We are working on more information and pictures for Past Trips. Please check back for more information on past trips. If you are a past trip-goer and would like to contribute a photo, please email a jpg to lynn@travelingquilters.com for consideration.

Nashville and Memphis, August 2007
What a trip! Great quilts, good food, lots of wonderful music, and so much more. We spent our first day in Paducah Kentucky in Carol Bryer Fallert's lovely new home and studio where she told us all about how she designs and constructs those beautiful quilts. She dyes her own fabric too! We toured the Museum of the American Quilters Society, which had a great collection on display, and had time to visit the new Quilt in a Day shop in Paducah as well as Hancock's of Paducah so everyone got lots of shopping done. The next day was devoted to the American Quilters Society show at the Opryland Convention Center with lots of quilts and lots of vendors. Click here to see the winning quilts. Of course we saw the sights of Nashville including Music Row, the Wildhorse Saloon, and the Tennessee State Museum, which had a special display of country music memorabilia including those wonderful stage costumes made by Bobby Nudie with rhinestones and beads on them.

On Friday we headed to Memphis and Graceland. We toured the Memphis Civil Rights Museum and the Lorraine Motel where Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated. If you visit Memphis, be sure to allow plenty of time to see this museum. We then had lunch at a truly southern cafeteria "The Picadilly," traveled to a really cute quilt shop just outside of Memphis, the Quilting Barn, in Arlington TN, and watched the parade of the ducks at the Peabody hotel. Our tour guide, Hunter, was a Memphis native and used to live down the street from Jerry Lee Lewis, so he had the inside story of many of the old homes and the history of the city. Then on Sunday we topped our trip with a visit to Graceland to see Elvis's home, airplanes, cars, and lots of his stage costumes. As we toured the main house, we had an audio guide narrated in large part by Lisa Marie Presley, who talked about living there with her father. She noted how much she loved to see him perform, and that you could hear him come downstairs because he always had all of his jewelry, chain belts, etc. on so that he made a rattling sound as he walked. For those of us who are old enough to have been an Elvis fan as a teenager, this was the highlight of the trip. After a quick run to the Memphis airport, we were on our way home. It was hot there and humid in Tennessee as usual in August, so we were all glad to get back to a much more balmy southern California. It was really an outstanding trip, and we were so glad to share it with all of you who went with us.


Caryl Bryer Fallert in her studio, Paducah

Pam, Lynn, and Sue at the Opryland Hotel

Dinner Cruise on the General Jackson Show Boat, Nashville

The Peabody Ducks heading home for the night
Mystery 2006
Once again this year we "surprised" you with our mystery trip destination! Our annual Mystery Trip was held on October 21, and we thought you would like to know where we went and what you missed! We traveled up I-5 to the Lake Piru area where we visited Rancho Camulos, a National Historic Landmark, and working ranch. This 1800's era rancho was the setting for the book "Ramona," which started the tourist boom in Southern California. After a tour of the home, school, and chapel, we had a picnic on the porch of the old schoolhouse, and then had time to shop at the farm stand adjacent to the ranch. Our next stop was in Santa Paula at the Oil Museum (original headquarters of Standard Oil) to see a small but lovely quilt show, visit Brownie's Basement quilt shop, and then we headed to Quilter's Studio in Newbury Park. We had a beautiful day and a lot of fun.

