Let Me Introduce Myself...

Since it seems that I'm not very good at keeping this part of my blog up to date, I have decided to make this an introduction about me.

Hi, 

My name is Cindy Myers.  I am a quilting instructor, quilting lecturer, quilt show vendor under the name, A Couple of Old Broads and I run an Adult Care Facility, the Myers Home, with my husband, where I care for developmentally disabled men.  

I live in Ontario, California, not Canada.  I add this especially when I'm at a quilt show because people think I have come a long way to be at whatever quilt show I am at.  And yes, I live 10 minutes away from where Road to California is held.  

I am a quilting instructor.  I love teaching my students and watching the light of discovery alight in their eyes when the amazing things start coming together.  Some of the classes I teach are my Fun Fabulous Fabric Ornaments.  Starting with one of Paula Nadelstern's beautiful medallion panels, I show my students how to make a flat piece of fabric fit smoothly around a round Styrofoam ball and then have them embellishing it to their hearts content.  

Another class that I teach is One Block Wonder with Panels quilts.  We start with a set of 7 fabric panels, cut 6 of the panels up into triangles, sew the triangles into half hexies, then start arranging the half hexies around the 7th panel that will be the center of our design.  

I am a former Quiltworx Instructor and teach a few of Judy Niemeyer's patterns and her way of paper piecing, which I love.  

As the owner of A Couple of Old Broads, A Traveling Quilt Shoppe, I don't have a brick and mortar store, I do quilt shows, in Arizona, California and Nevada.  I specialize in fabric panels and their coordinating fabrics, quilt themed gifts, notions, patterns and much more.  I also have an online store, www.ACoupleofOldBroads.com, that I try to keep up. So, if you see me at one of the shows I go to and you went home and didn't buy that special something you can always see if it is in my store or contact me and I will see if I will have it or I can maybe order it if I don't.  

On the other pages you will find my lecture and workshop information.  My teaching and vending schedule. The One Block Wonder with Panels page has the current sets that I have available for my workshop.  The Fun Fabulous Fabric Ornaments page has the current medallion panels that are available for the kits in class.  Another page has some of my students work and last but not least is a page with some of my quilts.  

Thanks for taking the time to stop by and take a look.

Always Stitchin',

Cindy

It's February Already and January Recap

OK, I know, it's already the middle of February and I haven't checked in with how I did on my January goals.  Well I think I did fairly well with the goals I set for January, so lets recap:

Goal #1.  Get the Dragon quilts basted and quilted. - Well, I got them both basted and both quilts got some basic quilting on them so that they were quilted "enough" to put the binding on them.  They were ready "enough" to hang in the "Old Broads" booth for Road to California.  I'm working on getting more quilting done on both of them in between the upcoming show this winter/spring.  I want to do a lot of detail work on them so it might take a while.  I've currently have the Blue Dragon quilt under the needle and it's coming along fairly well. Here's a shot of the Blue Dragon quilt in my booth at Road.

Goal #2.  Baste and quilt the Road to California 25th anniversary souvenir fabric quilt. -  I finished the Road quilt and it was ready to hang in the Road booth at the show.  I didn't get a chance to see it hanging in the Road booth but, I know that Matt was very happy with it when I gave it to him before the show.  I do have to say it was a bit of a challenge to come up with a way to use this fabric, but since I'm always trying to make things useful, I decided to do it in the One Block Wonder with panels style.  This is a new workshop that I am teaching and this will be a sample for the classes showing that instead of a panel you can use a section of the fabric as your center focus.

Road to California Celebrates 25 Years of Quilts

Goal #3. Cut and bag or label all the new fabrics that had come in since November for the "Old Broads" booth. - Did it.  So many fun fabrics.  I do have to say that cutting, folding and bagging/labeling the fabrics is kind of a Zen thing for me.  I really enjoy the process.

Goal #4.  Do inventory for the "Old Broads". - Well, I'm still working on it.  I have part of it done, but it's an ongoing process, what can I say...

