I have gone on retreat with one of my Quilt guilds at least 5 times. I like that particular retreat because every minute is not planned out like the retreats my other guild offers. There is usually one project that you can be involved with but it is purely voluntary. As a stay at home housewife I have plenty of opportunity to sew and quilt at home. Most of the other participants are working so they spend every minute trying to get things done. Some of the women sew into the wee hours of the morning. I usually take a book and some handwork along with a machine sewing project. You will need to take your machine, all sewing supplies you will need and several projects ready to go. Our retreat starts on thursday evening and lasts through sunday afternoon. We meet at a church camp that doesn't provide meals until friday evening. Persons attending sign up to bring food for the meals on thursday night and breakfast and lunch on friday. Of course everyone brings their favorite snacks and enough to share. We have a small kitchen where we can heat up stuff and have room to keep our drinks cold and make coffee etc. We also have an ice maker. The sleeping accomadations are those meant for the kids. We have to take our own bedding and some of the girls even drag their own favorite sewing chair. Arriving and leaving remind me of moving day. A whole lot of sewing gets done and we have a show and tell at the end. The organizer has some simple group games that we play after supper in the evening. We usually have everyone bring a number of two inch strips of fabric and those are the prizes in a game of quilt bingo. Some times the winner gets a top made including them or with them by the end of the retreat. Quite often a number of the group of ladies go on a quilt shop hunt on saturday. Sometimes the weekend actually falls on an actual organized Quilt Shop Special Hunt Day. Those are fun since each shop has a little special gift or even refreshments on those occassions.
I have some health issues and the fact that I have plenty of time to sew at home will probably keep me from going to any more retreats. I would highly recommend talking to others in your guild or group that have gone in the past to get a feel for the one being offered to you. They can be a whole lot of fun.