Farmhouse Retreat 2019

Last month, I had the honour of co-hosting a retreat with Caitlin Polden. We first connected through making our Pollinate quilts, and the friendship blossomed from there as we bonded over Lauren Daigle, Christy Nockels, and Handmade Getaway – a beautiful book by Jacqueline Sava Clarke and Karyn Valino – and which was the spark for our idea of hosting a quilting retreat together and seeing what happened.

Caitlin lives on a farm in Booleroo, SA, and her beautiful farmhouse had recently been renovated. The extension was the perfect place to set up for sewing with space for sewing tables, and a cosy lounge room area up the other end. We put the call out amongst some local friends, filled up the spots, and got to organising.

Caitlin was a consummate host – she cooked all of our meals, and deliciously so, and the desserts… oh the desserts! Not to mention getting our beds organised and made! It was an honour to be her co-host, as she made us look good 😉

We also had good fun creating some fun goodie bags for our guests. Caitlin sourced some local chocolates and art from a photographer, and made everyone a little scissors pouch. I collected some treasures from around the place and also from some generous sponsors – Amitie Textiles provided some Jen Kingwell postcard patterns (with template) and a seam allowance ruler, Aurifil Australia gave everyone a spool of my favourite colour, 2000, and Verandah Crafts offered some sweet ribbon to add cute finishing touches to projects. Thank you, sponsors!

Most of the retreat was about free sewing and stitching, but I did run a class on foundation paper piecing. Each guest brought a few fat quarters of one colour, and made one (or two!) blocks from the Milky Way Sampler quilt. I believe everyone was an FPP beginner, and they all rocked it!! We then basted, quilted, and bound the quilt over the rest of the weekend. I quilted it using the classic serpentine stitch on my Pfaff Passport! The finished quilt will be donated to a charity or family in need of some quilty love within the local region.

We also had a fun game on the last night! Everyone had to bring a mug rug and a wrapped sewing-type gift of around $10 in value. We then played a non-Christmas version of Dirty Santa, where you take turns to choose a gift or to steal from someone else who has already opened a gift.

It nearly ended up quite tame but thankfully the last two players went dirty and stole, haha! The mug rug you brought then was given to the person who ended up with the present you brought. I ended up with this stunner by Caitlin – lucky me!

It was such an amazing weekend. Relaxing, making new friends, doing a bit of sewing, enjoying the beautiful scenery of rural Australia, and for me, also getting to teach and give back to the community.

This was a bit of a test run for us, and I’m excited to see what the future brings. I know for sure that I will host more retreats along a similar vein – smaller and more intimate, casual and laid back. Bringing people together and providing them the space to enjoy their quilting, with a little workshop or two. As someone who cooks only because my family has to eat (because quilting is my creative outlet!), it did prove that any retreats I host will be catered for, though. My talents do not extend to the kitchen like Cait’s do! Stay tuned…