Home Again
The Linda Ballard retreat in Trinidad was fabulous! Linda always shows us a great time and this time was no exception. We began the retreat Friday afternoon, though Kathy and I didn't arrive until almost 5:00 p.m., due to numerous stops at quilt shops along the way.
Quilter's Cottage in Ukiah. It didn't take us long to make our first stop--less than 60 miles! We had some fun, bought a couple of charm packs and a few cuts of fabric before hitting the road again.
The Fat Quail Quilt Shop in Laytonville was our second stop and we absolutely fell in love with a line of fabrics we'd not seen before, from the UK purveyor named Freedom Fabric. The line pictured at the link is amazingly beautiful and the pictures on the website do not do it justice. I bought an owl/quail panel and a couple of go-with fat quarters to make the Christmas pillows shown on the homepage of the website.
After lunch at a corner cafe in Garberville, we wandered down to In Stitches and managed to find a few things to take home with us.
Finally, we hit Eureka and visited Scottie Dog Quilts, where we really had to restrain ourselves because this shop had tons of fabrics that we loved--reproductions from the Civil War and the 1930's.
The retreat was held in the Trinidad Town Hall and we were joined by 23 other quilters from around NorCal and Oregon and even a gal from Washington who drove down to sew and hang out with her Mom. Linda's quilt was just wonderful and I actually got my top FINISHED!! I varied the fabrics a bit from what I'd chosen, but I'm very happy with the result. I'm planning to quilt it for my daughter Kate to present to her friend Gia in celebration of the birth of her daughter in August.
Trinidad is a lovely place and I believe we'll be back next year!
3 comments:
Oh wow, oh wow, oh wow! My favorite loop! Quilters Cottage (owned by my GFs Stephanie and Helen) is my LQS, and I love making that drive up the coast hitting all those shops on the way. Lunch in Eureka or Trinidad at the little restrauant by the pier.
So,, when are those signups for next year?
I love that line of fabric! Your trip sounds fabulous, and you mentioned a shop I haven't visited. I'll have to fix that. =)
I'm glad you had a wonderful time. Where's a pic of what you did? Is that quilt pictured the project?
I have always wanted to do a Linda Ballard retreat. I have heard such good things about her and her projects. The quilt you made is simply lovely, and what a great time it sounds like you had!
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