The west entrance to Yellowstone Park is just 40 miles down the road, and a trip to the park with a picnic lunch is a wonderful day excursion. Afternoons are for fly fishing, hiking, striking out on the trails upon our “assigned” Appaloosas, or simply enjoying the scenery. Projects have included a pieced horseback rider, cowgirl, wolves, bunnies, coyote, moose, elk, bison, a 100th anniversary wall hanging, foundation pieced flowers, Setacolor processes (fabric painting), a Montana mountain scene, horse portraits, and other ranch related projects. Keeping the surroundings in mind, we design class projects with western themes. Charlotte and I teach classes on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday mornings. Almost as important to quilters as fabric and fun is the food, and at meals we mix, mingle, and get to know each other better. Clothespins marked with our names clipped to red bandana napkins show us our assigned seats. The clanging of a bell signals breakfast at the lodge. The charming log cabin accommodations include a cozy, handmade quilt for each bed, out of which we roll bright and early each morning at 7:00 A.M. Other quilters join us, coming from as far and wide as Florida, Illinois, Minnesota, England, and even New Zealand over the years. When we arrive in Bozeman, “it’s like being in our western home,” as I like to say. Each year, on a Sunday morning in September, I hop a plane in North Carolina to fly across the country, while Charlotte loads up her car in Salt Lake City and heads north. Twenty years of retreats at the Nine Quarter Circle Ranch in Gallatin Gateway, Montana, have resulted in our close friendship and many growing and learning experiences besides. An unlikely setting for patchwork and quilting, but one that works for us. "These longtime friends have forged their own “western history” and indulged their inner cowgirls at an annual fall retreat in the wilds of Montana. For more information or to reserve your spot, please contact us at or call 40. The rate for double occupancy for 2022 will be $3,300 per person single occupancy rate is $3,955. There is plenty for the non quilters to do, so you are free to quilt to your heart’s content! Husbands are welcome, or you can make it a vacation for yourself alone or with girlfriends. The camaraderie, sharing of tips and ideas, and making new quilting friends are wonderful experiences shared by many quilters returning every year. Wednesday we venture to Bozeman to visit our local quilt shops and all the wonderful, unique stores in our historic downtown. Most evenings find us back quilting in the lodge. Classes are taught in the morning, leaving afternoons free to ride, fish, hike, or continue quilting or relaxing. Each year Charlotte designs a pattern that is associated with the ranch and its surrounding beauty. This will be our 28th year hosting the retreat with our great International Teachers, Georgia Bonesteel and Charlotte Warr Andersen. Quilters, can you imagine a more perfect vacation than a combination of quilting, horseback riding, fishing and just plain relaxing? Please e-mail us for further information on this quilt retreat. Bring your husband or friends, and they can enjoy the riding and fishing while you quilt to your heart’s content! Come join us for another wonderful week of quilting, riding camaraderie and wonderful scenery. For further information on our renowned teachers, please visit their personal websites via the links provided at the bottom. The adult only retreat features international quilt teachers, Georgia Bonesteel and Charlotte Warr Andersen. They’ll have more things to do than you’ve got fabric scraps. If you bring your non quilting partner, never fear. The “cowgirl” element of this retreat is that you’ll have plenty of time to ride horses, hike, fish, explore, relax on the porch or whatever you wish. One day is reserved for a field trip into Bozeman for a “quilt crawl,” the fiber fabric antique equivalent of a pub crawl. You can quilt to your heart’s content, drawing inspiration from the retreat classes as well as from the magnificent mountain surroundings. For a week each fall, we open the ranch to international quilting artists who teach techniques while sharing new patterns and ideas. That’s why, more than 20 years ago, we started celebrating quilting with the annual Montana Cowgirl Quilt Retreat. Quilting was both an essential skill and form of art on the frontier.
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