Being a vendor and teacher at Road to California this year was a lot of many things, work, fun, work, teaching and of course more work, but I enjoy it.  I love seeing friends that I don't see often.  I love the response of my customers to all the fun things I sell in my booth.  I taught 3 classes this year and they all went very well.  My two ornament classes were a blast, with everyone walking away with the start of beautiful ornaments.  Thanks to everyone who took classes from me this year.  I also want to give a bit Thank You to my friend Lori, who came out from Maine, to help me in my booth.  She was very happy to be out here since they were having 0 degree temps at home.  She was able to take some classes while she was here.  

During Road I was able to have a little fun myself.  Bonnie McCaffery was at Road doing photo shoots for teachers and vendors.  I treated myself to a photo session to get a new head shot, something I really needed, since one of the pictures I use is really old and another was one that I had a friend take while we were out.  Bonnie did a great job getting some fun poses that I asked for and now I'm excited to see what comes from it all.

That's about all for now.  I'll be back soon with my with a couple of February goals.  It won't be many since February is already half over and I have 2 shows in Arizona back to back.  

Always Stitchin',

Cindy  

    

2020 - A New Year, A New Decade

And with that being said, this year I am going to be setting up monthly goals for myself and posting about them here on my blog to make me accountable for getting them done.  That will help, hopefully, for one of my goals, which is to post more often.  There are always things that need to be done, so I should have lots of  goals that get done over this next year.

During Christmas this year we had rain and snow in the local mountains, it was a cold rain so the snow was way down on the mountains close to my house, which is unusual, so the day after Christmas I went out and got some great pictures of the view of the mountains from my front yard.

They looked so pretty, but I'm glad I'm down here and not up there.  I don't do cold very well. 

Goals for January

#1.  Baste and quilt the 2 dragon quilts that I need for samples in the "Old Broads" booth for the upcoming show, the first of which is Road to California in about 3 weeks.  

This is the blue version of the quilt and there is also a red version, both of which I want to display, since I will have kits for both versions for sale in the booth.

#2.  Baste and quilt the Road to California Quilt, made from the new 25th anniversary souvenir fabric, which will be on display in the Road booth at the show.  

#3.  And this is probably the most important of all is to get all the fabric that has been coming in over the past couple of month, cut, bagged and tagged for the upcoming shows.

#4.  Do inventory for the booth.  

Well I think this will keep me busy enough, plus as I mentioned, Road to California starts in a few weeks and I will be a vendor and be teaching 3 classes this year.  I will be teaching Christmas Celebration, a tree skirt/table topper and 2 classes of my Fun Fabulous Fabric Ornaments.  Check out Road2ca.com  for more information on the show and all it's classes and events going on.

Now it's time for me to get to work.

Happy New Year Everyone!!

Cindy  

Finally Slowing Down...

Finally things are slowing down a little.  October was such a whirl wind of things going on.  Lectures, workshops and two large shows to do.  Thanks to everyone who came to see me at Pacific International Quilt Festival.  It's always fun to see familiar faces at the shows. 

Thank you to the Pajaro Valley Quilt Guild and the Acacia Quilt Guild for inviting me to do a lecture and workshop for their guilds. 

I also went to be a vendor at Houston International Quilt Festival.  WOW!! What an experience!!  The show was great, but the drive getting there was long, very, very looooong!  I had a great booth space, right around the corner from the information booth and one booth off of the main aisle, which they call Broadway, right in the middle of all the action.

 Here is a couple of shots so you can see how big the show floor is, plus there is more upstairs and all the classes going on upstairs. 

I was also able to see my Bob Ross, Cherrywood Challenge quilt on display at the show.  This is my third time being a finalist in the Challenge.

Here is "A Walk in the Redwoods."  I think it looks pretty good, especially since I made it in just 4 days.  Here's the story of why.  I forgot to check when the deadline was and I thought I had a month left until it was due, then I got a newsletter blast from Cherrywood saying that the participants had 6 days left until the deadline.  After I read that I was about to give up on doing my challenge, but the next day I said to myself, damn it, I paid $60 bucks for this fabric and I have the image of what I want to do, you can do this.  So I put everything else on hold and got it done just in time.  I was so happy to see my name as a finalist, so my quilt will travel for the next year or more going to different quilt shows around the US.  The next show that I will be at and be able to see it will be at Road to California in January.  I was also able to buy the book of this years Bob Ross Cherrywood Challenge quilts.  

