Across New South Wales, there are women’s retreats where tired women arrive on Friday nights and leave Sunday with smiles, where 1950s featherweight sewing machines work alongside modern digital models, and where every quilt made carries a label: "Made with love."
For nearly 20 years, Teapot Ministries has been running craft retreats for women across NSW. What began with 20-30 women has grown into three annual retreats – at Rathmines on the Central Coast, Kiah Ridge at Tahmoor, and Castlereagh – drawing women from their 30s to their 80s.
The formula is simple: use craft to bring women together for connection, rest, and community. "We use craft as the means to draw women in, but it's about women taking time out, connecting with other women, sharing their stories, and just being a blessing to one another," explains Robyn Morris, a Teapot Weekend organiser. Each retreat welcomes a mix of weekend guests and day visitors, with around 40 women working on a variety of projects. A dedicated charity corner produces quilts for people in crisis.
The atmosphere is deliberately warm and welcoming. Women receive goodie bags and commemorative pins each year they attend. Behind the scenes, a small team of men serve as "gophers", setting up tables and helping wherever needed.
The charity work runs deep. After the 2019-2020 bushfires, Karen – a volunteer and charity coordinator at the Teapot Weekend retreat – encountered a woman buying a heater for her caravan. Learning she was a fire victim, Karen delivered quilts the next day to three families living in tents, containers, and caravans on a property. "I said there's one for every person and they were just overwhelmed," Karen recalls. She continued delivering bags of quilts to the South Coast for fire victims. Each charity quilt carries a Teapot Ministries label and is made with scrap fabrics or specially purchased materials.
The retreats are funded in part by the Bronwyn McBurney Memorial Fund (BMF), named after one of the first attendees who came to three retreats before dying from melanoma cancer three weeks after the last one. In her honour, five dollars from each weekend's costs goes to the BMF fund, sponsoring up to six women annually. "Quite often people who have been sponsored feel so honoured that they just want to contribute to pass the blessing on," says Robyn.
For many women, these weekends provide essential respite. Andrea, a mother of two children with special needs, says, "Sometimes mums just need a break with other mums where I can do things that I love, which is sewing."
The magic lies in stepping away from devices, connecting with others, and using your hands to create. "You can have great chats, deep-and-meaningfuls, share jokes, have laughter," says Mel, a Teapot Weekend attendee. "In our general community we've kind of stepped back from that a little bit. Being able to jump into a cosy warm weekend where we all get to enjoy one another's company, delicious food, and the satisfaction of creating – it's just a joy."
As Robyn puts it: "A good weekend would be to see the women coming in on Friday night feeling tired and exhausted, and then watching them shine over the weekend."
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