Packing for a quilt retreat - Pack with a Purpose or Wing it?
I didn't attend sleep away camp as a child, or live in a dorm in college - so the concept of a sleep away quilt event was something I was completely unfamiliar with when I went to my first weekend several years ago. It was not fancy, but it was a wonderful entry into the comraderie, the silliness (?) that is part and parcel with the quilt retreat weekend. I submit exhibit A
- the 'trophy' that was blinged up and presented to someone for something or other at one of the first retreats I ever went on with my guild. Each successive retreat, something is added to it - A crown, a sash - and it becomes a game to see which unknowing person winds up with it next.
I'm probably tempting fate to publish this a week before we leave. Keep a good thought.Just this morning, I got the latest in several emails about next weekend - what to pack, what not to forget. Then I received a phone call from a friend on the way to her springtime getaway. She packed this morning and headed out - resting assured that she has most of what she needs (power cord comes to my mind, ask me how I know) and that whatever she forgets, someone most likely has. It's amazing how many almost complete quilt shops can be found at a retreat in someone's bags.We have the sewing equipment down to a science, but sometimes, it's the very basics that you forget about. I have two different prescriptions for my disposable contact lenses. They are the first thing to go into the my luggage for the weekend - I've had one weekend with mis-matched prescriptions and I will never have another.
There have been years when I have brought literally every UFO I could find, some years when I came at the last minute and grabbed whatever was handy. Some years, I got alot done, some years, not so much. One year I slept because I badly needed to. This year, I have taken a more objective viewpoint to what I'm taking...I have the luxury of having a travel machine that I take with me to each retreat - on Sunday, I'll actually take it out and make sure I have everything - power cords, feet, book, the attachable light that hooks onto it. Wow, I'm living large here - avoiding the mid-morning en-route panic that sets in...yes, the foot pedal must be in the bag...where else would it be?I have found that piecing works best for me at these kinds of events...I machine quilt (badly, but I keep trying) on a large bed machine that I do not take with me for these weekends. That narrows the possible projects down. I have several deadline pieces (when don't I is the question?)...and one of them might come with me -but all I have to do is finish the binding, so that won't last long. Paper piecing is difficult for me because I find that I do way too much moving between the machine, the iron and the cutting station when I'm at home...so that project probably won't be useful for this.I could bring with me any number of the half finished projects (charity, bags, baby) that are stacked up and waiting for work - or I could (wait for it!) pull something out of the Bucket List quilt folder to work on.
Three and a half days of glorious, uninterupted time to play. The possibilities are endless - as long as I can make a decision and a plan. My friends who get the most creatively accomplished on weekends such as this pre-cut and pre-package their materials to a degree that I just don't seem to have the genetic capacity to do.Did I mention that the Lake Shore series was born at a retreat?
That was my classic box o' fabric weekend, when I threw everything into a plastic tub amd took it with me for the weekend. Maybe I should go with what's working for me.Stay tuned.