Thursday, January 7, 2010

A lovely place to quilt



Jennie and I took a road trip yesterday out to Janesville, Wisconsin to check out the Evergreen Quilting Retreat that I had picked up a flyer for at Life's a Stitch Quilt Shoppe in Janesville during last fall's infamous bus trip from Tammy Tadd Design's quilt shop.
Both Jennie and I were totally and completely smitten upon walking through the front door!

The place is gorgeous and completely well thought out for quilters. We usually go to local church camp for our retreats, but we have to haul literally everything there when we go. And I mean everything: iron, ironing boards, chair, table leg risers to make an the cutting table taller, cd player, lights for night time sewing, extension cords, pots and pans, towels, soap, and the list goes on.
The Evergreen supplies all of that and more! They even have a washer and dryer in the kitchen so that you can prewash your fabrics that you A) forgot to wash prior to coming or B) just bought at one of the two lovely local quilt shops and you just absolutely have to make it now, instead of working on the ten projects you brought with. They even have a little 'honor' basket of quilting supplies that you may have forgotten or run out of late at night that you can leave money for.  And they don't have the power issue that we usually run into which requires that we only have 1 or 2 irons. Kathy really thought of everything to make this a quilter's heaven.

Can I just tell you how absolutely darling this place is? I mean it is adorable!!! And reasonably priced too.
Describing this place can't do it justice, so how about some pictures!
The Downstairs 1930's decor bedroom:

 The Rubber Ducky powder room:

 The Dick and Jane themed bedroom:
 

The Reproductions bedroom:



The ridiculously fabulous kitchen:

The Full bathroom (done in my favorite brown and blue):

The Cutting/Ironing room:

The Sewing Room:

The Storage room (this is a marvelous idea since we quilters travel with quite a bit of stuff):

Well, was I wrong?
I didn't think so.
Jennie and I also stopped at a couple of nice quilt stores in the area and had lunch in Walworth (at least I think that's where we were) at a cafe in the town square. I just love exploring small towns and local shops and such.
On the way through Harvard, practically across the street from where Robbie tried his darndest to be the dog version of Braveheart, we came across this:


No, your eyes are not deceiving you, this is indeed a photo of a castle in the cornfields of Harvard, IL. I did say Harvard, ILLINOIS. Jennie tells me it's a bed and breakfast hotel. I have no clue why you would build a B&B CASTLE in Harvard, ILLINOIS, but there you have it.

This is my totally favorite shot, I personally think the grain silo and the RV next to the castle make the photo, don't you?

Well, I'm off to quilt now. I have the day off today and am enjoying the lovely snow that is coming down in droves from the comfort of my home.

One last parting photo of the Beaner watching the show White Hawk, White Wolf on Nature the other night. She was totally into it. I'm telling you, this dog cracks me up.

3 comments:

Michaela said...

I have seen the little towers on that castle this past summer on the way to Lake Geneva. I had no idea what it was. pretty ridiculous, I'd say.. :) They should have built it next to Medieval Times. :) The quilting retreat place looks great.

Jennie said...

I see we decided to blog about it at the same time!! I really can't wait to go on a retreat there! And that castle really is strange :)
~ Jennie

Pat Mesker said...

You are right, Vicki! This retreat venue looks fantastic. When can we sign up?