Image Source: Sewtopia
Do you ever feel like you need a recovery after a super fun vacation? I am still recovering from Sewtopia and trying to get caught up with my day job and everything that I missed while I was away. So what exactly is Sewtopia? Sewtopia is a sewing retreat that is now offered 3 different times during the year: in the spring, summer (new this year), and fall! The fall session is all open sew and spring/summer has instructors for classes.
This was the amazing swag bag that I got this year! I arrived Wednesday night and took part in the shop hop Thursday! It was really fun to see shops in new places! We went to Pine Needles and Quilter's Lodge during the shop hop. I was VERY good purchasing very little fabric (pictured below) as my sewing room is getting very full!
We even took a tiny pit stop at Swig before heading back to the hotel. Swig makes custom soda creations and honestly it's just a BUNCH of sugar. I had Dr. Pepper with a raspberry puree and vanilla creme shot, total sugar rush!
There is always a fabric challenge that Michael Miller sponsors, and here are some of the fabulous projects. Megan, one of the Sewtopia staff, made amazing ribbons for the winners!
My first class was on Friday was with Libs Elliott, and she taught us her new Heartbreaker EPP pattern! I never flat backstitched before, and it's definitely a great technique to not have your stitches show in the front and to do deep curves!
The block is super cute and I used my Island Batik fabrics, so you may just see this again in a future challenge (wink wink). A tip for this project is to make sure you use a contrasting fabric for the heart to make sure it really pops! I chose darker backgrounds and a lighter fabric for the heart!
Friday night, Abby from Tweedle Dee Design Co. did a Make and Take for small painted barn quilts! She had pre-scored and pre-drawn on the wood to help us make an Ohio Star!
I almost forgot to take process photos, but we used Frog tape to help tape the edges. Frog tape didn't ruin the wet pain either as long as you didn't press the tape down over the paint!
Once we had the barn quilt painted, we hot glued the wood to the back of a wooden frame! I loved these so much I ended up making 2!
My second class was on Saturday with Jacquie Gering and she taught us scrappy improv that we made into mid-century modern houses! Improv definitely hurts my brain! I brought leftover scraps from 3 different quilts.
I started off sewing blocks together making sure that I didn't have the same values of colors next to each other. Sew bits and pieces together, cut some pieces, and sew some more. Then you take all your pieces and sewing them together into sections to make your house.
Then you add the framing to the house, the roof, and the background of the house. Lastly, you set the houses into the quilt background! I loved this quilt so much I decided to make it a wall hanging quilt. The quilt will finish at 32" square.
Last but not least, there was a swap that I participated in as well! I got these really cute buckets from my swap partner! Don't they look awesome?
I did quite a bit of sewing during open sew, but I'll share that on Friday during Friday Foto Fun.
Sewtopia had a few announcements during our weekend:
- The spring Sewtopia will be recurring in Salt Lake City from now on. Next year, it'll be the April 26, 2019 weekend.
- The summer Milwaukee 2018 event will have fabric donated by Ella Blue for the skirts class. (what?! so cool!) I need to figure out if I have enough vacation to attend this one. But there are still spots available!
If you want to see more photos from the weekend, check out #sewtopiaslc2.
Who wants to go to Sewtopia 2019?! What other sewing retreats do you go to?
I'm already missing Sewotopia! I made lots of friends, but I didn't take nearly enough photos! I can't wait to see everyone again next year!
Join me again on Friday for Friday Foto Fun and on Sunday for the #365DayOfArtPBQChallenge! Link up and share your progress on your own projects!
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