Red Pines Quilt Shop, Detroit Lakes MN

This is the second time I’ve taught for Nate and Joy Fetting of Red Pines Quilt Shop in Detroit Lakes MN. Last year, I came in September and the fall colors were just starting to pop; this year, I was there from October 11–15 and caught them just about at peak. This picture was one that I took from the car on the way from the Fargo ND airport to Detroit Lakes. We don’t have a lot of fall changes in the Southern California high desert, so it’s always a treat to go somewhere and enjoy the seasons!

Sunset from my room at The Lodge at Detroit Lakes — definitely a room with a view! Every room at the lodge has a lake view and the common area has a beautiful fireplace. There was an Octoberfest celebration on one of the nights and we were presented with German food, beer and a very accomplished accordion player. I really didn’t know if I would like accordion music or not, but this guy had a really good repertoire of songs and was very personable. It was a fun night!

This is Nate and Joy on our first night at dinner....

We just ordered some appetizers and shared. The plate in the middle of the table is waffle cut sweet potato fries with a topping of corn, black beans, beef and a bunch of other things. It was sort of a nacho type topping without the tortilla chips. Really good!

I commented to Joy that the quilts on the wall were different from last year; she said “They’d better be!” Red Pines is a big shop with a lot of fabric — 150 colors of Mona’s Basic Grey Grunge? And there’s grunge polka dots now? I liked the shots of color in the grey and white background fabrics in the quilt above.

I had been looking at this pattern from Jaybird Quilts for a couple of weeks and Joy had it in the shop, either to purchase separately or in a kit with the fabrics shown in the photo above.

I bought the kit and then took a closeup because I really liked the quilting and don’t want to forget what it looked like.

And of course there had to be rain!

On the drive back to Fargo on Sunday morning, I asked Nate to stop at a church that I had seen on the initial drive Thursday afternoon. It was such a pretty setting — the church building itself and all of the threes around it.

Another one of the trees on the church property.

I thoroughly enjoyed my few days with Nate, Joy and the students as well as the staff of the Lodge at Detroit Lakes who did their best to spoil me. We’re already mulling over ideas for what I might teach next fall. This year, just like last, we did my two day machine quilting class and Ruler Play on a Domestic Machine. We’re thinking of more advanced classes for next year. There’s always great new things to learn!

Speaking of which, this week I’ll be in Midland TX and then going on to Houston for Quilt Market. Lots of new things for me to learn so that I can teach them to others. I’ll be in the Amann-Mettler booth with all the beautiful, colorful threads; if you’re going to be at Market, stop by! I’ll be doing demonstrations with Mettler’s 28 weight cotton thread and using the Westalee rulers — I’d love to see you!