The Sewing Summit!!!

Have you all heard about the Sewing Summit? I sure hope so! It's a modern sewing and blogging conference that's happening for the first time this October. I'm going (thanks to my benefactors - my work for giving me a bonus at just the right time, my aunt for commissioning me for a big project that she's paying me for, and my parents who have sent "birthday money" to tackle some of the other costs!). Amazing right? I remember when this whole thing was just an idea.... It's really happening. And...

I just registered for my classes today! While I'm at the Summit I'll be taking:

•  Bag Making 101 - by Bari J. Ackerman - Bari offers the basics on handbag construction plus complete instruction on her popular Springtime in Paris Pocketbook. Kit available for pre-purchase on Bari’s website after 9/1. 
• Quilting at Home: Free Motion Quilting for the Modern Quilter - by Allison Harris - The free motion quilting class will cover all of the basics for getting started quilting your own quilts. Everything from set-up, preparation, positioning yourself and your quilt, and quilting designs both simple and advanced. Come learn how you can save money quilting your quilts on your own machine! (classroom fee $3) 
• Creative Fabric Selection: Moving Beyond Fabric Collections - by Jeni Baker - In Creative Fabric Selection, Jeni will help you overcome your color fears! You’ll learn how to put together unique color and fabric schemes for your quilts and other sewing projects! We’ll walk through the color wheel, discuss different types of fabric patterns, building fabric stacks and hopefully, get you thinking about fabric and color in a different way! 
• Marvelous Minis: Packing Lots of Punch into a Mini Quilt - by Amanda Jennings - Amanda will be focusing on getting the most out of small bits of fabric and using them to make heirloom-quality mini quilts. Topics will include finding inspiration, staying motivated, how minis are perfect for all levels of quilting and telling a story with a quilt block. She’ll be sharing my inspiration, mini quilts, examples from my sketch books and more! 
• Photographing Your Creations: Simple Changes for Maximum Impact - by Vanessa Christenson - Anyone who owns a camera can come to this class! There are a ton of photography classes out there that are excellent in teaching you about aperture, shutter speed, and ISO — these skills are awesome to have, but say you know all that stuff already …what then? I think setting up your “scene” is just as important as all the technical stuff. I’ll be teaching you how to take your product (your quilt you want to sell or the home décor you just created a tutorial or pattern for) and I will show you some easy steps to set up the perfect scene for that product. I’ll also touch on how to use a little bit of photoshop, and to use some of the free online editing programs out there to give your picture that much more “WOW” and having people say “did you take that picture? 
• Improv Piecing: How To Think Outside the Box - by Jess Berrett - A hands-on class, where you’ll have a chance to try new techniques for creating lively & unique patchwork, without patterns. We’ll talk about inspiration, simple tips to for better designs, & a little bit of color theory. Using scraps (some of yours + some of ours), you’ll create a small piece of patchwork, which can be used as the start of a new quilt – or on its own as a pillow, place mat, dish mat, etc. (classroom fee $3)

I've gone back and forth all day about whether to take the Photographing one or the ....something about authoring books one. I think that the photography would be cool and I haven't really any intention to write patterns etc. I guess I can go back and change them if I want... but the other one might be booked up.


Anyway. I'm really getting excited about this. I'm planning on flying on a standby ticket from our friend who's a pilot. So - I think I'll arrive at the airport early on Thurs to ensure that I make it in time! :) My friend Amy is meeting me there and we're going to be roomies. She's not going to the conference, but will be sightseeing around the city while I am. It'll be great since I haven't really gotten to travel with her etc since we graduated. She's really excited since she has never been to Salt Lake (she's a Mormon history buff and looooves that sort of thing). I'm excited!! :)

**Edited to add links to the teachers' blogs. I think I "know" all my teachers except for one!**

Are you going??? Let me know if you've signed up for any of the same classes as I have! We'll be class buddies!