See What Happened at the Mysterious Sewing Society Quilt Retreat: March 2024
The Mysterious Sewing Society quilt retreats are one-day events at the Carlisle Inn in Sarasota, Florida. This was my fourth quilt retreat with the Mysterious Sewing Society (their fifth retreat, overall). Time flies, and I’m already looking forward to my next one!
The premise of a mystery quilt retreat with the Mysterious Sewing Society is simple:
- You’ll receive cutting instructions and a list of supplies to bring about a month before the event.
- Come with your sewing machine, travel iron, notions, and pre-cut fabrics to the Carlisle Inn early on the day of the retreat.
- Jerry (the quilt designer and event organizer) passes out instructions periodically during the day.
- Sew, chat, eat chocolate, drink from your huge cup (water, right?), and sew some more.
- Have a fabulous lunch with your quilting friends!
- Sometime in the afternoon you’ll get to see what the finished quilt pattern looks like!
- Sew until you are utterly exhausted and have to say goodbye and go home.
Fun and Games with Prizes!
For this retreat you can bring your own sewing machine or let the Mysterious Sewing Society provide a basic machine for you to use. I shared tips about what to bring in this post.
There are lots of fun games during the retreat. Surprise! This time Jerry gave away all four of the Janome sewing machines provided by Tops Vacuum and Sewing for retreat attendees’ use. My sister Liz won one of them!
Wear What You Like
Sewing retreats are my favorite places to wear clothes that I made myself. Here, I’m getting ready to sew wearing my Closet Core Patterns Kalle shirt that I made with Ruby Star Society rayon fabric. It’s my favorite shirt in the world!
By the way, my Juki TL-2010Q is my first choice machine to take to classes and events like this. Even though it’s heavy, the all-mechanical construction means I don’t worry about breaking it. It sews a beautiful straight stitch, too.
The Hotel is Fabulous
I live about 3 hours away from the retreat, so I usually stay two nights at the Carlisle Inn. If I had to hand-pick any venue for a quilt retreat, it would be this one. This Amish owned hotel is full of beautiful quilts, antique and new.
The public areas are charmingly decorated with quilts, a baby-grand piano, and comfortable places to sit. The spacious rooms have quilt-themed decor as well. Can you tell why I always want to stay two nights?
Finished Quilts
I haven’t finished my quilt from this mystery quilt retreat yet, but my friend Nikki finished hers. Isn’t it beautiful?
I’m so behind on finishing quilts that I haven’t even started quilting my Mystery Quilt #4. But I did finish Mystery Quilt #3! It had beautiful storm at sea quilt blocks.
Learn about upcoming Mysterious Sewing Society events on the Quilting Quarters classes page.
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