 I also picked up the new Cherrywood Challenge fabrics for this year and I got the accent pack to go along with it.  The theme for this year is Princess Diana.  I have a couple of ideas in mind I just have to see if they will work out.

Now it's time to get ready for the Holidays and all that it entails, food, family, friends...

Happy Quilting,

Cindy

Time for a Break

Now that the spring show season is over, it's time for a little bit of a break for the summer.  The Old Broads had a great time at all of the shows, Road to California, Tucson Quilt Show, Arizona Quilters Guild Quilt Show and Quilt Show Reno.  Thank you to all of the organizers for all the great shows. There are some big changes going on with The Old Broads, Lauretta has decided to retire from quilt show vending.  I am so sorry to see her go, but I know that her interest lie in other directions, teaching, designing, lecturing, etc. After thinking it over and talking with my husband, I am happy to say that The Old Broads will continue.  I will be keeping the name and most things will stay the same.  Look for lots of new products and fun stuff to be sure.  I have already done a couple of small shows on my own to see how it goes with just one old broads taking care of things and I did OK, maybe just a little slower.

I have updated my Schedule page so that you can see where I will be teaching and vending.  I taking a huge leap of faith and I'm going to be doing Quilt Festival in Houston this year.  I have a friend that is going to go with me to help.  I'm looking forward to having a great time.

On the lecturing and teaching side of things, I'm having a great time.  I went to both the Northern and Southern California Councils Meet the Teachers and came away with many contracts.  Next year is going to be a busy one.  I look forward to meeting and sharing my quilts with everyone.  I am currently making samples for my new workshop offering, One Block Wonder with Panels.  I'm having a great time seeing how the technique works when using panels and the quilts that I've done so far are turning out great. Since the technique takes seven panels, I'm working on seeing how it works with some smaller panels, this would be easier to work with in a workshop setting  The one below uses the typical pillow panel size of about 18" x 18".

 I just finished quilting this one, which I used a Laurel Burch pillow panel.  I wanted to see if there was going to be enough hexies to be able to build around the smaller panel.  I'm very happy with the way it turned out and it shows that it can be done with the smaller panels and give good results. 

Here's one on the design wall that is waiting to be sewn together.  This one is using one of the Hoffman Wanderlust digital panels.

Starting Fresh

 Starting fresh can be so invigorating.  It's been so long since I've done anything here that I have decided to get things updated and hopefully, fingers crossed keep this up to date this time.  I couldn't believe how long is has been since I have last posted.  There have been a lot of changes.  I do have to say that most of the changes were/are good and that is part of the reason that I haven't done anything here.  I've been too BUSY.  But things do need to be brought current and my blog is one of them.  So now that "A Couple of Old Broads" 2018 show season is over for the year, it's time to get busy on things that have been languishing.

The "Old Broads" have been having a great time at all the show that we have been attending.  We love all our customers, they always have great things to say about our booth and we love hearing that.  We try to stay up to date with all the new products that are coming out on the market and that we think would be a good fit for us.  We are always on the look out for new panels and fabrics, gift items and the latest and greatest notions.

We cut our show schedule down this year due to the fact that I finally decided it was time to get one of my hands/thumbs fixed.  After many years of arthritis pain in my thumb and not being able to work at time because of it, I finally bit the bullet and had the surgery to fix the problem, but that meant finding 3 months where I could take the time off to be able to fit it in.  So after the last Spring show in Mesa, AZ I had the surgery.  I was in a cast for a month, then was in a brace for a month with the restriction not to use the hand for any lifting, then after those 2 months I could gently start to use my hand and start therapy.   I am happy to say that I am very happy with the results.  I have no more pain in my thumb and am slowly getting the strength back in my left hand.

I am currently in the process of working on a new class that has to do with panels and using them in One Block Wonder quilts.  I have just finished one quilt top and have quite a few more panels to work on to make samples for the class.  I can't wait to offer this class next year at Meet the Teachers at Quilt Council.

I can't believe that the holidays are here already.  I do have to say that I am not READY for them yet, but hopefully I'll be there soon.

