all about The Sewing Summit

I know I've been throwing around this whole "Sewing Summit" thing without telling you what is actually going on and why I'm so excited. But, I figured it would be more interesting to those not attending if I held off my chatter until closer to the event. So, today is the scoop on my schedule and classes. I hope to follow this post with some action shots from Salt Lake City!

What?

The Sewing Summit is a first-time annual event that's been organized by two bloggers who envisioned a fun meet-up for people passionate about modern sewing and the online community. Most people who are attending are either interested or currently active online through blogs, Flickr or whatnot. The event runs Saturday morning through Sunday afternoon, so most folks are arriving mid-day Friday. I decided to come early - arriving this afternoon - to make the airfare a bit more worthwhile.

Classes

There's quite a wide variety of classes offered at The Sewing Summit. For those who want to brush up on online "skills" there are classes on blogging, social media and photography. There's a whole list of classes for garment sewing and others that cater to quilters. Besides formal classes (which are taught by bloggers, by the way) there are also panel discussions. Very cool. Here's my schedule:

Improv Piecing - How to Think Outside the Box
Quilting at Home - Free Motion Quilting for the Modern Quilter
Creative Fabric Selection - Moving Beyond Collections
Refashioning Garments - Breathing New Life into Old Pieces
Aspiring Authors - A Panel Discussion with Published Authors
Home Decor - A Panel Discussion with Ideas & Inspiration

Extracurricular Activities

This is where it gets really, really good!  First off, you need to know that we're all staying in the same hotel.  This is one BIG, grown-up slumber party.  Woot!  And, there's a ton of stuff going on in the evenings, like people teaching casual classes, groups meeting for dinner and fabric swaps.  Here are some extras on my agenda:

Friday Morning Shop Hop - A huge group of us have chartered a bus to tour the fabric shops of Salt Lake City.  Can you imagine the horde of us descending on a single, defensive fabric shop armed with a discount?  I can see it now - they're going to have to drag us kicking and screaming out of each shop. 

Friday Night do. Good Stitches Meetup & Learn to Crochet - At 9 pm I'm hosting a meeting for all members or interested in the quilting bee, do. Good Stitches.  To give us something fun to do, I'll be teaching crochet too!  Plus, we're wearing our pajamas to make sure everyone gets good and comfortable.  Remember these pants I made last year?  Excited to be sporting them at the Summit!



Saturday Night Fat Quarter Swap - Kaelin organized a humongous fat quarter swap extradonaire.  And - get this - there's no limit on how many fat quarters you can bring to swap.  I was bringing 3 until I heard someone else had already packed 50.  Egads!  I don't know what I'll find there, but I better bring more ammunition, just in case.  Here's my stash to be swapped.



Other than that, I've got some exciting dinner plans, hair-braiding fantasies and, oh - some gifts to give too!


Excited Much?

Yes!!! But, not primarily about the classes.  I'm sure I'll learn a lot, be stretched and come home with a ton of new ideas.  That's great!  But, I guess we also do that online.  I'm really, very, ridiculously excited about the people.  Getting to meet new people that I haven't connected with yet online and getting to meet in real life bloggers that I have formed real friendships with over the years.  That and a ton of relaxing "me" time.  I'm actually looking forward to the plan ride cause I've prepped this new paper-piecing project inspired by Teaginny!



Ok, so that's the scoop.  I hope to take you along as best as I can by snapping lots of action shots and posting scenes and thoughts from the trip after the fact.  Until then, be well!