On the Road Teaching: Woodland Ridge Quilt Retreat 2019

I’ve been teaching for so long (26 years!) that it’s common to have returning students in my classes. For instance, in the travel/teaching Art Quilt Tahoe post from last week, I mentioned there were a whopping eight returnees. In this next week of teaching at Woodland Ridge in Wisconsin, there was only one familiar face in the class. Cindy Anderson, pictured above with “Ruby,” began her collage quilt last November when I taught for her fiber arts quilt group in Madison, WI.

As a completed quilt, I’m going to reserve showing or telling too much about Ruby for a future “Finish Line” blog post. But for now, let me call your attention to one interesting touch that Cindy employed—she topped the entire collage with a layer of rainbow-hued tulle netting, as a way of finishing the piece and preparing it for quilting. Click here to read more about “To Tulle or Not to Tulle.” Viewing the quilt straight on, the background has a soft variation of colors to complement the bold variation of colors in the fish. Viewed from the side (as Cindy pointed out to me), you can really see the strong concentration of the rainbow colors of the tulle running diagonally across the fish and the background. Nice effect.

In this second class that Cindy has taken from me, she began a sun face—as did three others in this class—see photos above. Scroll over the images to see names, click on them to see larger images. You’ll see more of these collages later in this post, but I’m going to take the opportunity to send out the invitation (one more time) to submit any completed sun and/or moon fabric collage quilt for next Saturday’s special Celestial Solstice Finish Line blog post on December 21st. Just click on Submit button below.

Submit Quilt for "Finish Line"

The online form is really easy to complete and send, and Tom has spelled out guidelines for photos. Submissions we get by Wednesday afternoon, we’ll be able to get into Saturday’s post. A Solstice Celebration of fabric collage coming next week!

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The mid-November week at Woodland Ridge Retreat Center in Downsville, Wisconsin was my last teaching gig of 2019—following the previous week in Nevada at Art Quilt Tahoe. This is now my fifth visit to Woodland Ridge, owned and operated by Chris Daly, who takes good care of me and the students who attend all her workshops.

After my second-to-last travel day of the year (not that I was counting), it sure was nice to settle in to the now familiar surroundings and serene space of the center. As the schedule was, I had a day off between airports and the first day of class, so I literally put my feet up for a bit.

The aptly named retreat (Woodland Ridge) is perched on a wooded ridge, catching glimpses of the small lakes nestled in the valley down the hill. The big banks of windows allow one to appreciate the outside views while enjoying the comfort and warmth of the inside. The outside got quite cold that week, with the woods transformed by a bit of snow before it was over.

On the first day of class, I walked in to see Wendy Kalisz (above) ready and waiting to begin. It was hard to miss her prominently displayed pincushion pair—specially assembled and brought along because of my September’s pincushion post.

Wendy went above and beyond with pins embellishing carousel horses within a carousel tin—plus a pin-studded carnival doggie. Still makes me smile.

The stars must not have been in quite the right alignment because for the first time in a long time, I missed my chance to get one comprehensive class photo. I guess it had to happen sometime. So, please meet a few of my lovely students (some with their projects) in the photos below.

Pictured above left, top down: Marlene Gargulak, Cheryl Lamon, and Cathy Bandow. Above right, left to right: seated—Marlene and Cathy, and Darlys Duhlman; standing—Wendy Kalisz and Chris Daly (Woodland Ridge Retreat owner).

Pictured below: seated—Cindy Anderson; left to right, standing—Marie Blunk, Jane Stump, Judy Tucker, and again (the photogenic) Cathy Bandow. Those who I missed getting photos of: Kay Schroeder, Kate Jones, and Gail Stepanek.

One quality of teaching, and taking a class, at Woodland Ridge is the availability of the classroom at any and all times of the week. These ladies were hard at work before class, after class, and well into the night all week. Please peruse and enjoy the in-progress photos that they have let me share with you below.

In-Progress Student Work Slideshow

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I mentioned that there was only one returning student this week. However, I was pleasantly surprised by other familiar faces—a small group working independently in a second classroom. All five ladies had taken a previous Woodland Ridge workshop with me, four of them in this 2017 retreat. They picked this particular week for their get-together in order to say hi, to see the new class’s projects, and to join in with the fabulous meals that Chris provides for retreat participants.

