Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Ladies of the Lake Quilt Guild

I spent a lovely weekend in Lakeport, a town on Clear Lake in Lake County with the Ladies of the Lake Quilt Guild.

Clear Lake is the largest lake in California and I, a native Californian, had never been there.  It is a beautiful area with farms, orchards, vineyards and the lake, of course.  Speaking of vineyards, I drove to Lakeport on State Highway 29 which took me through the beautiful Napa Valley.  And there seems to be vineyards everywhere now.  I'm beginning to think that the whole state of California is just one big vineyard!  And that's just fine with me.  I like my occasional glass of Chardonnay!

Another first was to discover that the first Quilt Trail in California is in Lake County.  I spotted big quilt blocks on barns and commercial buildings while driving around.  This is a movement that started in Wisconsin, I believe.  I had no idea that there was a Quilt Trail in California.  While visiting the local quilt shop, Kerrie's Quilting, I picked up a brochure.  Check it out on their website:  www.lakecountyquilttrail.com

At the lecture on Saturday morning, everyone learned about tile quilts and at the workshop on Sunday, eight Ladies of the Lake learned to make their own block.  Here are the nice results of that class. As usual, there is a wonderful variety of fabrics. On a few of the blocks you can see the beginning of turning under the seam allowance to reveal the background and create the "grout" lines.

It was lots of fun.  Thanks, Ladies of the Lake!  Great work!