Scribing and birthdays!

It has been a wild and wonderful week of scribing for Road to California, and celebrating my Grandson’s 5th birthday.

I reached out to Linda Rasmussen, a Certified Judge (CJ) for the National Association of Certified Quilt Judges to see if there were any upcoming shows that I could shadow or work. Road was coming up, so I was able to scribe for the two day show in Ontario, CA. I am wanting to become a CJ myself, and one of the steps before entering the program is to work a show with a certified judge.

I had initially planned to bring my scooter, as I was still recovering from my plantar fasciitis, but my new inserts from the Good Feet Store, along with a series of acupuncture treatments, allowed me to go sans scooter. I was thriiiiilled to be without it! My foot was a bit uncomfortable after 11,000 steps, but nothing that made me feel like I was working against my recovery. I was over the moon to be able to do this without assistance. I had been concerned for weeks about this!

I don’t remember being at the Ontario airport before. It is wonderful! This is the view across the street from drop off. Parking is right there, just walk across the street. The airport is small yet has decent dining options. And it’s soooo easy to get in and out of.

Linda runs the quilt room for the show and that is a big responsibility. The judging room needs to be set up to provide a comfortable and professional atmosphere for the judges. It also needs to be confidential, efficient and uphold high standards so that the quilts are judged properly. Linda’s team was phoenomenal; almost all of my fellow volunteers in the room had been doing the show for 5 years or more. I am guessing that there were about 16 volunteers in the judging room.

You will never see me out in the wild looking like this. Judges are not to wear any makeup, lest our faces accidentally come into contact with a quilt. I am a makeup girl; I keep it light, with a gentle presence, but I wear make up every day. You will NEVER see me without make up unless I’m judging or it’s early morning before a shower. That’s just how I roll. During the whole lock down of 2020, I dressed as though I were going to go out, even if I wasn’t. So this was a real departure for me, going 2 days without makeup.

 

I was a little worried about being “the new girl”, but this was a delightful, happy, supportive and fun group! Most were from the Wandering Foot Quilt Guild. I scribed the comments, meaning, I wrote down the comments that the judges had for each quilt. Their system has 2 scribes for each quilt, one writing in longhand and one on a laptop. That way, between the two of us, we made absolutely sure we wrote down exactly what the judge said. There were 190 quilts judged and 3 sets of 2 scribes. It was intense at times, trying to keep up with the comments, but it was so informative and fun.

The judges were Verushka Zarate (Best of Show, QuiltCon, 2025) and Sue Spargo (amazing wool applique patterns and notions). Both showed a deep respect for the process, a commitment to fairly judge every quilt, and tried to “get” every single quilt. There was so much joy coming from the two of them. They marveled at some of the details and provided thoughtful and encouraging comments. I learned so much from the process of being in the room for 2 days of judging.

The show runs Wed – Sat at the Ontario Convention Center in Ontario, CA. The Center is a beautiful, light filled building with cavernous ceilings. You get a great vibe just walking there.

I was not able to see the show, as I wanted to go to my Grandson’s bday the day after judging. I was thrilled to run into Telene Jeffrey from South Africa in the short time I was there. We met for maybe 10 minutes and tried to get together later, but it was not to be. I am thrilled that we met!

All in all, it was a fabulous experience and I am grateful that Linda allowed me to scribe.

On to the San Francisco Bay area for my grandson’s 5th bday! It was a wonderful day of family and celebration. The theme was Legos and my grandson and his guests had a grand time with Legos.

Oh wait, that is my son, playing with Legos, creating a Texas map. The whole Texas thing runs deep in the family. Hubbie is from El Paso and got his Masters from Univ of Texas. My Mother in Law’s bday was always the same date as Road to California, so I have never been to the show. We meet each year in January in El Paso, even after her passing. Both boys were born in Houston. So yeah, the Texas connection runs deep.

It’s been a super busy week and I’m going to be judging the Modesto guild’s show, the Country Crossroads Quilt Guild. I’m excited!

I’ll be linking up:
Nina-Marie’s Off the Wall Friday