Sewing Summit - Day 1

So Day 1 was here. I had already met loads of people on the Shop Hop so as we all met up excitedly outside the conference rooms of the Little America, the chatter got louder and louder. My first class was Fabric Design with Pat Bravo. At our seats were little gifts...

 

 

 

Pat Bravo is such an amazing, beautiful person....I have always loved her fabrics and to hear how her collections came about was fascinating. She talked about how she got into fabric design and then where her inspiration comes from. I totally want to go home and make a mood board now!! She encouraged us to see the world in a whole new way...a doorway is not just a doorway...it is colour and texture and patterns and shapes. Colour is also pivotal and will set the mood for the collection, so she spends a lot of time getting the colours just right. And who knew there were 2100 colours...Pantone do as they have this many colours in their library!!

 

Pat Bravo and me

 

My next class was a Creative Journey with Leanne Barlow who blogs at Elle Apparel. Leanne started her journey after seeing a skirt at Anthropologie that was way out of her price range. She then drafted up her own version, posted it on her blog and now makes and sells all her own clothing. Her journey was fascinating as she shared the highs and lows. She previewed her upcoming skirt - the Bow Skirt - as well.

 

 

Just sitting casually in Leanne's class was Heather Bailey, so I took the opportunity to have a chat with her. She was the keynote speaker at the closing dinner, but was just casually hanging out with everyone. I will talk more about Heather tomorrow but for now let's just say she is a beautiful person inside and out and her new fabric collection Lottie da is gorgeous. I grabbed some at the Shop Hop.

 

 

We then broke for lunch which was a smorgasbord. And at our tables was some cotton from Coats and Clark...more to add to my swag pile

 

 

 

My next class was a Curves Mini Quilt with Angela Pingel who blogs at Cut to Pieces. I hadn't tried curved piecing before so was keen to give it a go. We used a Sizzix machine to cut the drunkards path block...man this made it so easy!! I love these babies. Angela uses a pin at the middle only, sews to the middle, then turns it around and sews back to the middle. This gives more precise edges. It was kind of tricky to start with, but I got my groove on after a few and they became much easier. I haven't finished it yet...it will have to wait until I am back in NZ.

 

 

 

My final class for the day was a Half Square Triangle quilt with Amy Smart who blogs at Diary of a Quilter. Amy is the sweetest person and so funny. I have followed her blog for ages, so it was nice to meet her. For this class I used a layer cake of Simply Style by V and Co and a nice grey solid I picked up at the Shop Hop. Again, no pics of my work, but Amy's quilt was at the front of the class for inspiration!

 

 

 

I had left Tony in charge of finding somewhere for dinner...after all he had all day to find somewhere!! He was very good at amusing himself...he caught trains to the outer suburbs, he went shopping, he found the History channel (yawn) on the TV, he napped.....

 

So we went to Sapa, a Japanese sushi bar. It was very yummy. We stuffed ourselves silly with the 4 dishes below and waddled back to the hotel for Open Sew

 

Bernina had provided the Sewing Summit with new machines in 2 rooms and these rooms were open until 1am each day. We used the machines for our classes, the it was a free for all until the eyelids could stay open no more or until 1am came...whatever came first.

 

I think I dragged myself to bed about midnight, exhausted, still trying to adjust to USA time, but feeling like I was among people who all shared the same passion, and who were all keen to learn and share experiences. I felt motivated and excited about what I had learnt, but my head hit the pillow and I slept well until the alarm went off at 7.30 for Day 2.....

 

 

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Sewing Summit

 

Well, happy holidays Deb....this is what my workmates did to me on my last day of work. They covered every single item in tinfoil. Right down to each individual pen, cards I had on my top shelf, and even the paper clips!!! It was nicely finished off with a daffodil on my keyboard! You can just imagine what I said when I opened the door, then I had to check myself as I realised there might be patients who may have heard my expletives!! I did laugh though and it quickly became the talk of the hospital and I had visitors from all over coming to see the masterpiece! I think it is the most photographed office in the hospital.

So that was the start of my holiday. We made it to Salt Lake City, Utah on the Tuesday night as I wanted a day to let the jet lag wear off before Sewing Summit started. Utah is 18 hours behind NZ, so I was still bright eyed and bushy tailed at 2am!!

So Wednesday was a rest day and we just walked and looked, exclaimed when we saw the size of our pancakes for breakfast and generally took it easy. SLC is a pretty city. You fly in over barren desert and then there is this lush green city with pretty flowers everywhere, amazingly manicured lawns that are so soft to tread on and waterfalls and streams in the shopping malls. The temple is stunning with a golden angel atop of it. The walls are 9 feet thick at the base! I stumbled upon a HUGE shop selling all manner of kitchen ware so stocked up on my Wilton supplies.

