a tad on the high side (not bad), the sandwiches are healthy and good and fresh!  That is a blessing as I hate eating stale sandwiches that you've paid a fortune for. Food is good and close by.

I guess I had better get myself organised for the day. Going to wear one pair of shoes over and take another pair to wear during the day. I hate wet feet.

Have a super day!!!!!

Ciao!!!!

Welcome to California!

So as I'm writing this, I'm in Ontario, but NOT Ontario, Canada.  Nope, that would be Ontario, California in the good old USA.

Let me backtrack for a second. After a marathon of sewing, the last quilt was ready for quilting and it was quilted and trimmed before I went to bed on Tuesday night. I absolutely love the quilt.  Then up early so I could get the binding on by machine. As much as I hate doing the binding by machine, you have to admit that it's practical!!!





Yesterday was a day of SNAFUs as this picture was posted on Facebook but only to FAMILY.  DUH!!!  Anyway - here it is and I'm pinning the sleeve on this morning.

We flew to LA and while our flight was a bit late in leaving, we arrived early. Not sure why that was, but we were on the fabulous Boeing 787-8 or whatever that plane is.  We had great seats, I love the moving map and we kept ourselves entertained for the four-hour flight. I thought I might catch some sleep, but we were too busy talking.

Rented a car and we're off. Oh yes - it's fun driving in LA. Fortunately, we were on freeways and off to the San Bernadino valley and Ontario, California which is the home of the Road to California quilt show.

By the time we arrived at the booth it was 2:30 (we all agreed that lunch was of the utmost importance since by now it's about 3 PM our time.

I won't go into the details but let's just say that if things could go wrong - they did. Now not that bad, but well we had to make a few executive decisions along the way and let's just say that by being nice to people, they will be nice back and they will bend a few rules.  I could have cried, but I thought better of that and just asked nicely instead!  In the past, I might have cried - I've done it before and I got what I wanted!  But that was for personal! Not for business.

The biggest issue was the preview night. We were all looking forward to a quiet evening to rest up. But then we heard that where our booth was located was the ONE aisle that was open last night for the preview. ACK!  So that meant that we had to be back from 7 to 9.  The two hours flew by and I literally came back to the hotel (which is across the street from the convention center) and went to bed.

All the people we talked to last night and there were lots were friendly and super excited about the show. We had people from Sweden, the UK, Canada, the US of course and Australia.  I'm sure we'll see a lot more countries represented today. I did see Eleanor Burns as well.

The weather is a tad cold. I was trying to figure out what to bring for a jacket. I ended up throwing in a quilted fleece jacket which I find quite heavy. BEST decision of the day. It's cold here - well by California terms and it's wet. But I do hope it clears up at some point because we are in the mountains and they look beautiful. Just not sure how surrounded we are by the mountains because of clouds and smog?

Thank goodness we are a resilient crew and we're going to have fun for the next four days!  We will have time to walk the show and get ideas and I do have a small shopping list.

I better go and get myself organized for the day.

Have a good day!!!

Ciao!!!