Where to begin?  The weekend was better than I could have imagined.  Many thanks go to our gracious sponsors, including Baby Lock, AdornIt, Moda Fabrics, Warm & Company, BurdaStyle, and Delish Mag to name a few!  Without the support of these companies and the staff within them we would not have had as successful a weekend.  If you haven’t yet, be sure to visit each of them!  I’ve always been of the mindset that “it takes a village” to do all sorts of things in life, and that rings true for the Sewing Summit as well!

I have lots of pictures, at the same point, not enough pictures!  If you joined us for the weekend please add to the flickr group so we can all share and enjoy them.

First up is my progression of the Baby Lock Sewing Room –

Erin and I were up and running by 6am, and found our empty Sewing Room ready to be loaded in.

I had fun watching the room fill up!

There were 2 – 5 people from Baby Lock and the local Cotton Shops working in the space all weekend.  It was amazing how quickly the machines were set up!

Along with the Grace machines, we had Reliable irons, Sullivans cutting tools, and Portable Design Walls donated by Connecting Threads available in the space.  We hoped that people would use the space just like they might at home – and they did!

This is a group learning from each other, about zip bags.  The sharing of knowledge was happening just like it does on blogs with tutorials, except with hands on help!

Cath Kidston USA donated ironing board covers for our borrowed ironing boards too!  They were so pretty around the perimeter of the room.

Up next – Happy faces!

The Shop Hop bus – we set it up for 50 ladies to shop at three local shops, Friday morning before our opening reception in the afternoon.  Check the flickr group to see some of the hauls, they had a great time shopping!

During registration, each was given a raffle ticket to win doorprizes, and a Swag Bag full of goodies from our sponsors.

And finally each had to select a lanyard for their nametag.  Karen at Venezie Designs, made one for each attendee – the variety of fabrics was so fun, the decision making process, not so much!

Our reception on Friday, there were connections and introductions made constantly, as one person realizes who it is they are standing next too.  We included blog and twitter info on the nametags to help facilitate introductions.

Myself with Dana, kinda bummed that the camera is focused on everything but us – maybe Dana has a better shot?

At the end of the weekend Erin and I were given quilts made by a beautiful collection of women.

Each letter/number block was assigned, and a signature block was made as well.

Here it is washed and crinkly – Ali assembled and finished the quilt, Chris did the quilting, in just a few days.

The back, is just as fun as the front too!

Sewing Summit Quilt Participants

Here’s a closer look at all the signature blocks, click over to flickr for all the links.  I’m so thankful to have this momento from a fabulous weekend – thank you to all the ladies that worked on the quilt!

This is a never ending post!  One last thing, my mom found and gave me is this Kelly Rae Roberts piece, titled “Dream Big”

It says :

“Dream big.

Dreams, unspoken or not, are living whispers inside our hearts.

Our whole life’s potential lies in the spaces between these whispers.

Our dreams want us to say yes, to speak their truth.”

—–

This sums up the last year of planning and dreaming for me, and I’m so happy to see this dream come true, and my potential realized.

I hope that you are blessed today – Amy