The Beginnings of a Las Vegas Quilting Retreat Center: Bringing Happiness, Learning, and Community Together

I got lucky when I found my husband (he's a keeper for sure!!!) and not just because for our third anniversary he bought us season tickets to the musicals at the incredible art deco styled Smith Center here in Las Vegas. Not only was taking me to all the shows, but he was also treating me to dinner downtown before each show at restaurants we don't typically visit because we live in the northwest part of Vegas.

About a month ago, it was the night of the last show and we decided to try Brooklyn's Best, which had great reviews and a very visible sign at the Charleston Blvd exit. We stopped in and were more than satisfied by the ginormous bowl of vodka sauce pasta, pizza, garlic knots, meatballs, and fried zucchini. Yes, we splurged that particular date night and I can still imagine the taste of all that delicious food. Brooklyn's Best is located in the historic Holsum building, built in 1954 for the famed Holsum Bakery and completely renovated in 2004 when it reopened as the Holsum Lofts, a live/work space for artists and designers. The original clock & iconic neon signage were also restored.

It's perfectly situated between the Strip and Fremont Street, with direct access to the freeway, very visible from Charleston Blvd, next to the Premium Outlets, and close to the airport and hotels. It's also just two blocks away from Main Street in the arts district which is full of unique restaurants, coffee shops, and galleries.

The Cornish Pasty is one of our absolute favorite places to eat in the arts district. They serve an incredible variety of hand pies. I've tried a different one each visit and loved them all. However, my absolute favorite item there is their mushy peas. I know it sounds unusual, but you've got to try them!

While we were at Brooklyn's Best, I had to see the whole place, so we wandered through the halls. When I found suite 190, I stopped dead in my tracks. Suite 190 is a large, currently vacant space with high ceilings, colorfully painted walls, and lots of windows. For some time, I've been wanting to move my home based business into a physical location that could also function as a studio for hosting quilt classes, kids sewing lessons, open sews, and retreats. When I saw this space, my mind instantly imagined it filled with happy quilters - smiling, laughing, making, learning, and enjoying spending time together.

You may know that I spent 20 years working in women's health and what I miss the most about it is the people - my patients, their families, and my colleagues. Helping people has always driven me. I want to make the world a better place on the individual level. In this current phase of my life being able to bring happiness to others by bringing them together and helping them make quilts that they love is incredibly satisfying and I see opening a studio to host classes and retreats as the next step.

That moment at the Holsum building staring into suite 190 had me wanting to make my dream a reality. I started browsing the internet for available spaces for lease. A couple of weeks later, suite 190 popped up as available online. I immediately reached out to the leasing agent and drove down with my mom to meet her there. I arrived early so I decided to step into one of the current shops, Honey Vintage & Bath to ask them about their experience leasing a space at Holsum. Honey is a handmade soap company owned and operated by husband and wife team Ben & Tovah and we were lucky to catch them both in their shop that day. Long story short, they made leasing in the Holsum building sound even better. Tovah even teaches a soap making workshop which would be so fun to offer to our retreat participants.

My youngest son just turned 18 and is off to college next month. In anticipation of being an empty nester, I made a plan to grow my business by doing a lot of quilt shows, teaching events for guilds, and local classes. This 10 month plan is packed, especially between June and November (it's now July). After reviewing my calendar, I realized that December would be the best month to start the lease. Of course, the leasing agent won't hold the space for me until then because every month it's vacant, it's not making money. So our current plan is to touch base with her in 3 months to see if it's available. 🤞

Even though I'm super excited about having a studio/retreat center, it still has to make business sense. I sent out an email to my lovely email subscribers asking them to fill out a survey about retreats and 54 people responded with fantastic input! Woohoo! The common thread was that people want options for classes, open sew time, meals, and more. I pictured a "choose your own adventure book" as I read the survey results. The idea of an optional shop hop was also top of the list. Thank you to everyone who let me know what their ideal retreat looks like because guess what..... I'm making it happen!

I'm thrilled to announce that I will be hosting my first retreat THIS SEPTEMBER! I was lucky to find a large conference room with a full kitchen at the Sahara West library available on September 23-25, 2024! So, mark your calendar because plans are coming together and pretty soon, I'll be sending out an email with all the details and booking info.

We'll have a variety of workshops, open sewing sessions, delicious, healthy meals, and even some fun surprises. I can't wait to share more details with you all!

Stay tuned and make sure you're subscribed to my email list so you don't miss any updates.

Happy Quilting!