OUT WEST!

 I recently enjoyed a trip to the Sierra Nevada mountains for Lynn Wilder's Retreat. She does retreats 3-4 times a year for about 35 women. I was happy to be invited to join them this year as we wrapped up Laurel Ridge, Lynn's Block of the Month design for The Quilt Show. You can still get the patterns FREE as a Star Member: Laurel Ridge Block of the Month 2025

Here are just some of the the highlights in photos:

My accommodation for the week was a lovely cabin a few doors down from Lynn's cabin. Her friend offered to host us--we had the cabin to ourselves all week.

View off  the deck of our cabin

Lynn Wilder and Pati Violick, Director of Marketing Marcus Fabrics, my roommate for the week

My room

The kitchen

A welcome card, homemade chocolate chip cookies, champagne

View from the Loft above

View from  the Loft

The next day 5 of us made the 2.5 hour drive to Yosemite. It was a glorious Fall day and we enjoyed the trip, my first to a western National Park:

To prove I was there

Candace, Pati, Gwyneth, and Lynn

El Capitan

The next day Retreat began, with setting up the large room and Lynn's "pop-up shop". Many hands made light work. Attendees came about noon and the sewing and chatting began:

My Laurel Ridge was finished there

Lynn's Laurel Ridge on display

The door prizes donated by Marcus Fabrics

The first dinner was Appetizers, Desserts and Wine, brought by the attendees. The food all week was good, this was really great:

Lynn's sister, Gail, even remembered from my blog that I like Moscato--she kept my glass ready each night. Thanks, Gail!

Each evening there was Show and Tell. This is a very accomplished group of quilters. Here is just a glimpse:

Angi is knocking this one out of the park

Linda made this in a class with Jean Impey

Lori makes art quilts mostly--this is made by burning in the black lines

Gay L brought her Color My World--I believe it's the most well-made of any I have seen. Completely flat. She is now inspired to finish it.

Melinda worked on this much of the week

For MORE PHOTOS from RETREAT, check out Lynn's Blog: Sew'n Wild Oaks blog There is so much to see there.

I worked on two ongoing projects:

Border blocks for TEXAS STAR and Old Italian blocks for MY NEXT LIFETIME QUILT

Read more about those here:

TEXAS STAR

SUMMER SEW A LONG

Monday morning we got to watch Alex Anderson live as she revealed the 2026 Block of the Month quilt, Game On!, designed by Becky Goldsmith exclusively for The Quilt Show. Here I am watching:

Now I could pull out my Solid Kit and start working on Game On! I had printed the patterns and instructions at home so I was ready to begin:

For more information on this FUN quilt, see:  Game On!

One evening I gave my presentation TIME MANAGEMENT FOR QUILTERS. It is always well received and I enjoy giving it. Many watched:

The next night Pati gave a presentation about how fabrics are designed and made--it was very informative. Prices will continue to rise and manufacturing quilting fabric in this country will not happen again. 

All week I watched these women  making quilts, friends and memories. It was so good to be with them. Many return at least once a year, 10 of us were first-timers. There was a mother daughter daughter team who kept SO BUSY it was hard to get their photo:

The only problem for me was I didn't get a power walk all week--no cell service outside Wi-Fi in our cabin and the Lodge, meant I could get hopelessly lost and it is BEAR country and MOUNTAIN LION country. Windy roads that all look the same, no sidewalks, steep drop-offs to driveways or woods. No, I just had to stay in and sew after walking with Pati to the Lodge most mornings.  

And the food just kept coming. Each day the snack table grew--I called it the OH NO! table. Homemade goodies and some of my favorite store-bought goodies added to the challenge. Thankfully, I only came home up 3 pounds and they were gone quickly:

A well-run retreat is a super experience, a chance to get away from the duties at home and make new friends. There were gifts, laughs, and so much more. I am happy I was there to enjoy it.

My flights there and back were mostly uneventful. Returning the first day of the "slow down" of flights was worrisome but the 2 hour delay leaving Sacramento was due to equipment, not cancelations. The 3 hour layover I expected in Atlanta became a one hour layover and I arrived in Huntsville at 11 pm, as expected. 

And now I am home for a few months so it is time to get something done!

Let's quilt.

Barbara

WHILE I TRAVEL

 When this posts I will have just returned from a week out West, to Yosemite and Arnold CA, for Lynn Wilder’s retreat. There will be a big post about that soon. 

We walked

We snacked

We sewed

And we laughed and learned:

I gave my presentation “TIME MANAGEMENT for QUILTERS”. It was very well received. Here is just a taste of it for you, my top 3 Tips for Time Management:

Top Tips for Time Management. Click this link to read that post.