Well this is a start to getting things current and I hope to (fingers crossed) keep things more up to date.

Times flies...again!

 Where has the time gone.  I can't believe that we are getting ready for our first show of 2015 for A Couple of Old Broads.  We will be at the Valley Wide Quilt Show in San Jacinto/Hemet, Feb. 13-14.

Here's just a little recap of what's been going on here.  After a nice break during the summer the "Old Broads" started the fall show season with a great show in San Diego.  Then Lauretta and I took my clients on our annual beach vacation to Cayucos, Ca. I rent a beach house for a week and we go up for some great fun on the beach.  We get in a lot of sewing time along with sight seeing, shopping and lots of time to just veg.  After our time at the beach, the "Old Broads" did Quiltfest in Palm Springs, a new show put on by the Mancuso Bros.  Then in November we took a trip to Sacramento for the Rivercity Quilt Show, our last show of the fall season.  We are having a great time learning our new business and meeting lots of great people.

On the teaching front I've also been busy.  In August I had a great time in Wrightwood at the PineNeedles Quilt Guild.  They put me up at this cute little place. 

Sorry I can't remember the name of the place (I really need to start writing these things down) and yes that is my PT Cruiser parked in front.  It was a really nice place. The ladies of the guild had a great time learning to make Weeping Willow.

Next I got an unexpected call from Judy Niemeyer herself asking me what I was doing the week and if I would like to take the place of another Certified Instructor that had a health issue and couldn't make it to her lecture and workshop at the Santa Rosa Guild.  Well of course I couldn't say no to Judy, so off I went to Santa Rosa and what a great group of ladies.  I stayed at the program chair, Genelle's house which backs onto a private lake and when I got there after a long day of driving she had wine and cheese waiting.




I want to thank Genelle for being such a great hostess.  She also baked bread that was wonderful and we had it for dinner and breakfast the next morning. The Santa Rosa Guild had a morning guild and an evening guild.  I was doing my lecture and workshop for the morning guild.  The lecture went great and after the meeting the guild has a potluck lunch so I was feed very well.  I also ran into a friend, Carol LeMonye, who used to be in my guild, the Nite Owls, but moved to northern California a while back.  What a surprise to have her pop out of the kitchen, she is head of the hostess committee, and came to give me a huge bear hug.  It was so good to see her after all these years.  After the meeting there was an afternoon to kill and since I was up in prime No. Cal wine country Genelle took me wine tasting then out to dinner for fresh oysters.  The next day was the workshop and the ladies had a great time making the Cactus Flower Table Runner.

Here are just a few that were put together in class.  After the class it was time to pack up and since I was in the neighborhood I had made arrangement to pop down and spend the night with my brother and his wife who live an hour south of Santa Rosa in Novato.  It was so good to see Alan and Diana, even if just for a short visit.  The next morning it was time to hit the road and head home.  What a great unexpected trip.

More on the rest of my summer later as this is getting a little long.  I really do need to post more often.

Getting reaquainted..

Change is a good thing.  I've been finding that out this weekend.  OK, so let's start from the beginning.  I needed more room for my fabric.  I had no place to put any new fabric or to be honest, no place for some of the fabric that has been sitting around in baskets and what have you waiting for a permanent place to live until it becomes a quilt.  So I decided to splurge and order the Elfa shelving units/sliding bins from The Container Store.  Granted I had some nice bins from Ikea, but they just couldn't take the weight of all the fabric I had in them and to be honest they weren't the right size for the closet they were in, so it wasn't a good use of the space.  So now I have some great sliding bins that are holding all the fabric plus a little more then what was in the original bins and they looks gorgeous.

 
So in having to switch all the fabric into their new homes/bins, I've been able to get reacquainted with some of my fabrics.  You know this really is a good thing, you get to remember what you bought some of it for, you can tell yourself that this piece would go great in this or that project and you get to say OK, it's time for some of you to find another home, yeah I know it's cruel, but you know sometimes it has to be done and it's new home will be so happy to have it.

Since I was able to put a little more into the new bins I am now in the process of rearranging my other fabric cabinet.

