I also love retreats and the first ones I went to I brought way too many things to do. I am a socializer and do a lot laughter at these things. I have learned to keep my projects simple, small and almost mindless. For instance, I may bring a roll of pre-cuts to do a string quilt, or several pillow cases to do that have been pre-cut by me with all of the parts for each set put in a separate plastic bag. I will also bring a hand project, like my eternal hexie project or my applique tea pot project. I try to keep it to a minimum of 3 projects (1 by hand and 2 by machine), that way I am not schlepping all these things into the sewing room.
I try to do as little cutting as possible at a retreat, so everything I bring is precut and the only cutting I will have to do is sizing up my blocks. I bring my own small cutting matt and my own ironing board (20" x 30") that is made from plywood, insulbright, batting and denim. The cutting matt will fit on top of the ironing board when I need it and under the ironing board when I don't need it. They sit on top of my 24" x 4 Ft table, next to my sewing machine. The table folds down to 24" x 24" for traveling. I find using a Martelli rotary cutter, best for cutting when sitting down, because it is more ergonomic for my hand and wrist.
I have also made a permanent list of things to bring to a retreat. On one side of the page is all of the sewing things to bring and the other side of the page is all of the personal things to pack. It is amazing but in all of the excitement how you can forget something really crucial that you need like underwear or your sewing machine foot peddle. Believe me, I have seen some major things that have been forgotten at these retreats like the time I forgot to bring my CPAP machine and I woke up to someone standing above me and yelling at me to stop snoring. She scared the pajeebers out of me and then I got the giggles, much to everyone's dismay, once I realized she wasn't a ghost.
Yep, happy and fun times happen at a quilting retreat.