Hey, everyone — T.G.I.F.!

How was your week? Mine was another wonderful whirlwind of teaching, stitching, and best of all, hanging out at The Gathering with a fantastic group of stitchers from all over the United States! Session two of my annual Red, White & Blue retreat is wrapping up in the next couple of days, and while the week started out with gray skies, unseasonably cool temps, and enough rain to make all the praying we did for it seem like a bad idea, we’re finishing it off with what I consider perfect weather for summer in Wisconsin — sunshine, blue skies, and temps in the mid-70s… not too hot, and just cool enough to keep the mosquitoes under what we consider reasonable control. I’ll definitely take it!

The old saying of, “time flies when you’re having fun,” has some serious truth. Multi-day retreats never feel as long as they actually are, and for some reason, my Red, White, & Blue Retreat is especially guilty of that. Between teaching, stitching, snacking, game nights, and more belly laughs than I can count, the days always seem to fly by. Throw in the home-cooked meals and a kitchen that magically takes care of itself, and you’ve got a recipe for the kind of sewing experience that makes which day of the week it is completely irrelevant. It’s really no wonder our guests start to feel like The Gathering is their home away from home — we do our best to make sure that it IS!

Of course, good food and a comfortable place to stitch are only part of the equation. What really turns a retreat house into a home away from home are the people sitting around the sewing tables. By the end of the week, conversations that started over fabric choices and thread colors somehow turn into stories about families, careers, travels, and everything in between. Watching those connections form never gets old! That being said, leaving a quilting retreat is always bittersweet, but there are positives as well. Anyone going home from one will most likely be packing up either a finished project or a work in progress that’s ready for its next round of attention, which is super exciting if you ask me!

Obviously, you certainly don’t need to attend quilting retreats to have a pile of quilt tops in your sewing room waiting for their turn on the longarm. Plenty of projects end up in exactly that same spot at home, including finished tops that are just waiting for the final step to bring them to life. That’s where our Longarm Services Department can help! Now through September 1st, 2026, Primitive Gatherings is offering our Summer Quilting Special: get our popular and stylish 15″ Modern Meander edge-to-edge design for just 2 cents per square inch! It’s a versatile option that works beautifully with just about *any quilt style, and it’s an easy, affordable way to finally get those tops finished and ready to enjoy (*special price does not apply to wool appliqué quilts – please call for pricing).

If this doesn’t inspire you to get your quilt tops done, I don’t know what will. It’s a great deal, and it’s going to be a while before we run it again, so don’t miss out now and be cranky later — just do it… send us those quilt tops! All you have to do is call 920-778-8037 by September 1st, 2026 to get yours on the quilting schedule!

Ha! Of course… no sooner did I say the weather was back to being great than crazy pants Mother Nature decided to make a liar out of me. I can hear it pouring rain all of a sudden, which is a bit unexpected but not surprising. I’ll take it as my cue to get out of here for the night! Lucky for me the radar shows a short break coming in a few minutes before the next downpour, so I’m going to make a run for it while I can. They say if you don’t like the weather in Wisconsin, just wait 10 minutes and it will change and it is SO TRUE!!! Have a great weekend, everyone. I’ll see you next week! ~Lisa