How One Minnesota Quilter Is Bringing RV Quilters Together
I'll admit it, I have a dedicated sewing room, and I still worry about keeping my fabric clean. So when I first heard there was an entire Facebook community dedicated to RV quilting, I had questions. Lots of them.
How do you keep your fabric clean? Where do you put everything? What happens if it rains? Do people really sew outside while camping?
Then I met Cathy Knoche of Oakdale, Minnesota, and discovered I had one big misconception.
When I pictured an RV quilt retreat, I imagined rows of campers with quilters sitting under their awnings, sewing away at picnic tables.
I was wrong.
While everyone arrives in an RV, the quilting itself happens together inside the campground's community room. Each quilter has a six-foot table, plenty of workspace, and, perhaps most importantly, a room full of friends to sew alongside.
The RV simply becomes your home for the week.
No hotel rooms. No packing and unpacking each day. Just a comfortable place to sleep, prepare meals, relax, and recharge before another full day of quilting.
For quilters who don't own an RV, there's good news. Two of the campgrounds where Cathy hosts retreats also offer cabins, making it possible for non-RV campers to join the fun.
Women travel from California, Tennessee, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, and beyond to attend Cathy's five-day retreats. With only 15 to 20 spots available, they fill in less than 30 minutes, and there's always a waiting list.
How It All Began
Cathy has been quilting for 26 years, but RV quilting came into her life seven years ago, when she and her husband began planning for retirement.
"We bought our Class A motorhome with quilting in mind," Cathy says.
The dining area quickly became an ironing station. The stovetop doubles as a cutting station. A sewing table fits perfectly behind the passenger seat, and a closet originally designed for a washer and dryer now stores bins filled with fabric, rulers, notions, and everything else a quilter could need.
When her husband heads out for a round of golf during camping trips, Cathy knows exactly how she'll spend her day.
"I thought, why sit around and read when I could be sewing?"
She soon discovered the RV Quilters Facebook group and realized there were others just like her.
Most organized RV retreats, however, were held in the southern United States.
Since she was still working full-time and couldn't easily travel south, Cathy decided to create the retreat she wished already existed.
She hosted her first retreat five years ago.
"I was excited, nervous, and anxious," she remembers. "There were 18 women coming from all over the United States, and I wanted to make sure everyone had an amazing experience."
Judging by today's waiting list, she did.
When the Retreat Ends...
While retreat quilting happens indoors, Cathy enjoys quilting a little differently during her own camping adventures.
If the weather is beautiful, she'll often set up outside beneath the RV awning. A vinyl tablecloth protects her sewing machine and fabric from a worn picnic table, while nearby stations hold her iron and cutting supplies.
"Sitting outside in the sun and breeze is amazing," she says.
It is hard to imagine keeping fabric clean outdoors, but Cathy has it all figured out. The table coverings help protect fabric, and many larger quilts are pieced into blocks while camping before being assembled at home.
If the weather changes, she doesn't pack everything away and call it a day.
Instead, she simply moves inside her motorhome, where her thoughtfully designed sewing setup allows her to keep quilting. The transition from outdoor sewing to indoor sewing is quick and easy.
It really is a sewing room on wheels.
More Than Quilts
Ask Cathy what keeps her organizing these retreats year after year, and she doesn't mention the quilts first.
She talks about the people.
She's watched complete strangers become lifelong friends. She's seen women encourage one another through difficult projects, celebrate finished quilts together, and build friendships that continue long after the campers head home.
Even her husband has become part of the community, using two weeks of his vacation each year to help make the retreats successful.
Looking toward retirement, Cathy hopes to expand her MinneSEWta RV Quilt Retreats beyond Minnesota and inspire others to host RV quilting retreats in their own states.
"There just aren't enough of them," she says. "I'd love to help someone get started."
A New Way to Quilt
Before talking with Cathy, one could have thought RV quilting meant balancing a sewing machine on a picnic table all week.
It's now easy to understand how it's so much more than that.
It's waking up in your own camper, spending the day surrounded by quilters who quickly become friends, sharing ideas, celebrating finished quilts, laughing until midnight, and ending each evening with a flashlight walk back to your campsite.
And yes...if the weather is just right, it's also enjoying the peaceful rhythm of stitching outside beneath an awning with a cool breeze drifting through the campground.
We honestly had no idea this world existed.
Now the idea seem irresistible and definitely worth a try.
Find Cathy on Facebook at MinneSewta quilters group. And join the 37,000 quilters in the RV Quilters Facebook group to get inspired to sew while traveling the world in your RV.