On the Road: Woodland Ridge Retreat, Downsville, WI, November 2018

This was my fourth trip to Woodland Ridge Retreat, a retreat center in Downsville, WI, owned and operated by Chris Daly. My flight from Portland to Madison was blessedly uneventful—a report on the return trip next week. I was picked up by past student and now friend Nancy Blake, for a three or so hour drive north-west to Downsville.

I was looking forward to this trip not only because I always have an enjoyable time at Woodland Ridge. This was also my final travel of 2018. Yay! Once I was done, I could settle in for the holidays.

Chris always makes the place warm and welcoming. I have only been to Downsville in cooler times of the year (September, April, and November), but the lower temps (this year downright frigid), have never been an issue. Woodland Ridge is self-contained, where you can live out your entire day—sleep, eat, have class, relax in the “East Garden Room” TV lounge, work into the evening or early morning—without ever going outside, which was nice since the entire week was rainy, cold, and dreary with a little snow thrown in.

The photos below (scroll over and click to make any of the photos in the post larger) just about cover the extent of “scenic” photos I took. In the past, I’ve gone out for early morning walks through the woods, restored prairie fields, and along the small lakes behind the retreat. This year, I believe the high temps for week were all below freezing, with dauntingly cold morning temps. I wimped out and enjoyed the woodland view through my warm bedroom window instead. But please do enjoy a couple slide-show strolls of Woodland Ridge surroundings in past WI posts: April 2017 and November 2017.

And so started this year’s five-day retreat. I found there were quite a few repeat students from the previous classes, and it was a pleasure to see those ladies again and help them along with new projects. Everyone was ready to jump into the week and get going with their fabric collages, making the indoors a colorful contrast to the grays and browns outside.

One thing Tom often asks me when I get home from teaching is, “Did you get any class videos?” Usually it’s a “No, how could I have fit that into the day?” But the relaxed pace this class took on allowed me to take not only one, but three videos throughout the week. The walkthrough video below is from the beginning of day two, as students were warming up to the process. Thanks to the ladies who have allowed me to share the photos and videos I took. And a thanks to those who have shared their own photos with me to include in this post.

Fabric piece by fabric piece, the images get filled in and start to take form from the foundation drawing. I’ll let those projects speak for themselves in the next walkthrough below, taken mid-week.

I took the final video on Saturday morning, day five of the retreat. The ladies still put in a full day of work, so these aren’t the final images yet. Be sure to check out the student slideshow a little farther in the post to see how things ended up.

My familiarity with the place makes it easy to fall into a nice daily routine of waking up while it’s still dark, hitting the “on” button on the coffee machine, turning on lights in the classroom and setting up my table for my morning presentation (an example of which above), all while still in my PJs and slippers.

Back in my comfy room with a fresh cuppa in hand, I could watch for the sunrise. My aqua faux fur fuzzy slippers were a fun souvenir from a shopping excursion to nearby Menomonie.

Even though we could have stayed inside all week, we did get out individually (some were more ambitious than I and did go for morning walks) and as a group. We had a couple walks into “downtown” Downsville—not too much more than a few buildings on either side of the street—one of which is a quaint local coffee shop. Dunn Pottery is right next door to the retreat center, with high quality work—I like to add a small piece to my pottery collection each trip. Afternoon and evening shopping and dining opportunities mostly take place a ten minute drive away in Menomonie, a small college town with artisan galleries, antiques, shabby chic boutiques, and of course a cute little fabric store, Thread Lab.

Student Slideshow:

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Being together for the entire five days, makes for opportunity to socialize with each other (if desired). One night we had movie night with about six of us. Since it was just a few days after Dia De Muertos,  I suggested “Coco“—an animated film by Pixar, which none of the others had seen and was a big hit. Another evening was a group dinner at Mona Lisa in nearby Eau Claire.

The twelve person class was reduced in size one day due to overlapping trips to the emergency room—a first, and hopefully last, for a class of mine. Chris (who was taking the class) rushed our lunchtime cook to the hospital after she cut her finger with a knife. Moments after they left, a student ran into a glass door and thought she may have broken her nose. Her sister took her to the hospital. Each person was better than feared (no stitches needed and no broken nose), but overall the class was reduced by a quarter for one afternoon.

The food at Woodland Ridge is always a special treat. Chris, a former chef, does a wonderful job of planning yummy food for everyone, with dishes of no dairy or meat for me and others who eat that way or just want to try something new. I hear tell that an all-around (omnivore) Woodland Ridge Retreat Cookbook is in Chris’ plans for next year. I’ll let you know when that happens.

And then it’s time to pack up all the lovely fabric mess that has billowed from tubs and bags throughout the week.

On Sunday, the day after class ended, we had a small breakfast with the stragglers who were leaving that morning. I bid a farewell until next November to Chris and her retreat center. Then Nancy drove the two of us back to Madison where I was scheduled for a two day class with her art quilt group and an evening lecture/slideshow at Blue Bar Quilts, both of which you can read about in next week’s “Wisconsin continued” post.