Sew'n Wild Oaks Retreat Day Three

 Hello Everyone,

Here's another mini quilt show produced by the Sew'n Wild Oaks Quilters. This show is so good, I think I should charge admission.  Enjoy!

Some of the girls took a break for a walk around Snowflake Lake and enjoyed seeing the dogwood.

Today is our last full day and it will be filled with label making, a Stardance tutorial, group picture, cabin tour, more eating, more drinking, and yes there will be a whole lot of quilting going on!

Soon,

Lynn

Sew Wild Oaks Retreat Day Two

 Hello Everyone,

We had a great day Monday at the retreat.  Beautiful blue skies and no snow in the forecast.....only laughter, chatting, eating and lots of quilting.  Here are just a few pictures from the show and tell. There were ooooh's and aaaah's when Angie displayed her quilt.

This is Sue's version of Country Charmer.

Sue loves fall and really decks out her entire house with her Fall quilts.

The next two quilts were made from Taimi's grandchildren's clothing.  Both quilts were presented to Taimi's daughter on her 40th birthday.

Gail's Winterset on steroids.

The next two pictures are both wool projects.

This is a suitcase cover.  Carol found a place where you can download your own artwork and turn it into a personalized suitcase cover. You will always be able to find your case out of a cast of thousands.

Kristi did a deep clean in her garage and found the next two projects which she had totally forgotten about.

This is Carolyn's fish quilt surrounded by pinwheels.

Here is Charolotte's stunning pineapple quilt.  Zoom in so you can see her fabulous quilting.

Lori loves to make bags, and she showed us several of her creations.

I love this picture of Cindy's hands in the art of creation.

This group of women is such a joy to be around—fun, kind, and genuinely caring. I've had a fantastic time over the past two days, and I can't wait to share more wonderful moments with them today.

Soon,

Lynn

Sew'n Wild Oaks Retreat Day One

 Hello Everyone,

We hit the ground running yesterday for the beginning of the first Sew'n Wild Oaks Retreat for 2025.  Design walls went up around the room.

Tables with electrical were set up.

Then the tables were quickly filled with quilters and all of their supplies.

Product was on display.

The lecture area is ready for the first mini session this morning.

The first class is an introduction to Lucy Boston and English paper-piecing.

Friends helping friends.

More friends and roommates.  

On another note, I received a comment on my blog post about tariffs.  I was just expressing my views and immediate facts on how the tariffs are impacting me, a small business owner.  I moderate the comments and there was one comment which I didn't publish.  I will not publish any comments favoring or disfavoring the current or past president. PERIOD.  I was just explaining how the tariffs are impacting me and my small business. Enough said.

Now let's get back to quilting.

Soon,

Lynn

Tariffs and Small Businesses

 Hello Everyone,

As a small business owner, the uncertainty of tariffs is making me 'tariff-ied'.  

Already I've experienced first-hand an increase in my cost of doing business.  My toner comes from Mexico.  The plastic bags that hold the patterns come from China.  When I send out files to be printed, my printing cost have gone up.  We know when the prices go up, they are not coming down.

Remember a few years back when there was a cotton shortage in Russia, and the cost of fabric went up.  Did it come back down?

My fabric comes from South Korea.  I just placed a large fabric order with Marcus Fabrics to purchase bolts currently in the warehouse.  There's no telling what the cost will be on my next fabric line as it will be impacted by tariffs.

Can I absorb the additional 'tax' on my everyday business needs?  The simple answer is no.  

My Country Charmer pattern was released in 2011 and is priced at $15.95. The pattern is printed on 28# paper which is unusual in the pattern industry. The pattern contains an oversized block layout sheet which is expensive to print. I have kept the price the same for fourteen years. This is going to change.

As I developed as a pattern writer over the years, I've incorporated more color in my patterns.  I've included fabric swatches in color in the cutting directions.  To keep the costs down, I separate the pages to be printed in color from the rest of the pattern assembly directions which are printed in black and white.  I just placed an order for my Stardance pattern.....the price per page has gone up.

As a small business owner, I do not keep large volumes of patterns on hand.  Storage is an issue for one thing, and I can't layout hundreds of dollars and wait for a year to recoup that money.  The same with fabric.  When I place an order totaling thousands of dollars, I have to have a pretty quick turnaround time. The shipping costs for forty bolts of fabric is astronomical.  Yes, I can write the cost of shipping off, but again I can't do that until April 15th rolls around on the calendar.

We had a lively discussion about tariffs last night with some quilty friends at dinner.  Funds spent on quilting are discretionary, but are they really?  One of my friends said quilting keeps her from killing....as she looks at her husband. 😬  

Quilting is a wonderful creative outlet that does us so much good mentally as well as physically.  Many of you make community quilts which is so helpful and needed in our communities. Do we all have enough fabric in our stash to keep us quilting into infinity?  Probably.  I've said for years to shop your stash first and I will continue to say that. Maybe we can now make a dent in the stash and work on UFO's.

I'll get off my soapbox.  I just wanted you to see how I'm impacted by tariffs which will have an effect on you.

Soon,

Lynn

Retreat Preparations

Hello Everyone,

I'm working on tutorials to present to my quilters at the Sew'n Wild Oaks retreat next week.  One of the mini classes what I'm going to teach is an introduction to English Paper-Piecing to make Lucy Boston blocks.  This block uses my Gentry's Mill fabric line.

I put little kits together for those interested in learning this technique.

I work with a template which I put together to keep myself organized.  In my age group it doesn't take much to get me off track. 

This is the block I'm going to use for a demonstration.

Here are examples of some of my older Lucy blocks.

This process is absolutely addicting!

They are so much fun to make, and it takes a lot of time to make a block. I've learned to embrace the slow process and creativity of each block. Each block is unique and gorgeous.  When I look at fabrics, I'm always looking at them with my 'Lucy' eyes.

Today is cabin cleaning day as some of the quilters will be arriving Saturday night and the rest will arrive on Sunday to Snowflake Lodge.  I'll schedule a cabin tour for one of the days next week.

I can't believe it, but snow showers are in the forecast over the weekend.  The girls won't need to pack their snowshoes along with their quilting supplies. Hopefully the snow will have melted prior to their arrival.  Quite often I anticipate snow during the November retreat, but NOT in April!

Soon,

Lynn