Images From The Tour…

Office and Recording Studio

As promised, here are photos from the tour Lisa gave the Sewcial Sisters. I have many more, but am limiting it to these. 

We began above the shop space, in the main office for Primitive Gatherings. The large window area is where Lisa, Jess, or other employees film their live videos. We also got sneak peeks of upcoming designs, fabrics, and promos, but we’re sworn to secrecy. 

Where Kits Are Created

Once back downstairs, we continued our tour in the kitting room. The elves were busy putting together kits for the warehouse and shop. The room has large windows which flood the space with light. 

Print Shop

Next door, we saw the print shop. All Primitive Gatherings patterns and other media are printed in-house. You’ll notice the high ceilings, which will accommodate future expansion.

Tyler, Dying Wools

Tyler has a large space in the warehouse dedicated to wool dying. There are sinks, stoves to heat the dye pots, shelves of dyes, and washers & dryers for the final steps of the process. There’s also A LOT of wool fabric! 

Wall of Wool

Once complete, the wools end up on one side or the other of the wall of wools. All the colors are stored alphabetically. 

Partial Valdani Inventory

This area is warehousing threads and more. There are many shelves, and they’re ALL full. 

Longarm Area 

This is where the guys finish client quilts with their longarm skills. There are four machines here, with another one coming in soon. We got to see a few quilts under the machines, as well as one of the quilts they completed with a custom pattern.

Shipping Department 

Place an online order or become a member of one of their subscription clubs, and this is where it will be packaged and shipped. It’s the hub of activity every day. They also ship purchases guests buy when staying at The Gatherings (retreat house).

Some of the gals had been on this tour before, but we all were impressed with the entire facility. I hope you enjoyed a peek into the operations aspect of Lisa and Nick Bongean’s business as much as we did.

We’ve reserved our accommodations for the week before Easter next year. We’re also reserved for one day a month for our Sewcial Sisters. We shared brunch before saying our goodbyes and loading our vehicles. 

I got home late morning to my happy husband, excited dogs, and grateful cats. While it was great fun to spend a few days with the ladies, as always, there’s no place like home.

Time To Go Home…

 

Sewcial Sisters (l-r: Karen, Judy, Kathy D, MaryAnn, me, and Kay)

Our time is up at Primitive Gatherings’ retreat house. Did I tell you it’s called “The Gathering”? We’ll be taking a tour this morning, and then I’ll load up the Brynwoodmobile and turn for home.

I’ve had a wonderful time, got some things accomplished, and thoroughly enjoyed my stay, but I’m anxious to get back home. I have loads more photos to share, but I’ve been posting from my iPad, which is less than ideal for writing, so I’ll write a wrap up post tomorrow. 

I don’t want to miss the tour, so I’m going to close for now. Come back tomorrow to see the rest. Gotta run!

Retreat…

Name Tags and Room Key

I arrived safely at the Primitive Gatherings Retreat House Monday afternoon. Upon check-in, I was handed my name tags for the week, and my room key. I grabbed my luggage and turned down the hall to the guest rooms. 

Hallway To The Guest Rooms

Above each guest room hangs a quilt block sign. There’s also a room number, but it’s easy enough to just match your key fob to the sign above your door. (We’re the last room on the left, next to the beautiful, big dresser.)

My Bed Is Next To The Window

Once inside the room, we found comfortable beds, covered in vintage quilts (which are all for sale. Prices are on the back of each entry door.) Our room looks out over a small pond, the chicken coop, the resident sheep (Sundrop and Soda Pop), and the site of the cafeteria chef’s future garden. You can see my “swag bag” on my bed.

My Guest Gifts

Inside my bag I found a wool sheep pincushion, a pattern exclusive to Retreat House guests, a roll of wool pieces, a quilt-themed spiral notebook, a PG 2022 patch and keychain, and a ball of Valdani thread. There was also a gift certificate to spend in the shop. (I’d show it to you, but I spent it on wool already.)

Lisa Bongean During Show & Tell

Regularly scheduled Sit & Stitch was yesterday, so there were 49 people attending. We got to see what everyone was working on, and got to meet new people. I worked on the lavender corners on my Everlasting quilt. 

My Lavender Embroidery

It’s not complete yet, but taking a picture to share shows me where I need to do a little more work. I know I won’t finish the quilt top before I leave on Thursday, but I’m going to do my best. More photos tomorrow.