Enjoy and I’ll be back soon!

Let’s quilt.

Barbara

LAUREL RIDGE -- MONTH 12

Laurel Ridge is the 2025 Block of the Month quilt designed by Lynn Wilder exclusively for The Quilt Show.  Star Members have FREE access to the patterns starting January 1, 2025. Made in two colorways, the complete patterns are excellent. You will love making this quilt. Lynn supports the pattern instructions with Videos too.  

We made it! It's time to ASSEMBLE your quilt top! 

Grandmother's Autumn colorway

Granddaughter's Spring colorway

VERY IMPORTANT CUTTING UPDATE: SPACER STRIPS  (A)  ARE CUT 3” x 10.5” 

The quilt is put together in a variety of sections. The directions are thorough and easy to follow. What could possibly go wrong??!!

It is very EASY to get something turned around, between the design wall/area and your sewing machine. Just ask me how I know. 

Here is what happened to me as I rushed to get my top assembled months ago:

What NOT TO DO!

A friend pointed out I had turned the middle row section completely around, 180 degrees WRONG. She wasn't familiar with Laurel Ridge so she was trying to see the overall LAYOUT of the pattern. She spotted quickly what I couldn't see. Thanks, Nina!

I was willing to confess this to you on a LIVE broadcast, so that hopefully, you won't do what I did. Later that day Pat H. reached out to me with the sad news I had messed up 3 more blocks--those easy half square triangle blocks in the upper left section! Oh, no!! How did I DO THAT?!  Thanks, Pat!

It was EASY. There is a LOT of sewing here, lots of sections, taken off the wall, sewn together, put back on the wall. One simple misplaced block will require hours of work to fix. The big section took 2.5 hours to fix, the 3 small blocks took more than 3 hours to fix because they were in 3 different rows.

It is EASIER TO DO IT RIGHT, than to have to FIX IT. My TIPS:

1. Take it slow. 

2. If you're tired, stop.

3. Use photos to "see" what your eye can miss. 

4. Get another set of eyes to check you out BEFORE you assemble the various Sections.

In my own defense, I did not have the MONTH 12 ASSEMBLY INSTRUCTIONS until recently and my quilt was assembled in June. All I had to follow was the photo of the completed quilt, enlarged on my computer and IPad. 

Fortunately, my mistakes were brought to my attention while it was still a top. If they had been found after the quilting I would have had to say "It was a DESIGN DECISION". But I would have been very disappointed in myself.  

I added the borders with MITERED SEAMS, rather than straight seams. It allows me to make "border fabric" by sewing the inner border to the outer border BEFORE SEWING THE BORDERS to the quilt:

I tried to keep the floral fabric in the same orientation so I labeled them as I sewed

Once sewn  I carefully drew a 45 degree sewing line

I  had to piece the floral for needed length, it is not visible on the quilt

Mitered seam sewn and pressed open

I love the look of a mitered seam

You might not be surprised by now: I HAVE A TUTORIAL on mitered seam borders:

MITERED BORDERS  Lots of photos and detailed explanations

My remaining TIP is that you make a LABEL for this, and ALL YOUR QUILTS. It tells the who, what, why, when and where of this quilt. The designer and quilter, if not you, needs to be  recognized. See my Label Tutorial for more information:

LABEL TUTORIAL

It's time for my annual REMINDER: all the patterns for LAUREL RIDGE, both colorways, are ONLY AVAILABLE FREE TO STAR MEMBERS until December 31, 2025. After that date, all rights to the patterns return to the designer. No one on The Quilt Show, including Star Members, can give any of these patterns to anyone after the end of this year. That is copyright violation. We respect and protect our designers so we can continue to provide these valuable quilt projects FREE TO OUR MEMBERS. Any patterns you are missing you will have to buy from the designer.

If you haven't saved all the patterns, do it now. If you haven't started, but think you might "someday", save them now. There will be an easy link available soon to save all of the patterns at once. The GOOD NEWS is my blogs remain available free as always, with no ads, pop-ups or anything for sale. Just me sharing what I know.

If you are not currently a STAR MEMBER, JOIN any time before December 31, 2025  and you will have full access to ALL the LAUREL RIDGE patterns as well as the INTRODUCTION to the 2026 BOM--it's so good!  

I hope you have enjoyed making LAUREL RIDGE. It may have taught you a lot, more than you know right now. 

See you in 2026 with the new BLOCK OF THE MONTH--it's another great one!

Let's quilt.

Barbara