I went to the Road to California with my old next door neighbor yesterday. Considering the cost of gas, and the distance, I don't know if I will be going again. It is a long drive for basically the same old same old. Now that I can go to the Long Beach show in July, no need to drive out to the other end of the world. Many of the old tried and true vendors were not at the show, with the cost of travel, shipping costs and time, many have now opted to only come out to Southern CA for the Long Beach Show.
The judges' choice quilt was absolutely adorable. It was a day at at quilt show. The gal made quite a few miniature quilts and had them hanging on her wall piece. She had ladies looking at the quilts, taking pictures of the quilts and one gal seriously contemplating one of the quilts. She also had a hubby standing there looking at his watch checking to see how much longer he had to tolerate his wife's obsession for the day. It was really a fun quilt.
I will say, there were no wonky quilts this time. Last year, they had several quilts that had absolutely no business being placed in a juried show. Since this is the 15th anniversary of the show, they had all the Best of Show quilts for the last 15 years on display.
Martinelli's was there once again. They were selling a set with a new foot, binding clips, and a new seam ripper. Unfortunately, they did not have the foot and if you were not coming back the next day, they would ship it to you but you had to pay half the shipping cost. They also did not have all of their new mats. Some lady bought the new mat to be shipped and her friend wanted the kit. She was insisting her friend should not have to pay shipping since she was not going to pay shipping for the mat and she demanded that they be sent together. I don't know all that as going on, but they only had the one cashier, 30 people in line and they are arguing with this gal. My gf was one of the 30 since she wanted the new seam ripper. She had a lot more patience that I would have and waiting for almost 20 minutes to pay. I would have walked away and said enough is enough-- add some more cashiers. They always have a crowd, so they should know how to plan for it.
Well, we arrived at 10:15, and left by 1:30 so that we did not have to fight Friday, holiday weekend traffic. I think I will write this one off for the future and save for the LB show and the local guild shows.
Debbi in SO CA