Lower section

Upper section

As you can see I have part of it back together in the lower section, the first 2 shelves,  I still have the upper section to work on and the rest of the lower section, but it's so nice to see open space in this thing instead of having it so packed full of fabric that you couldn't find anything.

Well I guess I really should get back to folding and making nice neat piles of fabric.

Have a great weekend!

Time Flies... and Happy 4th of July

Where had the time gone?  I can't believe that half of the year is already gone.  I know it's been busy.  And I've been a bad girl not keeping up my blog, but I'm going to try and do better, but I'm not making any promises.  

So what's been going on you ask?  Well lots!!!  The biggest  things is that my best friend and now partner  and I have started a new business as quilt show vendors.  We are "A Couple of Old Broads."  Lauretta Crites is a new pattern designer, with a line of patterns for quilts, purses and totes.  She is hoping to soon have kits to add to her inventory.  I am selling everything Judy Niemeyer Quilting, patterns, kits and supplies for your adventure into the fun world of paper piecing.  We have just finished up our show for the winter/spring season.  We were vendors at San Jacinto/Hemet show and South Bay Quilters in Torrance in February, Glendale Quilt Show in March and Camarillo Quilt Show in April.  We are having a blast meeting people and learning the ropes of being quilt show vendors.  The other vendors are the nicest people and are so willing to share their knowledge with us rookies.  We have also just launched our new web-site.  You can find us at www.coupleofoldbroads.com.  Please be mindful that it is still under construction and we will be adding to it as we can.  But we are going to at least have the shows and dates of where we are going to be.

Our booth at the Glendale Quilt Show

I have also busy making sample for teaching and my trunk show/lecture.  Currently I just started working on Vintage Compass.  I'm working it up in Civil War prints and it's going to look great.  It's a great beginner pattern and is going to work up quickly.  I'll keep you posted om my progress.  I also want to show you some of the other that I have at least finished the top, but have yet had the time to get quilted.

Feathered Star

 Feathered Star is an intermediate/advanced pattern.  I did it in the Modern Quilt style in solid colors with the white background.  I love the way it came out, now I just have to figure out how I'm going to quilt it, especially all that white.

Farmers Star

 Farmers Star is a beginner pattern that has 2 companion patterns the one below, Arizona Cactus, which is a wall hanging/table topper and Cactus Flower which is a table runner pattern.  I'm going to have to get a picture of my Cactus Flower table runner. I finally got Farmers Star quilted but it still needs the binding.

Arizona Cactus

I was so happy with the way this quilt came out, but unfortunately it had to go to another good home.  I traded it for a beautiful necklace made by a wonderful bead artist named Sherry Serrafini.

Split Log Cabin

I did my Split Log Cabin in batiks and Asian fabrics.  This is a beginner pattern and lots of fun to make up.  I have kits for sale made up for this quilt in the way I made mine with the Asian and batik fabrics.  I've done all the collecting for you since it takes 40 batiks fat eighths and 40 Asians fat eighths. 

Now that things have quieted down a little I'll be able to get some sewing and quilting done so that I have some new samples for my lectures and our booth for the fall shows.  We have a great line up of shows, starting off  Sept. 4-6, 2014 with the San Diego Quilt show at the San Diego Convention Center.  On Oct. 2-4, 2014 we will be vendors at Quiltfest Palm Springs and on Nov. 14-16, 2014 we will be ending the season at River City Quilt Show in Sacramento.  I will also be doing some lectures and workshops in between some of the shows.

That's about all for now. Have a safe and Happy 4th of July.

It all started with a chair

My studio is a disaster.  It usually is in some amount of disarray, but it has gone way beyond that at the moment and it was much worse, this picture is after I've been working on it for a day and a half.  It all started with wanting to get a little more room and to be better able to access these cabinets.

They used to be in this corner with the computer desk in front of them.  Which meant that I would have to move the computer any time I wanted to get into them.  Needless to say I only stored stuff that I didn't need to access very often, but I knew that they weren't being used to their full potential so I needed to do some rearranging. It also meant that I needed to find a new home for my beloved sofa, which I did and it will be well loved,  and replace it with something smaller, like a recliner, because sometimes I do like to relax and put my feet up. 

