Oct
13
Home from the Summit
Filed Under Quilting, Remembering, Sewing
I can’t believe it has been nearly a week since I left for the Sewing Summit. It was such a nice weekend. If nothing else, it was two consecutive days of NO children whining and just plain me time. Amy and Erin did such an amazing job pulling the whole conference together. Everything from the sewing room to the choices of classes (and their speakers!) was just perfect. I learned lots and got very inspired to start even more projects.
I also really enjoyed meeting some of the writers for blogs I follow, as well as lots of other nice ladies whose blogs I’d not heard of before. My RSS feed reader is going to be jam packed as soon as I get through the stack of cards I brought home. Just a few of the great women I met: Faith, her sister Rachel, Kathleen, another Rachel, Jessica, Amanda, Darci, Chris, Tracey and her mom, DianeĀ and the list goes on! (I apologize if I don’t have your blog linked… send me an email or leave a comment and I will fix that.)
Classes: I really enjoyed every class I took. I learned something new in all of them. First up was improv piecing with Jess followed by Free Motion Quilting with Allison. These two classes alone were enough to have me itching to get home to all my UFOs. But wait, there’s more! After lunch was a class on Creative Fabric Selection (aka, color!) by Jeni where we all got free Kona Color Cards! Such an amazing gift. Finally on Saturday, the most inspiring and most talked about class: Marvelous Mini Quilts taught by (yet another) Amanda. On Sunday I took a couple of classes that I hoped would help me with blogging. The first was a photography class taught by Vanessa… the best tidbit from that class was the whole skit about how to make your thighs not touch in a photo… You had to be there, it was hysterical. And finally, one last class on blogging and social media that just spoke to the geek in me by Dana.
For all the fun it was, I had a few low points. I’m not really the kind of person who is comfortable breaking into a group of people to join the conversation, so I spent some time on the outside of the rooms just people watching, especially at the opening mixer. I was also excessively tired that night, so I was kind of out of it anyway. I did have dinner at the Red Iguana 2 with Kathleen (who I spent a lot of time with) and a bunch of people who shared my love of mole. I was the instigator of this outing, and one of the drivers, and I managed to get us lost in downtown Salt Lake City. Yeah, that was the last time I drove.
Saturday morning was a much better time. The lobby wasn’t overcrowded with sewists at 5:30 in the morning, and so I had a chance to introduce myself to Faith and her sister. They are so sweet and such fun to talk to. I decided after breakfast to really push myself to introduce myself to other people in the room and not cling to one set of women. I think I was fairly successful, but still felt a bit of an outsider even into the evening. It also didn’t help that I was constantly running up to my room to pump for the baby. Next year that will NOT be an issue.
Yep, you heard me. I’m so excited for next year already. I’ve spent waaay too much time pouring over all the photos on the Flicker group since I got back. And reading all of the recaps of the weekend. I was hesitant to post because I really did not take many photos. (The one at the top is a view out my hotel room.) I regret that now, but again, I’m not the kind of person who feels comfortable asking for others to take photos with me. Call me weird… I do.
All in all, it was a successful venture… even if I’m already missing the baby free restful nights.
I adored meeting and talking to you! I actually felt very comfortable with you. :) and I got a blog shout out :) I feel special!