Sewing Summit Recap - FINALLY!

I finally got my pictures for Sewing Summit 2012 organized a bit. I am missing sooooooo many friend pictures because they were taken on other people's cameras - but there are enough to share for now and this is overdue enough!

I started out my trip in Utah by staying overnight with a friend who I haven't seen for a few years. She is so adorable and we had a great time hanging out together. I got to meet her baby and dog and it was a great way to relax after a long plane ride. (IF you call a couple hour hike relaxing - I know I sure do after sitting soooooooooo long in a cramped plane!)

Elizabeth dropping me off in SLC

At the hotel, the first thing on my list was to find my roommates! Mia and I met up immediately and "the Canadians" made their way to our room later on - which was good because I didn't know how to find them and couldn't call and was worried they wouldn't get a key or a chance to put their stuff down before the opening reception!

Mia, Sheila, Kaye and I 

These girls were lovely to room with ~ I got super lucky!

My next item of business was to find Diane - we've emailed for months and I was so excited to finally meet her in person! She is awesome and it was so fun to hang out with her for a few days!

There was a mixer sponsored by Craftsy the first night and then a group of us went to dinner. Hoping someone has a picture I can steal from that night! Afterward we hung out, helped organize a fabric swap, and just chatted the night away.

Friday morning Mia and I both had signed up to do a 5k with a group so we got up WAY too early and headed to the lobby meet-up at 6am. It was super fun and a great way to start off the day and meet some new people! We had a yummy breakfast all together and had a good time chatting away.

(Horrible with names - if you see this help me fill in #1 please)
?, Mia, Me, Carrie, Julie, Miranda

Then it was time for classes to start - o buddy I was SO excited!!

My first class was a metal purse frame class taught by Megan. There were some issues with the pattern so I didn't get to make mine which was a major bummer. O well tho - snaphoos happen I guess! I did enjoy her instructions in class and feel like I could make my own when I have the right supplies - my dear sister in law ordered me some Guettermann glue and my in-laws are bringing it with them from Germany in a few weeks.

My second class was with Jeni Baker - one of my absolute favorite bloggers - which more than made up for the small frustration in the first class (Megan was great ~ I had just hoped to have a finish project and was sad to waste the fabric that I had brought with me by making a too-small bag for the frame :-/).

Here are some quick pics from her class - most were blurry because she is so energetic and moves so fast lol.

Me and Jeni - YAY :)

I learned soooooooooo much in her class; I will have another blog post with highlights from my notes because there is sooooooooo much I want to share and remember from that class!

At the end of the class Jeni let us know that we would all be getting a PDF pattern of her Color Wheel Quilt - YAY! - AND we got these awesome Cotton Couture Solids Color Card from Michael Miller!

I met up with my peeps for afterward lunch and then headed to the Serger Room for an afternoon of serger sewing fun!

My first afternoon class was using a serget to make an Ipad case - I really like the way mine turned out.(I will have another post soon after this with project pictures, I've delayed this one long enough! lol)

My second afternoon class was making a Maxi Skirt with Leeann Barlow

First of all, she is so adorable and such a good instructor! We made our own patterns to fit our specific measurements and I was actually able to make and wear my skirt during the class time ~ I was pretty amazed it wasn't a big mess lol. Below is a picture of Caitlin and I (partners in the class) modeling our skirts with Leeann.

I had a lot of fun meeting Caitlin in that class and making the skirt - it was not one of my top classes before going to Sewing Summit but became one of my favorite during!

A fun group including these 2 lovely laides above got together for dinner after classes that night - we went to a super yummy restaurant and had lots of fun chatting and hanging out - as always! I even had a pumpkin cupcake (after drooling over Leeanns for a few minutes haha) and o buddy was it soooooooooooo worth every bite!! Yum yum yum :)

After dinner the SLCModern Quilt Guild put on a fun mixer at a bar downtown. I didn't get any pictures because we did not stay very long but it was super nice of them to arrange, espec. the fun swag bags they gave out! Oddly enough - out of our little group, 3 of us ended up winning things in the few minutes we were there based on the raffle tickets we were given at the door. Fun stuff!

