Originally Posted by burnsk

Hey kiddo, that is NOT a dumb question. I didn't know until I went to one. As a matter of fact, went to my second one last week. Every retreat is different. Some are structured with lecturers, others are more loosely structured. The one I went to could have been called a "Sewing Getaway" instead of a retreat. We went to Shipshewana, Ind. We checked in to our hotel on Thursday around 3:00 and left Sunday at 1:00. There was a huge conference room available 24 hours for us, at the end of the hall where our rooms were located. Last out locks up, first up opens. We each had an 8 foot table for our very own, there were 2 large tables with cutting mats, 4 ironing boards. We set up our sewing machines and sewed, sewed, sewed. Of course we did some shopping. We went out for our meals. There was also a pool and whirlpool.

We have some very talented ladies and guys in our group so there was a lot of sharing going on. One gal showed us how to make a sweatshirt jacket. I did a demo on tube quilting. One of the guys did a quick demo on the "Tater Bag". Another gal showed quick table runners. One of the gals did a purse demo. It was a lot of fun and a great get-away. We all hated to leave. There were some beautiful quilts made that week-end. Also some vests, jackets, blouses, and one gal brought her brand new Pfaff embroidery machine so she could just sit, read the manual, and find out how it works. And, of course, she got to network with others and it was a big help for her to learn her machine.

Some retreats are more structured, have a guest speaker (Lipinski did one not far from here last fall) and you all work on a similar quilt or design. Either way they are a lot of fun.