Quilting Retreats, Classes & Workshops in Santa Barbara & Ventura California

Please join us for 5 days of fun on the beautiful American Riviera, with this amazing mother daughter duo, and both amazing quilters. Jean was named to The Quilters Hall of Fame in 2010, and well deserved honor! They are both from Sisters, Oregon. Jean is the founder of the Quilters Affaire Outdoor Quilt Show, and the co-owner of the Stichin' Post along with her daughter Valori who is a professional quilter, author, fabric and pattern designer. Val came to quilting through osmosis with a mother like Jean who shared her love of quilting with Val and she had the opportunity to watch the development of the fabulous Stitchin' Post which Jean started 33 years ago. Love of photography lead Valori to a bachelor's degree in fine arts focusing on black and white photos. Photography and printmaking brought her to her present career as a fabric designer. For over ten years she has been presenting a new look to the quilting world and beyond, her fabrics portray larger than life images inspired by nature in fresh colors.

Jean is a prolific author and has written many quilting books over the years some which she has collaborated with Val. Jean has experimented with many different piecing and quilting techniques and worked in series that became books and lectures sharing her ideas with thousands of people. The latest “series” to become a book the summer of '09 is Intuitive Color and Design --adventures in art quilting. Her quilts have been juried into many of the International Quilt Festivals in Houston, the Pacific Northwest Quilt Fest, and the Mancuso shows in San Francisco.

Valori Wells

Three years ago she started exploring quilt design more abstractly. She signed up for workshops with Nancy Crow and Gabrielle Swain. Both instructors are innovative designers in their own right. From these workshops she started experimenting with new techniques, mostly working with strips of fabric and cutting free hand--no rulers-- and detail piecing. She finds this very freeing, and likes stepping out of the box. Recurring themes in her quilts have to do with natural configurations --rocks, trees, grasses, flowers, and the landscape. You can see her commissioned quilts at the Five Pine Conference Center, Sisters City Hall, Shibui Spa, and Black Butte Ranch, all located in Sisters.

I hope that you will join us by registering for this great experience here today!

Check in at the Crowne Plaza in Ventura will begin at 4pm for your sleeping room. Classroom check in will take place at 6pm with a light snack being served in the classroom, at that time you will be able to claim your table and get set up, this includes commuters. Class will start on Monday morning at 9am. You will get a voucher for Breakfast each morning if you are a guest staying in the hotel and you may redeem that in the dining room. Lunch will be served in the classroom each day and you will have about a 1 1/2 hour break for lunch and maybe time to take a nice walk on the beach. Class begins again at 1:30pm and will adjourn each day at 4pm. Dinner will be on your own, except for one night yet to be determined, however most night’s folks love to go somewhere together and the classroom will be open for sewing after dinner to sew as late as you wish, this late night sewing is not supervised and there is no instruction during the evening hours. Also we will offer visits to quilt shops in the area each evening for those who choose to participate. Our Wine, Cheese and shopping evening will be held at Roxanne’s a Wish and A Dream in Carpinteria followed by dinner in our favorite Mexican restaurant. Thursday class will begin at 8:30am and it will be a closing event with breakfast, show & tell and picture time the retreat will close at 10:30am.

Each person is provided with their own table space to sew and cut and we will provide ironing stations for your fabric pressing needs.