We headed back to the hotel for more chat time and went to hang out in the open sewing rooms. I wasn't very productive but I still had a good time staying up way too late with all the girls :)

The next morning started out for me with 2 piecing classes:

Shapes and Angles with Faith and Kati:

I pretended like Faith was giving me this gorgeous quilt but I couldn't quite convince her ;-)

Me with Kati

A sample of the triangles we worked on in class

(Will include pictures of my projects from this class in my next post)

Paper piecing with Elizabeth and Lee:

(Will include pictures of my projects from this class in my next post too!)

These 4 ladies were some of the best teachers I had at Sewing Summit - I really enjoyed their classes; I just wish they had been longer so I would have gotten to practice all of the techniques taught and work on my projects a little longer.

I was definitely ready for a break at lunch time tho - it is hard work sewing for a few hours straight and learning so much in the process!

I met up with my peeps again for lunch and got ready for the exciting event... Joel Dewberry was our lunch time speaker! SWOON!!! :-D

He gave a wonderful talk about how he became a fabric designer and what is important to him when designing a collection. He also had his newest fabric line ~ Notting Hill ~ there to show us along with some awesome samples of the patterns his wife creates on the other side of their business. I had my first feel of Voile fabric when I was checking out some of the skirt samples and I was amazed at how soft it is! I definitely want to make a skirt out of that material someday soon ~ just have to pick out which Notting Hill print I want for it ;-)

He is by far one of my favorite designers and it was really cool to meet him, learn more about him as a person and artist, and also to see Notting Hill in person because I'd been drooling over the online pics previously and wow - this fabric does not disappoint in person!

I was rejuvinated after a yummy lunch (yes, I ate 3 cookies, I'll admit it! lol) and was ready for more sewing fun!

My next class was a curves sewing classes with Christina ~ we made an mini from her own pattern and plastic templates and she showed us a way to sew curves without pinning which was AWESOME:

(Will include pictures of my project from this class in my next post too - almost done quilting it!)


Last but not least was a lecture class with Sara ~ I think she is the teacher I was most excited to meet from this entire conference, I just love her work and personality. She gave a wonderful lecture on bag making including explaining multiple types of interfacing that we received in a charm pack, as well as passing around samples using those interfacings and some bag hardware she discussed later on.

Me and Sara

Sara discussing interfacing

2 of my favorite bags from Sara

Wow right? She is so amazing and creative! I never would have thought to use a large quilt block as a bag like this!

Our class got out early so I had the opportunity to chat with her a bit more about pattern making, some of her bags, etc. and then we even sat out in the hall as a small group chatting which was really cool. She is adorable, so knowledgeable, and I'm so glad I was able to meet her and have some personal chat time with her.

There was a closing banquet at the end and then they set us free to chat, sew, pack, etc. A group of us ended up going down to an embroidery session put on by Rachael which was super informative for me because I've always wanted to embroider but I always forget how after I've learned! I had a good time hanging out with my peeps as well as meeting new people.

Me & Allegory

Julie and I showing off our progress

Rachael and I (Yes, I am a giant, lol)

After the embroidery session we had the longest session of picture taking EVER - we were cracking up so much and being so obnoxious in the lobby, I really thought they were going to kick us out for being annoying drunks! We were all 100% sober, just sleep deprived and sad to say goodbye! It was a lovely way to end a lovely conference! (Once I get some of the group pictures from friends, I will post them on the blog to share.)

The next morning I pushed my flight back so I had more time in SLC and less of a layover in Denver which was nice. I hung out with Caitlin and Kait for breakfast and had a nice walk around SLC, including checking out Temple Square a bit. It was a nice way to part with some new friends and enjoy a little down time before traveling so long back home.

Kait, Me, Caitlin

No conference is perfect and this one definitely had some snaphoos but all in all I had an amazing time, learned soooooooooo much from my classes, and met so many cool and fun people! It was absolutely worth the time and money to go to and I am so glad I had this opportunity!

Thanks to everyone who organized this great event, taught the wonderful and informative classes, and put up with me and my craziness :-) Miss all you girlies so much and am looking forward to seeing some of you in 2013 - whether at Sewing Summit or elsewhere ~ I'll keep my fingers crossed!