In the photo below, Nancy Birger happily smiles after an impressive week’s work at the 2017 retreat. Unfortunately, this year she was unable to be as nimble as to how and where she worked, having recently broken her foot.

This group’s work space was right across the hall from my bedroom, easy to see their week’s progress (most all doing non-collage work this time). We decided that one of the days would be show and tell, combining all current and past students. My class was told when these ladies were ready, and we walked in to a small showing of their completed quilts, newly hung on the walls. A lovely presentation.

Not only did Nancy bring back her completed moose, but a bison and big horn sheep (below) as well—all completed this past year. I think she’s another fabric collage convert. But her inspiration is photographs taken by her husband during his many years working with the forest service. In a future Finish Line post, I’ll bring back these beautiful beasts for a closer look.

Martha Henrichs below—as well as Janet Pitman and Suzanne O’Brien following—were all in that same Woodland Ridge 2017 class with Nancy Birger. Martha’s cat Zumi was featured in this Finish Line post. As with most Finish Line submissions, I don’t have the pleasure of seeing them in person and completed. The portrait of “Zumi” has such a sweet feeling to it, for a cat that apparently got into and onto everything. You can read about her story and progress in the link above.

“Ruthie’s Rose” by Janet Pitman above, and the night moth by Suzanne O’Brien below, are another two quilts waiting their turn in a Finish Line spotlight, but it doesn’t hurt to whet your appetite for a future post. Both these quilts have their progress stories that Janet and Suzanne shared with us—Janet’s rose is a tribute quilt with added glitter and bling and Suzanne’s quilt went through its own metamorphosis—again to be shared with you at a later date.

The fifth member of this independent group was Brenda Betz-Stoltz who has been in two previous classes with me. Her inspirational “Flight of the Great Blue Heron” is included in this Finish Line post. Brenda began the portrait of her husband below, in last year’s retreat, bringing him back for further work alongside other fabric collage alumni. She’s lovingly working on him, bringing out likeness and personality in the portrait.

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The woods and lakes behind the retreat center are not just for gazing at through windows, they contain trails that take you through restored prairie land. Despite the drop in temperature, I did get bundled up early one morning and out soon after light to take a walk into this area. Well, it was more like a stroll as I kept stopping to look at the critter footprints in the fresh dusting of snow.

Aside from the deer prints which I recognized, I entertained myself guessing as to what creatures made the others.

The water wasn’t completely frozen yet, though crusty enough to hold the snow in most spots. The crack in the ice above, made an interesting image.

On my way back, I found my way to a favorite stream of watercress—a green stripe standing out in the November landscape. A few more photos from the prairie walk are below.

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Just for the heck of it, for those of you who have a little bit of coffee or tea to finish up, I leave you with two more slide shows of stuff I came across on this trip. The photos above are from Menominee, about 6 miles from the retreat. On my day off between teaching, Chris lent me her van and I took myself out for the afternoon to wander up and down the couple blocks of the downtown.

The “La dee dah” arts gallery is one of my favorite stops in my visits to this area, but the eclectic collection of slides below are almost all from stalls in an antique mall—a place I usually find something unique to bring home. I did find a few tchotchkes, but I also saw (and had fun photographing) so many things that brought back memories from childhood—in an antiques store. Sigh. Maybe calling it a “vintage” mall is a better idea. Anyway, here’s some varied and vintage window-shopping for you.

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And finally, moving from tchotchke to kitsch (depending on your view), but definitely inspired, the following six slides are restaurant decor at Root Down in the Denver International Airport—which I was able to have breakfast at on my way from Nevada to Wisconsin on this trip. When possible or necessary, a longer layover in Denver is no problem for me as I just head over to Concourse C and some amazing food. A good thing to keep in mind if you ever find yourself in the vicinity. This time, I was lucky enough to be seated under the globes. And yes, those are aluminum can lids as wall covering—kinda like a metallic collage. Hmmm… there’s an idea….

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