Sewing With Nancy

When I asked today's Nancy's Corner guest what he likes most about attending special quilting retreats, he quickly answered, "We're like-minded men." Please welcome Paul Lger, who is one of the coordinators of the all-guys quilting retreat. Hey, Nancy. Thanks for joining us on Sewing With Nancy. Thank you for inviting me. Thanks. The all-guy quilting retreat, that's kind of a novel thing. Quilting retreats aren't, but just all guys and... Yep. Give us a little history of that organization. In 2008, we belonged to a Yahoo quilt group called "QuiltGuy." Uh-huh. And we were doing fabrics exchange. We were doing block exchange. And somebody said, "We need to get together." And then Jim and Bob, that had a quilt store in Woodstock, New York, said, "Do it here." So we got together, seven of us, and we had our first retreat, and it was fun. We decided, "Let's do another one." And now I think this is number 17 coming up. You do it twice a year. Twice a year, September and March, every year, just before tourist season, right after tourist season, so... We have the space that we want. In the northeast area of the United States. Yeah, yeah, right now, we're meeting in Vermont, yeah. Vermont. And you're from Ontario. Yes. - So you make a trip down, and people come from all over the country. Yeah, we-- all over the country? Well, Canada, all over the U.S., literally from the East Coast to West Coast. And we have one gentlemen that's actually flown in already once from England, for the weekend. And flown back. - What fun. Yep, yep, yep. - What fun. Now, you have some interesting little stories to tell about-- You play poker. It is a form of poker. It is a form; it's called "Right Left Center." We play with dice, and it's a winner-take-all. And the winner-- the bounty is? Basically, fat quarters. -

laughs

And, well, our retreat coming up, if everybody shows up, will be 21 participants, so it'll be just over 25 yards of fabric for the winner... -

laughs

In fat quarters. So that's a little different twist. Oh, yeah, it is. It is. It is. And it's three days? It's... We start at-- - It started-- We officially start at Thursday noon... Mm-hmm. - Until Sunday noon. This past retreat that we had,

I showed up at 10

30 on the Wednesday morning, and there was already two gentlemen sewing. The big majority will actually show up a day early to get an extra day of sewing. Now we're gonna show our viewers one of the quilts that you made during the retreat, and it got its name at that time. Yes, it did, Steven from Portland, Oregon-- I was trying to figure out what to name it, and he said, "Frog in a Blender." -

Nancy laughs

I showed up at 10

I mean, I don't want to say "disgusting," but as... Yeah. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. As it is, I actually did a major sur-- a major sur--a survey of it, and people said, "No, you got to keep the name. It fits it too well." And the interesting thing is that your inspiration for this quilt was just a normal, everyday occurrence. Yes, I was on my way home from work, and I saw this young child walking home with a backpack, and I really observed his backpack, and a few days later, I start working on the planning of this quilt to work at the retreat, just based on a backpack. The inspiration. Now, where you hold your retreat, you kind of asked them, "Well, what's the difference "between a guys' quilting retreat and a gals' quilting retreat?" And this is an interesting response. It is--it's the fact that we-- I've asked several people that had attended retreats and hosted retreats, and-- we're quiet. -

laughs

I showed up at 10

We sew. I mean, we do chat, we laugh. We might even have a drink. Well, sure. - But we're quiet. We sew, we... And I'm trying to think what--what's the difference, but I've noticed that, yes, we... And they also said you were a little bit more respectful in conversation.

laughs

I showed up at 10

Yes. I can say that. Yeah, exactly, you can. It'd be difficult for me to say so, but... Sure. We've been told that we ask for things. We don't... Well, something for us to remember, from the all-guys quilting retreat. So what are you gonna work on at this retreat coming up? Typically, I'll know the day after the retreat's finished. Oh, okay, got it. I'm still trying to-- I don't know. Most of us won't know until-- when it comes time to packing, yeah. So you're meeting with how many people this time? This time, we have 21 coming. Well, wonderful. - And there's 22 spots. And we have 21 coming, and we started with 7, so we've done quite well. Well, the all-guys quilting retreat, what a great thing to have for you to look forward to, Paul, and to tell us about. And perhaps you'll get some other quilting retreats to happen around the country or more members... We're hoping. We're hoping. Well... - We're hoping. Thanks for joining us on Sewing With Nancy. Thanks for having me. - You're welcome. Well, I hope you've enjoyed this first program as well as my interview with Paul and the all-guy quilting retreat and with Lori Kennedy of our first program on "Free-Motion Quilting 1-2-3." We'll be back next time with another program. Remember, you can re-watch this program online and join us on social media at NancyZieman.com. Thanks for joining us. Bye for now.