Sewing Summit 2012

Warning: longest blog post ever!

In just a couple of days I will be heading to Salt Lake City (by myself!) for the 2nd Annual Sewing Summit. This is something I would never have been able to attend when we were living in Hawaii and I just happen to be lucky enough to live easy driving distance.

According to their website, Sewing Summit is "a sewing & blogging conference for the modern sewist who wants to connect with others in a fun & inspiring setting! We’re kind of a cross between a traditional sewing retreat & a social media or blogging conference – but we’re also so much more than that! With hands-on workshops, networking events, inspiring speakers, informative lecture sessions – Sewing Summit is the only event of its kind."

I am so excited to be able to attend. I was unable to find anyone to go with me, so I'm going solo, which is a little frightening, but I'm sure I will meet some great new friends. I even have a roommate and I'm excited to meet her. 

In preparation for Sewing Summit I have been busy making some things for myself and preparing the materials I need for my classes.

One of the things Sewing Summit has been doing for the past several weeks is featuring Travel Handmade items to serve as inspiration for all of us attending. I definitely was inspired and perhaps went a bit overboard.

 

I made myself a messenger bag and two zipper pouches, one for little things like chap stick and hand sanitizer and the larger one to hold a few a sewing tools for my classes. The messenger bag is a modified version of my friend Shelley's Infinity Tote and the zipper pouches I found in a tutorial here. I also made myself a new wallet, but didn't get a photo of it. They are a little Spring-y for October in SLC, but that's okay, right?

I loved making the zipper pouches so much that I made 3 more for myself. A huge one and two smaller for my toiletries. I also re-purposed an old hand towel into a little roll-up for my toothbrush and toothpaste. I used this tutorial as a starting point and modified it a bit. This is fabric I found in Hawaii years ago and have always loved it but couldn't find a way to incorporate it into a quilt. it was perfect for this project.

The last thing I made for myself is a name tag. I'm pretty happy with it and hopefully people will be able to read it.

Several ladies are hosting swaps at Sewing Swap and I am participating in several: I Spy Charms Swap, Fat Quarter Swap and a Pretty Little Zipper Pouch Swap. This is what started me on the zipper pouch kick!

Here's the pouch I made for the swap. Hope whoever gets it loves it as much as I do. I would make one for myself, but I think I have enough. I also tucked in a little fabric bookmark.

I thought it would be fun to make a few gifts to take with me as well:

 

This sweet little pouch is for the head organizer of Sewing Summit. I made it with a few charms and tucked in little bookmark as well.

I made 26 bookmarks, using another tutorial from my friend. These are for my class teachers, the ladies who hosted the swaps, the staff of Sewing Summit and a few to just give out to new friends.

I mentioned I have a roommate. She is super talented and she likes orange. Here's her blog. I'm only sightly intimidated by her talent. Anyway, I was going to make her a zipper pouch, but then I discovered that she makes and sells beautiful zipper pouches in her Etsy Shop. So I found this tutorial for a super cute mini-clutch. And since she loves orange.... I hope she likes it. I also tucked in a bookmark and a super cute orange and white fat quarter.

Another attendee asked for volunteers to make blocks for a quilt for Quilts of Valor. I had to do one of course. She wanted blocks either all red or all blue so I raided my stash and came up with this. I love this block and plan to use it myself in an upcoming Christmas quilt.

At Sewing Summit I'll be taking 8 official classes and a couple of informal classes in the evenings during Open Sew times. I am beyond excited for this event. Here's what I'll be taking:

Friday: 

9:00 AM - 10:15 AM Shapes & Angles with Faith and Kati

10:30 AM - 11:45 AM Fabric Selection

1:15 PM - 3:15 PM Lounge Pants

3:30 PM - 5:30 PM Patternmaking for Childrenswear

Saturday:

9:00 AM - 10:15 AM Creative Journey with Amanda

10:30 AM - 11:45 AM Finishing Details

1:15 PM - 3:15 PM Successful Blogging

3:30 PM - 5:30 PM Advanced Bag Construction

 

And I'll be attending informal classes on Foundation Paper Piecing and Curves. I am going to come home energized and inspired, I'm sure!

So I've been pretty busy the last several weeks. I also pieced a Sudkou quilt for Cory's birthday, but won't finish it before his birthday on Sunday. And I also finished a bag for a charity auction for the family of a local man who was killed by a drunk driver recently.  And I finished up two quilt tops that I've had done for years. We gave one to the Dean of Cory's college and one to his friend/co-worker, both of whom lost their homes to a wildfire a couple of months ago.

Here are some photos of those projects:

This was also made from Shelley's Infinity Tote Pattern.

This is the pattern Yellow Brick Road. I did wavy quilting with a decorative stitch and the back is pieced, too, so it can be reversible. I actually pieced this one in 2004 in Bellingham, and had never finished it until now.

This is the one for the Dean. I pieced it in 2005 and it has been sitting waiting for the perfect finish and home.

So, sorry for the novel of a post, but I had a lot to say. If you made it to the end. Thank you for sticking with me. I'll be back with an update after Sewing Summit and hopefully have some great photos to share.