Road to California -- A Fun, Exhausting Day!

This is such an exciting show! Held each year at this time at the Ontario Convention Center in Ontario, California, it is a five day frenzy of quilts, vendors, classes and meeting up with quilting friends. I arrived yesterday afternoon to check out my classroom, "cruise" the vendors and, of course, chat with everybody!

Today's workshop was "Free Motion Boot Camp" in the Bernina classroom. The classroom has 26 Bernina Aurora 440 machines with the BSR (Bernina Stitch Regulator) foot. Teaching with this tool speeds learning along as the student is able to learn the "moves" of free motion quilting without having to worry about the evenness of the stitching. The class incorporates quilting with the use of stencils as well as freehand, unmarked quilting.

So after talking all day, 8:30 - 4:30, in class -- I went to Roundabout! This is a two hour event that can best be described by the words "controlled chaos". There were 24 instructors participating tonight, all of us talking at the same time in a very large room with about 250 people circulating around. We each gave a ten minute presentation 12 times -- that's two hours of nonstop talking after each of us had either taught or manned a booth all day. Are we nuts or what?

Borrowing cough drops and with voice getting a bit softer each time my presentation was given got me through Roundabout. Now I'm in my cozy hotel room with a cup of hot tea trying to restore my voice so that I can get ready for tomorrow's full day workshop.

However, if you asked me if I would do it again, I would have to say "YES!"

Tomorrow the plan is to get up extra early and go over to the show and get some good photos to post -- there are some quilts that I just have to share with you!