anticipation

Early, early, early on Thursday morning, I'll be flying to Salt Lake City, Utah all by. my. self.  Never done that before.  I'm heading to The Sewing Summit, which is a sewing convention of sorts for people like me.  You know, those kind of people... who write/read blogs, make friends through Flickr and would rather sew than go on a vacation (usually).  And this is sewing on a vacation, with friends.  Need I say more?

So, I'll have 4 days and 3 nights in Salt Lake City, and you can bet my schedule is packed with exciting stuff.  I'll give you the full rundown of the classes I'll be taking and other good times later this week.  For now, I want to share with you some of the stuff I've prepared in anticipation.

Exhibit A:  Name tag

The thing about going to a convention with bloggers is that you hear about what everyone's doing and bringing in advance.  This creates a bit of a peer-pressure situation, as in "What, she's making her entire wardrobe from scratch and pajamas too? Oh MY gosh, I've got to get to work!"  Well, name tags could have been like this for me, except that I absolutely wanted to make one once the idea came to light.  And maybe handmade name tags are kind of an obvious for a sewing convention, but I don't think I would have ever thought of it if I hadn't seen them popping up around blogdom. 

So, here it is.  Kind of plain.  A little rough around the edges.



When it came down to it, I felt pretty lost and inspiration-less.  All of my ideas were too big for what should be a pretty tiny work.  There are lots of talented ladies who enjoy working in miniature, but I am so, SO not one of them.  My finished tag is 2 3/4" x 4" and will pin on to my top.  That is, unless I opt to wear the computer-generated one instead...

Exhibit B:  Laptop Sleeve

Unlike the name tag, a laptop sleeve has been on my radar for quite some time.  It's not like I travel a lot, but when I do, I always bring my laptop as it's my only connection to you all.  Yes, that's right, I have no smart phone, no iPad, nothing.  Still living in the dark ages, I guess.  Anyhoo, these are super easy to make!



On Friday in between other things, I stitched this up following Elizabeth Hartman's pattern for Sew Mama Sew.  This was my first time using fusible fleece interfacing.  Loved it.  If you're going to The Sewing Summit, trust me, you still do have time to make this.  The outer is Loulouthi Summer Totem in Grapefruit by Anna Maria Horner and the lining is an old Joel Dewberry home decorators weight print. 



Exhibit C:  "me" Cards

Confession:  I first heard about The Sewing Summit fall of last year.  So, um, I've been looking forward to this trip for a loooooong time.  I've never spent this kind of money (the airfare isn't cheap!) on something totally, completely for me.  Way back when I reasoned that this was a business trip, after all (wink, wink).  So, to keep that vision alive, I had these "me" cards made to exchange with new friends I meet along the way. 



I didn't spend a lot of time on the design, but here they are.  They're double sided, glossy cards with a nice weight.  I spent about an hour desinging/ordering them and paid only $17 for 500 cards, including shipping, from Vistaprint.  Pretty good deal, I think.  Hopefully, someone will want one!



My bag is all mostly packed!  I'm so excited that I can cram everything into Jacey's duffel bag so that I don't have to check any baggage.  I was originally thinking I'd bring my sewing machine along, but decided a few weeks back that using the machines they'll have there is good enough for me.  Actually, I'm kind of looking forward to trying a different machine when I practice free motion quilting.  We'll find out if my machine is part of my problem or if it's all on me (because it could be my machine... really, it could).