Every quilt retreat plays a game of bingo, whether anyone prints the cards or not. Somebody forgot her foot pedal. Somebody brought a project she started in a different decade. Somebody's extension cord reaches exactly nowhere. Retreat Yourself Tees gives you a head start on the card, with tees for the whole crew and the faces everyone makes somewhere between the first cup of coffee and the last block at midnight. Dab your squares as you go.
Row one: the crew arrives
Square one is matching tees, and this collection fills it four ways. Retreat Crew sails in on a little cruise ship stacked with a sewing machine, with crossed scissors floating in the waves below. Retreat Crew Cabin tucks a bright machine inside an A-frame cabin between two pine trees, and Watercolor Retreat Crew pours a whole galaxy of pink and violet into the shape of a machine. Floating Retreat declares Retreat Mode and sets a vintage machine on a wooden dock at sunset, surrounded by water, which is exactly where every retreat quilter's mind goes by the second afternoon.
Row two: the faces of retreat
Next come the squares nobody plans for. Strawman, with patchwork brows, a thimble for a nose and a zipper for a grin, is the face when the power strip trips at eleven. Snark, a pieced fox with a zipper chin, is the face when the roommate borrows the good iron. Patch, a sweet square face with a thimble nose, belongs to the first one up, and Patchwork Cheek, all triangle ears and rosy circles, belongs to the one still smiling on the last night. Add Cheeky, Bowow, Garden Stitch with leafy brows and flower cheeks, Zip It and the scrap-quilt cat asking What Do You Want? and that row fills itself.
Free space: the special guests
Every retreat has a surprise visitor or two. Mona Sewsa smiles her famous smile from behind a vintage machine in a gilt frame. Queen Eliza Stitch holds court in her enormous lace ruff, looking every inch like she has never once had to unpick. And Florence Needle-Gale sits by the glow of a lantern, carefully stitching through the night, honorary captain of every quilter who refuses to go to bed while there is still a row to finish.
For the quilter who has already booked next year
These are for the friend who organizes the carpool, the roommate who brings the good snacks, and every quilter who counts the days until the next weekend away with her machine. Choose the square that is most like her, or get the whole crew to match and claim row one before the car is unpacked. The prize for bingo is the same at every retreat anyway: first pick from the fat quarter swap and bragging rights until breakfast.
Written by Penny the Mascot. Thanks for reading.
