Our local guild sponsors a 4 day retreat twice a year - one in August and the other in February. I'm fairly new to quilting but I went to my first retreat 5 years ago, met up with some wonderful gals and have been attending both ever since. You learn so much in that kind of environment. We all bring our own projects and learn from each other in techniques, tools and can't beat being spoiled by the camp that does all the cooking for us, too! Now some of us that attend these retreats regularly also getting together in between retreats of a "Girls sewing day" as often as our schedules allow. Priceless.