Conejo Valley Quilters -- Thousand Oaks CA

Yesterday afternoon I drove about 85 miles to Thousand Oaks to have dinner with my friend, Jake Finch, and do a lecture and trunk show for the Conejo Valley Quilters. As with most of the southern California guilds, it was a great opportunity to see old friends again as well as to meet quilters who were new to me.

The above quilt was made by Sandy Turner and was the sample that she sent for the Birds in the Air workshop that she will be teaching for this guild in May. Sure sent me running for my calendar to see if I'm back in town by then; I would love to take that workshop if there are any seats left after the guild members sign up.

Ways and Means had two whole tables of prizes with bright colored bags next to each one. You buy your tickets and then distribute them into the bags for the prizes you want to win. Each prize is awarded to the winning ticket drawn from the appropriate bag. I zeroed in on the prize with the most action -- the fabric and book on the left will be used in next month's workshop, which will be taught by Gwen Marston.

The philanthropic table was loaded with precut kits all ready for quilts to be assembled to be given away. In my lecture, I talked about making a lot of these while I was teaching myself to machine quilt. The recipients love them, you get your practice hours in at practically no cost for materials, and you get your early work out of the house so you can think you always were an expert -- no downside to any of that!

The rag quilt hanging on the wall behind the philanthropic table is an example of some of the quilts that this guild makes and gives away. This one is specifically made for Alzheimer's patients and is made of a lot of different types of fabrics so that the patients can touch them and feel the various textures.

I wasn't able to get very many pictures of the show and share quilts. This is a pretty consistent problem in that the people showing their quilts tend to be pretty animated and the pictures come out blurry! But I was able to get a couple this time:

I love this appliqued quilt that Debbie made and brought to show! It will be auctioned off next month and the funds will benefit breast cancer research...

...had to get a close-up so that you could see all of the quilting!

This lady was explaining that this quilt had been started with the idea that the color scheme would be pastels! You mean, they aren't? The back was fun, too....

The last picture came out blurry, but I had to put it in anyway. This appliqued block is so beautiful and expresses a number of the maker's interests: hiking, music, reading, etc. Just couldn't leave it out!

So now I'm home for almost three weeks before my next teaching trip, which will be to Indiana, Ohio and Illinois -- can't wait!!