Picnic lunch on the porch of the schoolhouse at Rancho Camulos

Shopping for pumpkins at the farm stand at Rancho Camulos

The beautiful old adobe at Rancho Camulos

Shopping at Brownie's Basement in Santa Paula
Sideways in San Luis Obispo - September 2006
We had a full bus for our three-day trip to the Multi-Guild Quilt Exhibit at Pacific Coast Home & Gardens in San Luis Obispo. We left Friday am and stopped at The Treasure Hunt in Carpenteria. Then we had a picnic lunch at Fess Parker's winery on Los Olivos, and of course, did some wine tasting. We stayed at a great hotel both nights - The Spyglass Inn on the cliffs in Shell Beach. Friday night we explored Arroyo Grande and shopped at the Quilt Attic. Saturday am found us bright and early at Quiltin Cousins in Pismo Beach. Some of us also went for a walk around that cute beach town. Then we headed off to the show. It was a great quilt show at the Pacific Coast Home and Garden Center. There were about 500 quilts hanging everywhere. The old barn was the favorite - the quilts were hung in rooms with beautiful furniture. The gardens were also full of quilts. After we left there, we wandered around downtown SLO for lunch. They were having a sidewalk painting contest that was really interesting. Then we hit two more quilt shops - a new on in Cayucos called In Stitches and the Cotton Ball at their new location in Morro Bay. They had just finished their move the night before! We all scattered for dinner in Morro Bay and enjoyed the wonderful evening. On Sunday, we managed to squeeze in two more quilt shops on the way home - Creative Patches in Nipomo and Creation Station in Buellton. We also had a great lunch at Anderson's Pea Soup. We all came home exhausted and very happy - but much poorer!

We had a great picnic lunch at Fess Parker's underneath the oak trees

The Spyglass Inn was right on the cliffs and the weather was beautiful

The girls at the winery

There were quilts everywhere at the Pacific Coast Home and Garden Center!


Enjoying the wine tasting at Fess Parker's

This new quilt shop in Cayucos called In Stitches is a great new shop with lots on wonderful fabrics

One of the beautiful settings in the Barn at the Pacific Coast Home and Garden Center

Temecula Quilt-Away Retreat - June 2006
Twice a year we visit Vina De Lestonnac Retreat Center. This center is located in the wine country of Temecula with wonderful views. Our sewing room has lots of room and great lighting. The sleeping accommodations are like nice motel rooms - two beds and a private bath for each - some even have balconies. We eat and drink lots, laugh a lot, and in between, get lots of projects done. This past June we were there during the balloon festival, but you had to be an early riser to catch them!


Lots of rooms to spread out

Gail Conser is one happy quilter!

The grounds are beautiful and wineries are all around

Balloon festival at Lake Skinner is just across the hills

Chicago, the Windy City - April 2006
Once again we planned a mix of quilting and sightseeing. The Chicago International Quilt Festival was our primary destination, but we also managed to fit in a variety of sightseeing adventures. A side trip to Frank Lloyd Wrights home and studio in Oak Park, a visit to the Naperville Settlement (and, of course, a local quilt shop), and then we were hijacked by Big Julie for a fun-filled tour of Chicago's Gangster haunts. We had some wonderful dining experiences, shopping galore, and we topped the week off with an evening at Tommy Gun's Garage, a "speakeasy" on the south side of Chicago.


Chicago skyline at dusk from the 95th floor of the Hancock Tower

Pam, Lynn, and Sue with their "friend" at Tommy Gun's Garage
Colorado - May 2005
In May 2005, we traveled to Colorado to visit the Applique Society Show. While we were there, we visited Golden, visiting Quilter's Newsletter Magazine, the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum, and the Coors Brewery. We also went to the high country - Rocky Mountain National Park and Estes Park. We traveled to Colorado Springs one day and toured the Air Force Academy, the Colorado Springs Pioneer Museum, and the Garden of the Gods. In Denver we visited the Art Museum to see their exhibit called "Kaleidoscope of Color: Amish Quilts" and did some sightseeing in the city. We managed to fit in six or seven quilt shops on this trip and of course, found a Cracker Barrel Restaurant to eat in (one of TQ's traditions!) We really enjoyed the "Mile High" city.

Cracker Barrel—a favorite haunt for Traveling Quilters

Beautiful Rocky Mountain National Park
Washington, D.C. and Williamsburg - February 2004
We actually began planning this trip in 2001 when our time in D.C. was cut short by the events of 9/11. We returned to see the sights and museums in Washington and we saw it all—the Smithsonian, the Textile Museum, and best of all, the quilts at the DAR Museum. And then we were off to Williamsburg and the Mancuso quilt show. While there we also spent the day touring the Williamsburg historical area where we got a taste of history and Mother Nature's February cold! The pictures of us bundled up in coats, scarves, and gloves is proof positive that quilters will go to any length to see quilts!