We made it everyone... it's finally FRIDAY! There were a couple big announcements earlier this week, so I delayed my Modern Stitching Affair recap until today. Did you miss the announcements? Fall Into A QAL starts May 15 (read about that here) and my May Color Challenge block is up, so don't forget to download the block for free before the end of the month (read about that here)!
What was Modern Stitching Affair aka MSA? MSA was a quilting retreat that I attended last weekend where Sara Lawson from Sew Sweetness and Tara Curtis of Wefty Needle came and taught us. There were about 40 attendees at the entire event. There was an optional shop hop on Thursday prior to the start, but I wasn't able to attend that part of the event.
On Friday, Sara taught us her Crimson and Clover Train Case. My friend, Jen, told me to ABSOLUTELY prepare and do the prep work for Sara's classes if I wanted to make sure to finish. I took a work in progress photo of all my half-sewn bits because somehow all of these scrappy looking parts would turn into a train case.
It started looking closer to a train case as I got to doing the tops and the bottoms of the case. This was by far the hardest part of the train case. Starting with larger bags is definitely easier because the curves aren't so difficult. I found it genius that the lining of the lid was sewn in a way that you flipped the seams to the inside and hand sewed the rest to close it up.
Isn't this train case so cute?! What I didn't show was when I sewed the top half of the body upside down, and I had to rip it all out. Words are directional... in case you didn't know so make sure to align the fabric so the words line up the right way! I also opted to not do piping, since this was my first time making a Sew Sweetness pattern. I think that would have added a level of complexity I am not ready for yet!
I also remembered to get my photo with Sara! And if you are following her on Instagram, I was in her Instagram story, but it's gone now.
Overall, I thought the bag was not nearly as hard as I thought it'd be, but others at MSA definitely struggled. My biggest tip would be to read each step individually. Before I started making the bag, I was getting anxious reading through the instructions in its entirety. Stay on the step you are working on.
Photo Courtesy of Trina Peterson
Now aren't we all so cute?
On Saturday, Tara taught us how to weave. I've tried weaving once before for my Island Batik Ambassador – Try A Technique project, but this experience was way better. I had specific goals on what I struggled with before that I wanted to learn tricks for. The first layer of the weave (vertical strips) was easy, and adding the second layer wasn't too hard. A tip for using the Wefty Needle is to have the "Wefty" logo up when doing the second layer. The Wefty Needles are tapered, and the orientation of the needle matters. The second layer creates diamonds that are end to end.
The third layer is where it gets a bit tricky! This is where I had some issues last time, and I wanted to make sure I paid close attention. On this layer, the Wefty Needle will have the logo side down and you use another needle to help guide the strip under the others to create the top of the 3D box. This is best shown through videos and Tara is posting a lot of them on the Wefty Needle Facebook page! Check out her videos here.
I ended up taking my woven fabric piece and creating a tote bag. I had a strip left over and created a small zipper pouch, too!
I can't believe I forgot to take a photo with Tara!!! Good thing there was a group photo! Everyone had a great time weaving, and everyone's woven piece looked stunning!
Photo Courtesy of Trina Peterson
There was also a pouch swap during the event. Those who decided to bring a pouch drew numbers and brought home a pouch. It was a no-stress pouch swap. I was lucky enough to get this awesome clutch from Vickie Arnold.
Similar to all the awesome retreats, there were so many prizes given away! There were even 4 sewing machines (not shown in the photo below)!!!
Image Courtesy of MSA
Thank you to ALL of the amazing sponsors: @craftoptics @ottlite_official @daylightcompany @sizzix_quilting @aurifilthread
@bungalowquilting @kungfucowgirl @theelectricquiltcompany @theelectricneedle
@bluebarquilts #gutterman @robertkaufman @makeitcoats
@sustainabletextiledesignsmaday @americanmadebrand @cottonandsteel
@jaybirdquilts @themodernsewist #ardythssewvacshoppe @qquilts @quiltersdream
I was lucky enough to get a Daylight D40 lamp! I love all the Daylight products!
What was the difference between this experience and my 2018 Sewtopia Salt Lake City experience? I should start by saying that I LOVED both experiences, and they were both fabulous. I also know I'm very fortunate enough to have gotten to attend both! Sewtopia is about double the size of MSA, 80 participants versus 40. I felt like Sewtopia had a lot more out of towners than MSA did. At the beginning of MSA, I thought everyone was from Madison... which wasn't quite true as there were only a handful of out of towners. With that being said I feel like I wanted to move to Madison after the event was over since I made lots of new friends! Overall, I think I became closer friends with the people at MSA because there were just less attendees.
Which one would I like to continue going to? BOTH!! With the caveat that I have the funds and the vacation to do this next year.
Modern Stitching Affair 2019 is tentatively scheduled for the last weekend in April which coincides with Spring Sewtopia. I will have a hard decision to make to figure out which one I'm going to go to.
I've been doing lot of secret sewing lately and there is more of it coming!
Available time for quilting this next week:
Saturday, Sunday, Thursday PM
Projects I want to work on:
Island Batik Ambassador Projects
Fall Into A QAL
Goals for the Projects:
IBA Project: We have some larger quilts for the summer project, I need to get started!
Fall Into A QAL: As a host, I need to have the blocks done before they are released!
Your turn! What did you accomplish this week? A block? A quilt top? Link up below!
A few reminders:
- When you link up a post, please try to support the others folks in the linky party! Let's spread the motivation and support to help everyone make progress in their own time.
- Your post does not need to be something quilty you accomplished, but definitely encouraged. Sometimes life just gets in the way, but feel free to share something you are proud of this week.
- In your blog post, please include a link back to my blog or grab the Friday Foto Fun Button and put it on your sidebar. This way others who visit your blog can also join in on the fun!
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