Quilt retreats are a great way to de-stress

October 13, 7:22 AMQuilting ExaminerKelly Smith

Previous Next

Comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Quilting Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Each March and October I get together with about thirty-five fellow quilters for “Quilt Camp” our version of a quilt retreat. I just got back yesterday. Retreats are a great opportunity to de-stress and decompress from everyday life. We spend four days shopping, quilting, and just hanging out together while we talk, laugh and cry, help, encourage and inspire each other. We work on whatever we want and the highlight of the weekend is usually show and tell where we all present what we’ve been working on since the last time we got together.

We hold our retreats at a children’s summer camp where we sleep in the dorms and sew in the multi-purpose room. Groups of us take turns making the meals so we each end up cooking and cleaning up just once all weekend. (This time our group served make-your-own sandwiches and provided three kinds of homemade soup and three desserts.) There is a lounge with a fireplace and a huge TV for those who want to curl up on the couch and stitch while watching a movie, and the whole place is beside a beautiful lake and has walking paths so we can stretch our legs. I got some gorgeous photos of the colorful trees reflected in the lake in the early morning sun!

Our first retreat had just sixteen women, but by the following spring we had doubled that just through word-of-mouth. Everyone wanted to get in on the action! The retreat was started by two friends of mine who had been to a less-than-stellar retreat and said to themselves, “We can do better than this!” 

Our retreat coordinators spoil us with a themed meal on the first night, a costume party (where we take our group photo), pampering in the form of paraffin hand dips, facials, manicures, pedicures, hair trims, and eyebrow waxes (provided by two professional stylists who come out for the evening), and a wide variety of special events. This time our theme was Rotary Road Rally and we had a treasure hunt of sorts where we had to identify several common household items hidden inside fabric bags. Of the 38 items I got 3 wrong, so I didn't wine the "trophy" - a wine goblet full of black and white fat quarters!

In the past we’ve done pirate treasure hunts, “Olympic” games, round robins, fat quarter, white elephant, and “bag lady” exchanges, charity quilts, and a slew of other fun things. Our next theme is "First Quilts" and it's going to interesting to see everyone's first quilt and a current quilt to see how their quilting has changed.

In addition to retreats like ours, there are also dedicated quilt retreat centers. My friend Leigh Hunter runs one in Metamora, Illinois. At The Pear Tree (http://mybeststitch.com/peartree/) you can stay for a night, a weekend, or a week. And the Cozy Corner quilt shop is right next door. This would make a great girls getaway or a wonderful mother-daughter weekend. (Assuming you’re both into quilting, that is!)