Saturday, October 22, 2011

beebolt block

If you've read just about anyone's recap post from The Sewing Summit, you know that we each received a swag bag filled with some great stuff. Included in our swag bag was a small pack of fabric squares from beebolt.com. Each attendee was asked to use these little squares to make a quilt block. The blocks will be collected by Kate at beebolt and made into a quilt which will be auctioned off at The Sewing Summit 2012. The proceeds from the quilt auction will go to Project Linus.



I had to play around with the squares and look at quite a few block ideas before I made up my mind. I didn't want anything too complicated, so I decided on a Shoofly block. It was pretty easy to put together (except for the piece I put in backwards) and I'm happy with how it came out.
I can't wait to see the finished quilt at TSS next year!

Friday, October 21, 2011

From My Garden

Evidently my garden doesn't realize that November is quickly approaching.

Or that I stopped watering it a few weeks ago.

I went out yesterday to start clearing out the debris from the summer garden and this is what I found....

a dozen or so little eggplant



a few "Early Girl" tomatoes


tons of yellow blooms on the Grape Tomato plants



There are some benefits to living in this warm California climate.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Finished: The Nikki Tote

There were so many great bags being made by people attending The Sewing Summit, that I wanted to make one too. I needed a bag to function as both a tote and handbag. I decided on the Nikki Tote by Michelle of Paisley Pear Quilts.
The pattern is easy to follow, with simple instructions. The bag was more than big enough for all my regular handbag stuff plus a few extra travel necessities. I wish I had added a closure to the top though. (My bag fell over when I was getting out of a car and my phone fell out.) Overall, I'm very happy with how this came out.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

The Sewing Summit - Recap

Last weekend, I was fortunate enough to attend The Sewing Summit in Salt Lake City. It was an amazing, inspiring, fabulous, exhausting weekend. We packed a lot of activity into a very short time.

I started out the weekend with great intentions of documenting my experiences. I started during breakfast on Friday. I met Melissa and Ali for waffles and frites at Bruge's.

Bruge's Waffles & Frites
It's a tiny place, where we sat outside to eat, shivering just a little!


Vanilla liege waffle with creme fraiche and peaches.
(Just look at that scoop of cream!)

Frites!
And since they served fries too, we had to have some with aioli and andalouse sauce.
(BTW, I was on vacation, so all food was calorie free!)

Now comes the funny part......I was having such a wonderful time that I apparently forgot to take pictures!

I only took 3 photos with people in them. And one of those was taken in a dark restaurant and isn't really viewable.

(Sorry to catch you with your mouth open Dana!)
Dana and I have been online friends for over 4 years and I jumped at the chance to meet her in real life. She is just as amazing in real life!


The amazing organizers of The Sewing Summit - Erin and Amy!
I cannot say enough good things about these wonderful gals. They did an incredible job of organizing this event. I know we're all looking forward to doing it again next year!


And now we get to the architecutal part of the post. I did manage to take some nice photos of some well known buildings around Salt Lake City.

Cathedral of The Madeleine


Mormon Temple


Salt Lake City & County building


The view from our balcony at The Little America Hotel
If you travel to Salt Lake City, I highly recommend this hotel. The accommodations were luxurious and the staff was very helpful and friendly.

So, now I'm home and nearly finished unpacking. My husband and son kept the house in reasonable shape while I was away. I only have one load of laundry left to do. And so much inspiration in my head that I have to get to sewing. SOON!