Sewing Summit 2011

Hi friends!  It has been a busy couple weeks since I last posted.  Sewing Summit has come and gone, and it was amazing.  It was everything I was hoping for, really.  For me it was all about the people.  I've been blessed with some great friendships through our online sewing community, and I loved spending time with these people.  I made a lot of new friends and met quite a few people who read my little blog too, which was pretty amazing.

My trip started Thursday around lunchtime with a 3 hour drive to our closest airport.  I love traveling alone.  It is something I did quite often when I was single, and the last time was when I went to a Weekend Sewing retreat with Heather Ross and Denyse Schmidt a couple years ago.  I enjoyed the long drive and quiet time in the airport and on the planes.  It was fun to read, people watch, and just take my time.  I met up with my good friend Jessica for the second leg of the flight, so that made it even better!

Friday morning, this Amanda was nice enough to drive us around on a little fabric shop hop of our own.  At the first store, we found a Farmer's Wife book!  This other Amanda and I couldn't help ourselves, we had to get a picture with it.

Lunch that day was Cafe Rio.  I was so excited to find one, we don't have these where I live in PA!  I love Mexican food, and it definitely lived up to my expectations.

Friday evening we had an opening reception, then we spent the evening learning to knit.  I picked out some beautiful Madeline Tosh Vintage yarn, and I am working on the Honey cowl.  I am not very good at it, and I am so so slow.  Hopefully I'll get better!

Saturday was class day, but Amanda, Jessica and I skipped our first class.  Camille was in town that weekend, so we went to breakfast with her and her sweet little Nicholas at a coffee shop down the road from the hotel.  She is every bit as sweet and genuine as she comes across on her blog, and that little man is such a doll! 

Saturday afternoon was filled with classes.  I had a great time assisting Jeni in her class, and then next was Amanda's class on mini quilts.  They both were very knowledgeable and inspiring.  At the end of Jeni's class, we surprised everyone with free Kona cotton color cards gifted from Robert Kaufman, so that was a lot of fun!

That night was a lovely dinner at a local brewerie.  It was hosted by the sweet Jennifer and Elena.  They surprised us with gift bags full of everything from Olfa products to FQ stacks of fabric.  We were shocked!

That last evening was another late night.  We were up until 2AM (which is 4AM my time!!) chatting in the lobby and sewing room, and I had to get up at 6 that morning to get to the airport.  I decided to skip the last day of classes in order to head home.  It was a long day of traveling.  I left SLC at 8AM and got to my house 8PM.  I was bummed I had to leave early, but in the end I'm glad I did.

Of course I was thrilled to come home to my family.  The not so good thing?  I came home to a house full of sick people.  We spent most of last week snuggled up on the couch under quilts.

So that is a little bit of my Sewing Summit experience.  There is a fun linky party over here if you'd like to read other people's blog posts about it.  Erin and Amy are already planning next year's conference, and I am looking forward to it already. 

xo, Angela

PS - Oh, and I almost forgot!  My favorite thing when meeting people at the Sewing Summit: I'd see a person look at my face, then check my right foot for my star tattoo, and then they'd come up and say hi.  This happened so many times!  Apparently the little star was confirmation that I am me.  :)