My last-minute decision to go to the Sewing Summit was one of the best ones I've made in a long time... It was SO fun. I met a ton of great girls that I can't wait to see next year! The whole trip felt like a big blur, and I hardly took any pictures (which always seems to happen whenever I'm having a lot of fun) but I'll try to remember and give a little synopsis.
Thursday - I flew out of Roanoke around 1:30. I was really nervous to leave. I hadn't flown in a long time, especially by myself, and never by myself for such a long trip! I survived though, and got to SLC at around 8:30pm MST. I got to the hotel, followed shortly thereafter by Kaitlin, my roomie! I called up Amanda and we met her and a bunch of other girls in her hotel room for a few minutes before bed.
Friday - Kaitlin and I got up and headed downstairs to find some of our new friends in the lobby. Kait and I grabbed breakfast. Then we planned on renting a car for the day so we could check out the city a little bit. We ended up catching a ride with Amanda Hall, who had rented a big car that seated seven... exactly the number of people in our little group that morning! Perfect! So Kait, Amanda H., Amanda Porkchop, Jessica, Angela, Jeni and I all piled into a car and went on our own mini shop hop! We checked out a couple of fabric stores, a yarn store, and had lunch and frozen yogurt. SO fun. Later that evening, there was an opening mixer/reception type thing. They had beer/wine and cheese and crackers and things. We all mingled and talked, and I met a ton of people. After that, a bunch of us met up in Amanda Porkchop's room and she (along with some other helpers) taught me, Angela and Jessica how to knit! We went to bed at a decent hour so we could go to class in the morning.
Saturday - Kait and I got up early so we could go to our classes! Our first class was Improv Piecing - How to Think Outside the Box with Jessica Berrett of Urban Patchwork. This class was held in a huge room filled with sewimg machines and ironing boards and cutting mats. I still have a hard time "thinking outside of the box" and I need to experiment with some curved piecing, but I still think my very straight imrpov-pieced sampler is fun :)
My second class was Quilting at Home - Freemotion Quilting for the Modern Quilter with Allison Harris of Cluck Cluck Sew. Freemotion quilting is HARD. It's the complete opposite of using a longarm - it's like drawing by moving the "paper" (quilt) rather than the "pen" (needle.) But I did learn a bunch in this class! It just so happened that the sewing machines we were using at the Summit (Babylocks) are pretty much the exact same machine that I use at home (a limted editing "Project Runway" Brother.) How convenient! Now I feel confident to finish my All in a Row table runner!
We had a long break for lunch, which I spent most of laying down in my hotel room because I felt like I was going to pass out or something... Turns out I forgot to order decaf that morning. Whoopsies. Once I figured out why my heart wouldn't stop beating at a million beats per minute, I felt a little better and made it to my next set of classes!
For class number three, I was supposed to take Quilting 101, but decided to "sneak" into Creative Fabric Selection – Moving Beyond Fabric Collections with Jeni Baker of In Color Order. Her class was super thorough, and she went through all different ways to get out of a quilting color crisis :) At the end of her class she gave away KONA SOLID COLOR CARDS. What?! Invaluable! Best free thing we got at the Summit! Thanks Jeni <3
And last but definitely not least, was Marvelous Minis – Packing Lots of Punch into a Mini Quilt with Amanda Jennings of MsMcPorkchop Quilts. Amanda went over all different ways to incorporate patchwork into your daily life. She is really an inspiration and got me PUMPED on making some minis!
That evening, Karyn, Katherine, Amanda, Kait, Deedrie and I walked to Red Rock Brewery for dinner, and then spent the evening sitting around the fire in the hotel lobby knitting and doing cross-stitch and stuff.
Sunday - Unfortunately, I missed the two Sunday classes because my flight left at 10:30am :( So I had to get up early, say my goodbyes and head to the airport. I was really sad to leave. :(
Seriosly, if you were considering going this year but didn't make it, I definitely recommend making it happen in 2012! It felt so good to be in the company of so many people with the same interests as me, and to finally meet some of my online "friends" in real life! It felt like a big sewing slumber party. I hope this keeps going for years and years to come :)
Oh yeah, and the morning after I got home from Salt Lake, this happened...
I told Greg he better start being reallllly nice to me as he jumped up and down with excitement. Soooo... I'll keep you posted on that! :)
<3 Lindsay