Leading A Virtual Retreat

Charity block

One of my small groups led a virtual retreat last weekend. We had 29 participants attend with most participants members of the Portland Modern Quilt Guild. Members paid $40 to attend the event. The retreat began at 3pm Friday afternoon and ended at 2pm on Sunday afternoon. Participants were from two provinces in Canada and six states in the United States. We set up the Zoom session so participants could sew every hour of the retreat. 

Creative piecing of the charity block

We "soft" opened the event with open sew time. People worked on their projects and chatted. Later, we held an ice breaker to officially welcome the participants. We wanted to give those that were at work time to join us. We asked people for two answers: The first: Name three items you would put in a time capsule. The second, If you were a stripper, what would your name be? The responses were great and there were lots of giggles and laughs! 

We tried having a dedicated time we called Marketplace. This was a time when participants could buy, sale, trade or give away a sewing or sewing related item that they no longer needed. How the item went from one person to the other was between

Blocks with alternate color on the wings

the two parties. Throughout the weekend, there were conversations held so it was a success.

Toward the end of the evening, there was a door prize drawing. In keeping with our goal to keep the event virtual and to support our business guild members, winners were given a choice of which business they would like a gift certificate. For winners outside of Oregon and Washington, they could pick a business that they frequent. 

Retreat blocks

During the event, we awarded ten $25 gift certificates and one $50 gift certificate. Monday, one of our group members, contacted the businesses which issued electronic gift certificates to the participants. We get as close to the amount as we can without shorting the Canadian winner when it comes to the exchange rate!

Adding sashing

People logged off when they were ready to rest. For the night owls, the Zoom session stayed open. One of our members stayed up at least until midnight acting as host.

Saturday morning, the retreat opened with open sew. One of our members lives on the East coast so she would log on by 7am her tine which was 4am our time. This allowed the early birds to roll out of bed and begin stitching. We tried to time our activities so it wouldn't be too late for those in a different time zone nor would it be too early for people in the Pacific time zone.

We played a virtual game that one of our group devised at 9:30am. It was a combination of questions she generated from the guild website and blocks to identify. It was surprising how much members didn't know! The game generated a lot of conversation afterward. We had a pop up demo (how to sew a tool caddy) and two scheduled demos (how to sew the charity block and how to sew an inside mitered corner).

Two virtual speakers lectured. Valerie Goodwin's lecture was Mapping Narratives Using Fabric, Paint and Thread. Judy Johnson AKA Threadmongers   talked about cotton alternatives to Aurifil thread. Both speakers were well received. Later we played virtual Bingo. Bingo is always a hit.

Sunday, we played with layouts using the charity blocks that people had sewn and sent to one member of our group. This member will put the blocks together and quilt the project. It will be donated to the guild Charity group. We had an additional demo of how to sew on a quilt sleeve. We had a final show and share of participants' projects. It was a fun weekend. Our group did a great job. This was our second time to lead the virtual retreat. We are planning to be participants at the next virtual retreat though!

Goal number four on my November list was to help lead this virtual retreat. Linking to Finished or Not Friday and Patchwork and Quilts.