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Woohoo! Ricky is very excited to announce two wonderful events happening in La Veta, CO, in June.  Mark your calendars and plan a visit to his unique mountain town to see a local production of "The Quilters" and a special exhibition of quilts by world-renown quilters such as David Taylor, Alex Anderson, Libby Lehman, and Ricky himself.  The exhibition is from a private collection belonging to Ricky and Justin.  

(Quilt: Bohemian Rhapsody by Ricky Tims)

For tickets to "The Quilters," click here to contact the La Veta Theater.  There's even a special quilt, used in the play and being raffled, made by members of the Colorado Quilting Council!

Click here to sign up for Ricky's newsletter and more information.

For exhibition details, including dates, times, and featured artists, click here.

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It's an exciting year for Road to California.  Since the conclusion of the 2015 show, the staff has been working on 2016, addressing all of your questions, comments, and concerns. They are very happy to announce their new website! Although not active yet, they are excited that it will be easily maneuverable and user friendly. They are also working on providing more information up front.  Stay tuned!

Also new - The Road to California Bag Challenge, sponsored by ByAnnie.com!

Here's what Road says,

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A fascinating new exhibit is now showing at the Metropolitan Museum in New York.  From May through August 16, 2015, China Through the Looking Glass explores the impact of Chinese aesthetics on Western fashion and how China has fueled the fashionable imagination for centuries. In this collaboration between The Costume Institute and the Department of Asian Art, high fashion is juxtaposed with Chinese costumes, paintings, porcelains, and other art, including films, to reveal enchanting reflections of Chinese imagery.

From the Met:

From the earliest period of European contact with China in the sixteenth century, the West has been enchanted with enigmatic objects and imagery from the East, providing inspiration for fashion designers from Paul Poiret to Yves Saint Laurent, whose fashions are infused at every turn with romance, nostalgia, and make-believe. Through the looking glass of fashion, designers conjoin disparate stylistic references into a pastiche of Chinese aesthetic and cultural traditions.

The exhibition features more than 140 examples of haute couture and avant-garde ready-to-wear alongside Chinese art. Filmic representations of China are incorporated throughout to reveal how our visions of China are framed by narratives that draw upon popular culture, and also to recognize the importance of cinema as a medium through which to understand the richness of Chinese history.

Click here to watch a tour of the exhibit.

Evening coat, ca. 1925 
French 
Silk, fur, metal 
Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of Mrs. Robert S. Kilborne, 1958 (2009.300.259) 
Photography © Platon

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Join LUKE Haynes for a three-part Silhoucat Quilt Along at WeAllSew.com. Learn a really nice way to combine piecing with easy appliqué.  Take a basic half-square triangle pattern and add appliqué on top to make a great keepsake or quick gift for the cat lover in your life.

Star Members can watch LUKE in Episode 1102:  Super Quilts from Salvaged Duds.

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Reptile Wisdom uses an expanded two-color palette, English paper piecing by machine, paper foundation piecing, and machine appliqué. Karen insists on using 100% natural fibers in her batting.  Reptile Wisdom won first place in the Traditional Pieced category at IQA Houston, 2014.

Star Members can watch Karen in Episode 1611: New Methods & Old Ways.

(Photo: Gregory Case)

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Lea McComas (Episode 1609) shows you how to remove the Gutta from your project, and she creates a very clever iron surface using a family memento that is both practical and easy to assemble.

Plus, she also shares some clever ideas for continuing the creativity with your completed Batik work.

Don't forget to post your Work in Progress by June 8, as we will be holding the drawing to win a set of Dye-Na-Flow dyes.  We will announce the winner on June 15!

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Cutting stripes on the bias can be frustrating when you want everything to line up perfectly.  We found a very helpful tutorial from Thought & Found.

Need more help?  Check out Anita Grossman Solomon's ideas for using stripes and how to make them perfectly.

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Photo by Gregory Case Photography

Is there something about piano playing and quilting? Ricky and quilter Karen Stone are both amazing pianists as well as quilters! (They’re both Texans, too.) Karen’s background includes classical training and being surrounded by engineers, which might explain her incredible precision and love of complex work. Her latest technique is an adaptation of English Paper Piecing that doesn’t require hand piecing and includes curves! Karen demonstrates her fascinating style, which combines pinning, gluing and zigzag stitching. You will be amazed, and so was the studio audience, which had loads of questions for her.

Karen mentioned a quilt that inspired her, owned by quilt curator Julie Silber, so we went in search of Julie, and were rewarded with a tour of her antique quilt collection. You’ll love it!

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The website and presentation of these quilts are also elegant. Take a look at quilts that were made to be works of art when other forms of art were hard for women to enter.

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The Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection is currently on exhibit at the Legion of Honor in San Francisco through July 19, 2015.

From the Legion of Honor:

Explore the glamour and sophistication of one of the world’s preeminent costume collections. These fashions worn by American women reflect the nation’s tastes and transformations over the course of the 20th century. High Style, presented exclusively on the West Coast at the Legion of Honor, provides a rare opportunity to view the evolution of fashion from 1910 to 1980 through more than 60 stunning costumes, 30 costume accessories, and an array of related fashion sketches from the Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection.

To see a preview of this fabulous exhibit, click here.