By Jondi Gumz
Sara Roche is the Stitch Witch, and it’s easy to see why.
If you visit during Open Studios, you’ll see her many of her colorful quilts displayed on clothesline rippling in the breeze.
Sara Roche with her Long Arm quilting machine. • Photo Credit: Jondi Gumz
She quilts a dozen quilts a month for local charities.
She takes custom orders, producing one-of-a-kind quilts in about 4 to 6 weeks, depending on the complexity.
And now, you have a chance to see her work up close and in person at the Pajaro Valley Quilt Association’s Annual Show “Through the Looking Glass” Saturday, Feb. 25 & Sunday, Feb. 26, at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds: 2601 East Lake Ave., Watsonville.
She has designed the quilting for “opportunity quilt” being created by the Apple Piecers group of the guild, which meets twice a month to make quilts for those in need. This quilt will be raffled next year — 2024 — and you get a sneak preview.
Roche, 64, originally from the East Coast, went to art school thinking she would become a fine artist.
An assignment to make a 4×6-foot rug of her own design gave her pause.
She wanted to do “stuff that would enhance people’s everyday life,” not niche projects.
She became an award-winning weaver, spending 20 years traveling to major craft shows all over the U.S.
She met her husband, Greg Roche, at a show in Baltimore.
He was selling leather for his family-owned business, Roche Leather Co., in Watsonville.
She was in her weaving booth.
Roche won PVQA Best of Show in 2022. • Photo Credit: Jondi Gumz
After they got married, they lived outside Watsonville in a rural area where the Trabing Fire would take place.
When her son was 3 — she’s the mother of two sons — she realized it was time for a change.
In 2008 she shifted into quilting and never looked back.
Her studio is chock-a-block full of color, fabrics, threads, works in progress and her Long Arm quilting machine.
That’s the high-tech device she uses. It speeds up the time needed to sew the three layers of the quilt together, and the computer can automate patterns and designs.
The 2008 Trabing fire, which burned 500 acres, destroyed some 15 homes in her neighborhood.
Her home, where she made defensible space a priority, was saved by Aptos La Selva firefighters.
The silver lining is that after the fire, the county allowed Roche to build her quilting studio and an accessory dwelling unit.
The Covid-19 pandemic halted in-person classes featuring expert quilt instructors.
But the Pajaro Valley Quilt Association got creative, and scheduled classes via Zoom, which attracted experts from around the world.
Sara Roche with the “opportunity quilt” that will be raffled off at the 2024 Pajaro Valley Quilt Association show. • Photo Credit: Jondi Gumz
With the pandemic shifting to normalcy, Roche said, “We’re going to stay hybrid.”
That means some in-person classes, some via Zoom.
If you would like to order your own “art quilt,” or have a quilt top quilted, email [email protected].
Hours of the Quilt Show, which features three buildings full of quilts, are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $10.
For details about special features at this year’s event, go to www.pvqa.org and click on the Quilt Show tab.
