Annual Quilt Retreat Hosts 90 Attendees

Managing Editor/Publisher

The parking lot and the hotels were full - a sign of yet another successful event in Ulysses.

A Stitch in Time Quilt Guild hosted their third annual quilt retreat March 20-22. And even with a "hiccup" or two, they still saw an increase in participants from their first event in 2023.

"We had 90 ladies who showed up," said Barbara Sullins, Stitch in Time Quilt Guild member, noting that  originally there were 93 who were supposed to come. One of the ladies had a family emergency and the other two came down ill at the same time as the retreat.

Their number dropped by one more to 89, the first day when one of the ladies fell. Retreat members quickly rallied doing what they could for her and stopping for a moment of prayer the next day, after learning she was flown to Wichita, Kan.

"She is doing wonderfully," Sullins said.

Eighty-nine is still more than the 60 the event hosted in 2023, and 80 in 2024.

"The parking lot was full, the hotels were full - our ladies spent a lot of money around our town and we really appreciated that," Sullins said.

One difference added this year was more quilts.

"We hung some quilts from the rafters in the auditorium," Sullins said. "We asked the ladies to bring a quilt of their own to hang and we hung those on racks on the stage."

Adding the quilt display is something the guild is thinking of continuing.

"Next year is always new," Sullins said. "We have some ideas for improvement. The ladies really liked having the quilts to look at that everyone made - like a quilt show. So, we may expand the quilt display and move in to another room in the civic center and make it bigger."

Sullins said along with quilters the retreat saw a few other visitors as well.

"We welcome visitors because they shop with our vendors," Sullins said. "If we open this up to have a little bit of a quilt show along with the retreat. We would love to have people come and see what we make."

Attendees for this year's retreat came from as far away as Omaha, Neb.

"She was the furthest one who came," Sullins said. "We also had one from Durango, Colo. Everyone else came from either Oklahoma or Kansas. We also had a lot of local (and area) attendees from Lakin, Johnson, and Ulysses. We still need to reach out to the ones in Hugoton about participating."

The event is already almost at maximum participation.

"We have to keep in mind we only have so much electricity," Sullins said. "Everyone brings an iron and a sewing machine so we are drawing a lot of electricity into that building. We didn't blow any breakers and everybody was pleased about that. But, if we get any more people that what we have we may start blowing breakers and we don't want to do that. We can have around 90 to 95 people there."

During the retreat, the attendees play games related to quilting and have the opportunity to win prizes.

"We had prizes like crazy this year," Sullins said. "Most of them were donated and our guild purchased a few."

Those attending the retreat began showing up at the civic center on Thursday morning at 8 and help was on hand.

"The junior leaders came and helped move stuff in for the ladies and we had a tip jar for them," Sullins said. "They made a pretty good amount of tips that will help them out with their expenses for their trip to Topeka."

According to Sullins, within two and a half hours the ladies in the retreat and the vendors were in the building.

"The kids left around 10 and were were still setting up our sewing machines and such, but we had our things in the building," Sullins said. "The kids came back at 2 p.m., Saturday and helped us reload our things in our cars."

There were four vendors and two masseuses. Vendors for this year included Laura Martin, So Loved Quilt Shop, Elkhart, Kan.; Joyce Muhlenbruch, Birds of a Feather, Dodge City, Kan.; Jeana Padgham, Bossy Sister, Kinsley, Kan.; and Marilee Freiberger, Justa Stitchin', Springfield, Colo.

Masseuses were Marci Stringham, Reflexology By Marci, and Marki Hudgins, Massage By Marki.

Dinner for Thursday was catered by Alejandros with Marry Me Chicken; Friday by Spuds with a potato bar;  and Saturday lunch by La Estrella, with a taco bar.

Sullins said the event is important not only for the quilters, but also for the community.

"It it brings in a lot of commerce to our community and we quilters kind of like to get together to learn from each other and see what we are all doing," she said.

The Stitch in Time Quilt Guild begins working on the retreat in January of each year. It is a first come, first served basis.

"When they get their invitations in January, they need to RSVP as soon as possible to guarantee their spot in the retreat," Sullins said.

There are 27 members in the Stitch in Time Guild and seven of those work on getting the retreat put on.

"It's really not that much work," Sullins said, crediting the crew at the Civic Center for making that possible. "I have to give Mary Honstead and her staff a big congratulations and thank you. They pulled off some good work this week. I was there Monday morning at 8:30 (after the retreat) and they already had the tables coming down and by 11 they had the whole room cleaned up  and were ready to set up for another event."

All in all Sullins is pleased with how the retreat turned out.

I thought it was fabulous," Sullins said. "We didn't have any problems - it just flowed so smoothly. I think we had a super time and we loved having everybody here."