That night we met some online friends for dinner. Anna, who runs the 3x6 bee on Flickr has been an online friend for a couple of years and lives in Utah. She brought her hubby and the four of us had so much fun. As soon as we met we just didn't stop chattering and it was like we had known one another for years. We went to Squatters which is a boutique brewery and pub. And look at the size of those meals!!! All that weight loss prior to my trip is just gonna go back on after one meal here!

Thursday I had booked in for the Shop Hop so dutifully kissed my hubby goodbye, and told him not to expect me anytime soon and bounded out the door trying to keep my excitement under control to join a bus load of women who all had a similar passion. The quilt shops here are amazing. Seriously, I just couldn't stop looking and oohing and aching and fondling fabric. I was the last one back on the bus every time!

This is what I came home with. Considering the price of fabric in NZ, I think I was very restrained!!!

Ok tomorrow I will post about day 1 at Sewing Summit where I got to meet Pat Bravo (gorgeous, amazing lady) and Heather Bailey (who is just so nice) and share the classes I did.

 

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Hamilton Craft Show and bee blocks

Tony has gone to France for work and I thought I would have all the time in the world to sew. Alas, I have hardly sewn at all.  I really want to get my Star Surround quilt top finished before I go to Sewing Summit and get a bunch of Tula Pink blocks done, but I just seem to have been busy with life.  Anyway, I did manage to take a day out and head off to the Hamilton Craft Fair yesterday.  I must admit I was a little disappointed. The usual shops and stores were there, but it was much smaller than previous years. I did enjoy the exhibition though.  Some of the work that goes into these quilts is just amazing and while they are not my kind of quilt, I appreciate them for the incredible amount of talent and inspiration that goes into them.

I loved the vibrancy of this quilt

An Elizabeth Hartman design

Original design based on quilts from a Tokyo quilt show

This was based on an interpretation of cells under a microscope

An original design by Josie Willis

Another Elizabeth Hartman design

The winner of the show... there are hundreds of beads that have been hand beaded on this quilt.

I have also finished up 2 bee blocks for the Modern Stash bee. Jan wanted Christmas blocks in a design of our choosing.  I have been looking for an excuse to make Jess's Hanging Ornaments for a while now, so this was perfect for one of them.

And the other one came from a tutorial from Clover and Violet

Tula Pink and Sewing Summit

The next 3 blocks in the Tula Pink QAL are done.  I am enjoying the triangles, but the blocks are a bit more fiddly than the earlier ones in the book. Still, I am loving how they are turning out.  

I also have my timetable for Sewing Summit. There was only one class that I didn't get that I wanted, but I got my second choice instead, so that's fine.

Friday, September 20th, 2013

9:00 - 10:15 am	A. Fabric Design with Pat Bravo
10:30 - 11:45 am	E. Creative Journey with Leanne Barlow
1:15 - 3:15 pm	B. Curves Mini Quilt with Angela Pingel (S)
3:30 - 5:30 pm	B. HST Quilt Top with Amy Smart (S)

Saturday, September 21st, 2013

9:00 - 10:15 am	D. Stash Mixology with Elisa Albury
10:30 - 11:45 am	A. Social Media with Tauni Everett
1:15 - 3:15 pm	B. Equilateral Triangles with Jeni Baker (S)
3:30 - 5:30 pm	A. Photography with Melissa Esplin

Tula Pink and AMH Feathers

I have finished up 6 more blocks in the Tula Pink City Sampler.  

And for the Mo-Stash bee  Denise requested the AMH feathers for her block. She wanted bright colours on a non-solid grey background so I hope she likes them. I found the pattern a little confusing, but once I had made my first one, it was easy.  I did sew it upside down on my first attempt though!

I am also doing the Star Surround QAL and have finished my star centres.  I am a little behind in this, but hope to catch up this weekend.  I need to still make my flying geese, before I can carry on. I love the hot pinks and the greys together.

And FOUR weeks til I go to Sewing Summit...

Spring Joy and City Sampler

Our new baby born this weekend...Look at the size of those ears!!!

And on a sewing front I have finished up Blocks 31, 32 and 33 for the City Sampler QAL.

Wonky Stars top and City Sampler blocks

I have finished my Wonky Stars and used the mosaic maker at Big Huge Labs to create what I think will be my final layout.  I am loving how this is looking and have put the star I was not happy with at the bottom! Hopefully I will get to sew the top together tomorrow night.

This week's City Sampler Stars were easy to put together.  I was a bit more creative in my fabric choices, mainly because I didn't have many of the ones Tula used!

I have been talked into making a quilt for my daughter's friend as well.  She has chosen the Retro Flowers quilt that has been on my bucket list as well. I let her look through my Pinterest board to see what sort of quilt she would be interested in as I did not want to attempt to guess what sort of thing a 14 year old girl would want! She raided my fabrics and came up with a blue and purple dotty pile. So I will be using my Sizzix Drunkard's Path die to cut all the flowers...seems like a much better idea than using templates!

And this time in 6 weeks, I will be on a plane bound for Salt Lake City and Sewing Summit!!!!  Just  little bit excited....