Material Girls Retreat 2025

Grab a coffee (or some wine!) because this is a long one!

We just had our annual retreat at Elim Lodge with the Material Girls group and it was as wonderful as ever. A great big thank you goes out to our friend, Donna C (kneeling front right in the photo below…no, not the furry one! LOL), who took over the reins from Diane and Doreen who had been our leaders for the previous 14 years. They needed a break from all that hard work, but Diane graced us once again as the auctioneer extraordinaire to raise money for charity.

In the swag bags that Donna prepared for all of us there were amazing t-shirts for everyone with about 5 different quilty sayings on them. They were definitely a big hit with the ladies, and Becky was even able to chase down a stranger, and dragged him over to take a photo of our group so that everyone could be in it. It was a beautiful sea of turquoise!

Along with the t-shirts and other great gifts in the swag bag were the cute little change purses that I made for everyone while I was at the cottage. I used the pattern Cash and Carry by Atkinson Designs as my guide, but I did make them slightly larger and only incorporated one fabric instead of 2. I have 2 that I use regularly and keep them in the car console…one holds change and small bills and the other holds gift cards and loyalty cards. That way I don’t have to weigh down my wallet. Below you can see the steps in making them.

Donna had also included a piece of patterned vinyl in the swag bags so a few of the ladies took part in my quick tutorial for making these cute little project bags. You can find all kinds of tutorials online in making these in a variety of sizes and using different methods for binding. Customize one just for you or a friend. It’s a great group project for you and your quilty friends.

Once again, Sandra from Appleseed Quiltworks joined us to allow the ladies to step away from their machines for a while to enjoy some retail therapy. She did a brisk business as you can see from the photo…a lot of happy shoppers!

As usual, everyone there worked on the most wonderful projects. Feast your eyes on the following:

Val worked on Granny’s Garden, a gorgeous applique quilt, by Riley Blake. The photo does not do this quilt justice. Janice completed her Heartfelt quilt top and did a fantastic job. I’ve seen this quilt done in many colour combinations (with and without the wording) and it turns out so well in any colour mix. Lynn mixed soft pretty pastels with a bold red to create this lovely chain quilt which was the 2025 Stash Buster Challenge by Border Creek Station.

Donna S made this lovely landscape quilt called Tranquility by Denise Armstrong. It is so striking the way the black stands out against the ombre effect of the strip pieced background. Marilyn completed this soft, beautiful Log Cabin design. It’s my personal favourite traditional design and it looks amazing in any colour combo. Diane finally got some quilting time in during this retreat and finished this cozy plaid wheelchair quilt. You obviously can’t tell from the photo, but the fabric is so incredibly soft and cozy…someone is going to love it.

We also had our fair share of “bag ladies” at this retreat. Rose, Terry and Pat each made their own Wire-Framed Totes. Even though there was a little bit of swearing (under their breath, of course!) while inserting the wire frame, they all did an incredible job and should be very happy with the results. Sue, who joined the Material Girls for the first time this year, completed her bag, Two Big Totes by ByAnnie patterns, using the most wonderful “house” fabric. Leona’s daughter had a great travel bag that Leona wanted to copy so she could have one of her own. Mission accomplished!

Each year at this retreat, Christine and Pam like to work on the same project, but in different colour ways. Christine is obsessed with Kaffe Fassett fabrics and it looks like Pam loves them too, but in cooler colours. They definitely did justice to the free Cool Blocks Quilt pattern by Free Spirit.

I managed to make a special bag for my daughter, Kate, for her upcoming trip to Japan…she leaves tomorrow…eeeeek! She wanted to take a small watercolour kit with her so she could paint pictures of some of the sights she will be seeing, so she chose this amazing paint dripping fabric from my stash and this is what I came up with. And check out the adorable hedgehog zipper pull I purchased at a quilt show last year. Thanks to Linda for the gorgeous black and white striped rainbow zipper. (Everyone at retreat is so generous and sharing!)

Two ladies had some very special animal projects. Betty worked on the most adorable foundation pieced forest animals by Joe June & Mae. She managed to get quite a few done at retreat and I’d be interested to find out how she finishes it…maybe a show and tell for next year?

Speaking of show and tell, Janice H spoke to me last year about making a foundation paper pieced portrait of her dog, Riley, as a gift for her husband. Even though she didn’t work on it at retreat, I know you’d be so happy to see the finished product that she had framed for him. She did an absolutely amazing job and had the pattern custom made from a photograph by Vanessa Mangavel of Modern Quilt Patterns. What an incredibly thoughtful gift.

As you can see, there is no shortage of talent within our group. I wonder what works of art we’ll see from everyone next year!

Community, PersonalSharon GalnaSeptember 23, 2025retreat, retreat projects, quilting fun, retreat time, quilty firends2 Comments