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WINNER of the Sewing Summit Swag Bag!

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I am blown away by the number of entries into the Sewing Summit swag bag giveaway! We got 257 comments on the original post, and I chose one winner randomly this morning, via random.org. To refresh your memory, this is what I’m giving away:

And now, without further ado, I will announce the winner! Drumroll please…

Congratulations, Linda! If you didn’t win, don’t despair: AllFreeSewing is giving away another Sewing Summit swag bag (and this time it includes thread and fabric too!) on their Facebook page. Head over there to find out how to enter!

 

Sewing Bloggers We Met at The Sewing Summit

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When I went to The Sewing Summit last weekend with Kirsten (editor of AllFreeSewing), we had a great time mingling with the other sewing bloggers and making new friends! One thing we both loved about the summit was the amount of downtime–we were able to make dinner plans with new friends, and there was open sewing in the Baby Lock sewing room at night where people could just hang out and sew. We also got to spend time thrifting with other bloggers. It was a lot more relaxed than other conferences I’d been to! A BIG thanks goes to Amy of Amy’s Creative Side and Erin of Two More Seconds for organizing the whole event.

We didn't take nearly enough pics at the summit, so I borrowed this one from the Sewing Summit Flickr Stream. Here's Amy and Erin giving a little speech to everyone.

On our Friday thrift excursion, we got to know Melissa from I Still Love You–she’s the one who planned the event–Pamela from French Knots, and Jessica from Urban Patchwork (Thanks for driving us around, Jessica!). We shopped till we dropped and then stopped for lunch at a hole-in-the-wall Greek place. It was so much fun to just sit and chat with other crafty ladies.

DI is a popular and ubiquitous thrift store chain in Salt Lake City. We loved it!

That evening there was a fun mixer where we met several people, including Kate from Needle and Spatula. We also met Carol and Susan from Burdastyle, Sunni from A Fashionable Stitch, and Emily from Craftsy. Those girls were so much fun, and they took us out to dinner that night at a really cool Mexican restaurant. Also with us were Lavender from Threadsquare and Suriah from A Maker’s Affair. We had a blast talking about sewing, blogging, and weddings (Congrats to Carol and Suriah who are getting married next June!). Lavender and Suriah met in a Burdastyle sewing club in Boston–if you’ve never heard of their sewing clubs, check it out now!

Lavender wore this amazing dress, which I discovered on her blog was homemade!! I can't get over how talented everyone was! (Photo from Threadsquare)

Then on Saturday we spent most of the day in class. I took Bag Making 101 with Bari J, Garment Making 101 with Jana Nielson of Izzy & Ivy Designs, Tailoring 101 with Gretchen from Gertie’s New Blog for Better Sewing, and Refashioning with Melissa from I Still Love You. That night we hung out with Melissa and Pamela again at dinner, along with Michelle from Seamingly.

Here's Gretchen teaching in Tailoring 101. Photo borrowed from Kadiddlehopper. Katie was also in the class!

But wait, there’s more! Breakfast and lunch were provided by the conference at the hotel, and attendees were encouraged to mingle and sit with people they didn’t know. We ended up eating with Katie from Kadiddlehopper, Emily from Mommy’s Nap Time, and Amylou from Amylouwho.

What a great weekend! I’m so happy to have met so many cool new sewing bloggers, and I hope to go again next year!

 

Sewing Summit Swag Bag Giveaway!

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It wouldn’t be a craft conference without a swag bag, and The Sewing Summit did not disappoint! We got tons of free stuff, including sewing patterns, thread, charm squares, a tape measure, some quilting software, and the best part–a bunch of quilt batting! They even gave us a Utah visitors guide. I’m giving away most of the stuff to one lucky reader because I’m nice like that. (I’m keeping the thread and charm squares though–unfortunately I already started crafting with them and I don’t want to give out used materials!) Here’s the stash:

Want to win these goodies? All you have to do is leave a comment on this post between now and Thursday, October 13 at midnight CST telling me your favorite sewing memory. I’ll pick a winner randomly and announce who won on Friday morning!

Our Trip to the Sewing Summit

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I just got back from the Sewing Summit last night with Kirsten, editor of AllFreeSewing–what a great weekend! Neither of us had been in Utah before, so we spent the weekend exploring the city, learning about sewing, and meeting a bunch of amazingly talented women. (And I also learned where Utah is on a map…)

Salt Lake City is so beautiful. You can see mountains and buildings at the same time! I tried to get a good picture of it for you guys:

The hotel we stayed at (Little America) was gorgeous as well. I took a picture of one of the chandeliers because it was so extravagant and, well, pretty:

But the real eye candy was at the conference itself. Baby Lock generously sponsored the event by loaning a room full of sewing machines (cue freak out!) for the conference attendees to play with. They also gave Sewing Summit attendees a discount on purchasing one to keep! Look at these bad boys:

So what did I do besides take pictures of stuff? I learned all about sewing clothing and bags, refashioning, and even book publishing, I had dinner with some lovely ladies from BurdaStyle, and I chatted with Gretchen aka Gertie from Gertie’s New Blog for Better Sewing:

Oh, and I did a little sewing, too! I stitched up this simple place mat clutch in my hotel room while Kirsten and I watched Titanic. I love sewing while watching old movies, don’t you? (I can’t believe Titanic is an old movie already!)

Isn’t it cute? The placemats and ribbon were in our swag bags (more about those in a future post!!), also courtesy of Baby Lock.

Perhaps my favorite part of the trip was the thrifting excursion. A bunch of sewing enthusiasts got together to visit a bunch of cool thrift/vintage stores in Salt Lake City, organized by Melissa of I Still Love You (you can see what she scored on her blog too!). And lookie what I found at one of the vintage stores:

Vintage Martha! I was this close to buying it too.

Stay tuned for more from me and Kirsten about all the fun we had at the Sewing Summit! Have you ever been to a craft conference?

 

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