Last week I traveled down to Tehachapi for a visit to the Tehachapi Mountain Quilters. I met the program chairs from the group last April at the SCCQG Meet the Teachers event.

After a long drive, I rolled into town on Sunday evening, ready to join them Monday morning for their guild meeting. My new Island Batik scarf made it's debut since it was the perfect match the my top. I couldn't resist stopping for a quick photo of the beautiful mountain view on my way to the meeting.

I shared my My Quilting Journey lecture with a large pile of my quilts, spanning from my first quilt back in 2002 (I think) to many of my recent Planned Improv and other quilts. This lecture is show and tell of around 25 quilts, sharing my tips and tricks along the way. The quilts you can see hanging are some of my recent Planned Improv pieces: Fandangle Scrappy Squares, Modern Batik, Pantone Ultra Violet All About Angles, and Bold and Brave.

Following the guild meeting I had lunch with a group of the women from the guild and then visited Yvonne. I ended my day with some delicious chicken pasta from Jake's, which was walking distance from my hotel.

On Tuesday I taught Planned Improv: Scrappy Squares. It's so fun how versatile Planned Improv is. Anna work in progress and Angie's first finished slab are shown above. During the workshop I had students making baby quilts, wall quilts, table toppers, and placemats. Part of my Planned Improv workshops is talking about how to iterate on a design and in order to build another unit that looks like it belongs with the first. This is applicable when creating larger sized quilts with multiple slabs, like my Greenery quilt, as well as working in a series to create a set of placemats that aren't identical, but do go together.

Gina used a variety of blue Grunge fabric with soft greys in her background. They she chopped up her finished slab and rearranged the quadrants to create a different composition.

I had a lovely day with this great group of women who all finished one or more slabs. A great big thanks to all of the Tehachapi Mountain Quilters for having me, and to Beve and Nancy, the current program chairs, who took care of me while I was there.

Would you like to have me visit your guild to teach? Point your guild program chair to my teaching page for details about the lectures and workshops I'm currently offering. Check my teaching schedule to see if I'll be in your area.