For the past six (or so) years it has been my job/honor/privilege/duty to plan our guild's annual retreat in February. We've always gone to nearby Healdsburg--close enough to be fairly convenient, but far enough to really feel away from home.
2020, though, threw a wrench in absolutely everything, as you know. Actually our retreat in February of 2020 was held as normal. There was an inkling of an impending pandemic at the time. So for the 2021 retreat, I knew we would not be having our normal retreat in Healdsburg. But I wanted our guild to feel just a little air of "getting away" and "retreating." This led me to plan a virtual retreat. I did a little digging online for ideas, but most of what I did was just a twist on what we usually do at retreat.
The main thing about this year's retreat was that everything about it was optional. I did have about 27 or so women signed up, which is only a few more than we generally have at retreat. I kept telling people, in my emails to the guild, that the cost would be small, and I would need to have a better idea of how many people and what types of things I was going to have to pay for. Mostly, as I said, for xeroxing cost and mailing costs. In the end, the amount that I put into the retreat was really negligible, so I set the cost at $10.00 per person, with any money over what I spent going back into the guild treasury. And at the guild meeting in late January when I announced this, it was suggested that the guild could underwrite this small cost. So it cost nothing to participate in the retreat.
I planned a daily schedule--something that is done only very loosely when we are at retreat--with lunchtime, happy hour, things like that. In 2020, for the first time, I scheduled a "quilters' stretch time" into the afternoon. Those of us who wanted/needed to stood up at our tables, and I led us in some simple stretches: neck flexion, waist bends, overhead stretching, that sort of thing. Nothing too strenuous. People seemed to like that at Retreat. So this year I printed out a couple pages exhibiting stretches.
In the very first email to retreat participants, I wrote a welcome letter, and explained how some of the things would work. We always play "QUILTO," which is a form of Bingo, so I sent out this page of quilt retreat bingo, just for people to play at home on their own. I have to admit that I don't think this idea went over very well. People wanted to know what the prizes were. Perhaps it needed a little more explanation.
Our retreat ran from Monday morning to Thursday afternoon. Each evening I emailed out to everyone the next day's schedule. Here is part of the first day's schedule.
And here is a copy of the stretching exercises to do.
A big part (I think) of our retreats has been the making of a Quilt of Valor. I choose a block and exhibit it with instructions, then everyone makes their version of it. When I get them all together I square them up to the same size and sew them into a Quilt of Valor, which then goes to a wounded veteran. People seem to really like this activity. This year's block was based on this quilt that I saw in a magazine. I thought it might be nice in reds, whites, and blues.
Retreat participants were told to start with a 10" square of white-ish fabric, then to simply add a triangle of red and/or blue to one corner. I didn't specify what size of triangle to add, but I did give some parameters. After receiving a few of the squares in the mail, or dropped off at my house, here are some of them up on my design wall.
I always love the variance and "scrappiness" of our communal QOVs, and this year I'm especially loving all the different white fabrics used.
As you can see from the photo below, there will be a lot of playing around I can do with these blocks. Here I've arranged all the colored corners to meet in the center. I could put all the triangles in the same corner, as pictured above, and there are other options, too. This will be fun!!
One of the fun things about retreat is going fabric shopping with friends. We couldn't replicate this exactly, but I did encourage shopping, and announced that one day was Fabric Shopping Day. Our local quilt shop, The Loft, and a quilt shop near Healdsburg, Bolt Fabrics, gave us a retreat discount for our shopping during this week. I think we still had some fun, even though we couldn't all go en masse to the stores. We got to exercise our credit cards, and show each other the fabrics we'd bought. Here are two of the pieces I bought.
Look at the cute button fabric below, and the really cute selvage!
One of our favorite times of day at our retreats is usually our happy hours, where we sip and nibble and have some fun. And I'll just leave it at that. Because you know, what happens at quilt retreat stays at quilt retreat!
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| Thank you, Lori!! |
For this retreat, since we couldn't all be together in one room, I counted on Zoom meetings to help us get a hint of togetherness. Thank you to dear Caroline, who engineered our morning coffee hour get-togethers, and our afternoon happy hour get-togethers. Even though we weren't there in person, it was still a lot of fun to see our friends' faces popping up on our screens. As usual at retreat, we have a few people who are coming from quite a ways away, and that's the only time we get to see these people, so that was fun. Here's a screenshot of one of our get-togethers.
We don't know what this coming year will have for us, so Retreat 2022 cannot be predicted. We'll see what happens in the next year. And keep our fingers crossed.