Now the cabinets are where I can get to then easier. It has also given me a chance to clean them out.  There was lots of stuff that is being re-purposed, like quilt tops that I've never gotten around to quilting for one reason or another, usually because I didn't like the way they turned out, so they are going to be quilt backs.  Other stuff is going to find a good home, just not here.

  And here is my new recliner.  It's really soft and comfy. 

There are still a couple of things that I'm waiting for.  The first is a filing cabinet which will go in the corner next to the computer table. It comes tomorrow.  I am going to love being able to get a lot of the paper stuff filed away.  I also have to get new blinds for the windows.  Which means I have to make a trip to Home Depot or Lowes today to pick them out, so I won't be able to get any quilting done for a few more days at least.

   

Easy Street Finale...for some of us...

It's done!!!! I've finished my Easy Street Mystery top with pieced borders. The borders are pieced because I goofed on the part where we were making stacked bricks and I cut the strips the wrong size. I didn't realize the mistake until I had sewn the strips together and cut them into their 3 1/2" sections. So what do you do when life gives you scraps? Make the border for your quilt. I usually prefer doing something with the border other then just putting on just plain strips. I think for quilting I going to take it to my girlfriend's and put it on her longarm and just do a panto on it, since it is so busy. That's what I did with Orca Bay and it turned out great.

Betsy B.'s top is together, it looks great in all batiks.  She was looking for just the right purple for the border and Linda G. found the perfect one in her stash and gave it to her.  Quilting friends are the greatest.  For the small inner border she is going to use her left over turquoise which she has cut into strips and pieced into one long strip.  I's going to look fantastic when she is done.

The other "Girlz" in my friendship group who have joined me on this journey are still working hard at getting theirs finished.  Nancy has 1 A block, her 4 corners and all the setting triangles finished, but still has to finish the rest of her blocks.

Here is one of Missy A blocks.  She has all her parts done, so she just has to put it all together into her top.

 

The first pic shows Linda G.'s A block and the next one shows her stack of all her finished blocks.  We have a meeting today so we'll see how far everyone has gotten. 

It's all my Fault!...

Yes, I take all the blame. OK, so let me explain. I'm in a Friendship group called "Diamond Girlz". We (me, Betsy B., Linda G., Nancy, Missy, Linda P., Brenda and our newbie Lyn)most of us have been together for quite a few years now. Last year I did the "Orca Bay" Mystery from Bonnie Hunter's Blog and they all loved it after I had finished it. So this year when the fabric colors were posted for the new Bonnie Hunter Mystery on Halloween, I knew that I had to tell the "Girlz" about it, especially since 3 of us are purple fanatics, me included. Everyone was so excited, the colors were great and they especially like the idea that it was going to be EASY!! Betsy (our biggest purple fan), she loves purple so much she has even dyed her hair purple, went straight to Lowe's and wiped them out of all the colors of paint chips from Bonnie's post, so that she could give everyone in our group a set to help with picking out our fabrics. BTW, what a great idea. Then the fabric collecting began. Some of us didn't have to go very far to find enough fabric, in all the colors needed for the quilt, others in the group didn't have quite enough of one color or another so they might have had to do just a little shopping.
We were all chomping at the bit, so to speak, waiting for the first clue to come out. And it's been like that every Friday from the start. The group as a whole usually gets the clue done before the week is out. There are a couple who haven't had a chance to get started, but they have been enjoying it all just the same. They love seeing what the rest of us have gotten finished.
So without further ado here are the parts that we currently have finished.

Here's my parts.

These are Nancy's.

Here are Betsy B.'s.
She's doing hers in batiks,
except for the white with black prints.

Here are Linda G.'s.

These are Missy's

I love the way everyone's parts are coming out. I'll have to post Part 5 when I get pics from everyone, but for right now I think everyone is just trying to get ready for Christmas.

Always stitchin', Cindy

Good morning from Nephi, Utah

Good morning.  Just finishing up breakfast.  Here are some of the pictures I wanted to post last night but couldn't.  These guys are our traveling companions, Snowdrift and Toby.  Eyore is our backseat driver and he's had no complaints so far. TK has been a great riding shotgun.
Well breakfast is finished and we need to go get the car packed.
Always Stitchin',
Cindy