Project Overload

I've been feeling a bit overwhelmed lately.  Lots of custom requests, lots of project for family members I've left undone for far too long, lots of projects I want to start but have no time for, lots of Christmas presents I want to make, lots of opportunities from Sewing Summit I need to follow up on, the list goes on.  When I get overwhelmed I tend to freeze and do nothing (or at least it feels that way).  I'm trying to get my act together, but in the mean time, here's a glimpse into my world lately!

This is my mom!  She'll probably kill me for posting this pic (yes, she reads my blog religiously, even if she doesn't understand half of all the fabric mumbo jumbo).  You can see I come by my silly faces naturally!

My new, and LOCAL!, friend Stephanie made this for me--for no other reason that she totally rocks!!!!  She used my alphabet pattern but shrunk it down to a virtually impossible 1.5"high! That is some kick ass paper piecing my friend! I totally cried when I opened it! Thank you again!

I made a shower curtain for Ann Kelle's blog! I don't know how she made my crappy pictures look that good, but she's pretty fab!  

My oldest kiddo turned 6! I had to make his cake because he wanted Green Lantern and that's not "in" right now.  I hate to bake so this was a labor of love! 

My youngest is growing naughtier by the day, but he's just so dang cute!

Went to the Franklin Pumpkin Festival and ran into these cool dudes!

Both boys got an A+ at their doctor and dental appointments! We like to pass the waiting time by making silly faces.

A Flickr friend, Jenny, asked me to make her some boxy bags--she even sent me the fabric!

I was super happy with how they came out! They both have laminated Lizzy House Pearl Bracelet on the inside!  They are also HUGE! That's a FQ bundle of Prince Charming on the inside!

It wasn't until I finished this one that I realized the radios matched up along the zipper.  TOTAL ACCIDENT! I'm simply not that talented to do it on purpose!  I really wanted to keep this one!

The rugrats had fun Trick or Treating and I had fun passing out candy!

Hopefully I'll get my act together soon and have more projects to share!

Sewing Summit 2012 Recap

I know you all want to see the swag and goodies I got at Sewing Summit so I'm just going to put that up front and save you all that work scrolling down. :)  There are a couple of things missing from this pic since the second box I shipped from Sewing Summit hadn't arrived when I took this, but you get the general idea! Pretty cool, huh?

I left at the crack of dawn on Thursday for Utah!  I was sleepy but excited!  I met Elizabeth at the airport in Dallas where we were making a connection to SLC.  It was so great to finally meet her in person!!!!  Amy (Sukie Sukie to me) picked us up and took us to the hotel to drop off our stuff and then a few of us late stragglers (who missed the Shop Hop bus) hopped in Amy's car for lunch and a shop hop of our own!

This is Faith, Lee, me, and Terri acting like total dorks at a crosswalk.  The flags are supposed to make you more visible to cars, but frankly I think the flags are to make tourists look like idiots for the amusement of the locals.

After shopping we met up with some other ladies for frozen yogurt.

My good friend, Elena, and me at the Craftsy mixer the Thursday night.  I have to say, I was a bit surprised by how many people knew my name/blog name.  I felt a bit like a unknown going into this since I was a fill in teacher, but I had a lot of people recognize me.  Weird!

Have I mentioned that my roommate, Terri, is the BEST roomie ever?!?!?!?  She brought me this bundle of Anna Maria Horner goodness because she knows my obsession.  So very sweet of her!  We decided to room together before we even knew each other and it couldn't have worked out better!  Terri is one of the sweetest people I've met!

As I said before, I was a fill-in teacher for my good friend, Michelle.  Well, Michelle, being the thoughtful, talented person she is, made Elena, Ali, and me pillow cases to use at the hotel and had them sent ahead for us.  We were all SO SO SO excited!  She made each one unique for our own style, we didn't even need the labels to know which one belonged to us!

The most exciting thing that happened the first night was meeting this little guy.  I was innocently drying my hair when I felt something on my foot.  I looked down to see a bug of some kind.  I shook it off and looked a bit closer only to realize it was a SCORPION!!!  Yes, you read that correctly, a SCORPION!  Commence cursing and squealing like a little girl.  I called the front desk to request someone come up and kill the evil thing.  After the operator freaked out a bit, she sent up a manager and a security guy.  They didn't seem to believe me at first, but I showed them the eight-legged thing I trapped under a glass and the reply was, "Well I'll be damned!  It IS a scorpion!"  Uh huh.  Kill it now, please!  

The first day of classes kicked off with my first go at teaching a large group.  The teaching itself went well, but I discovered at the end of class that half of the students had the wrong sized template and their pouch was too small to fit into the metal frames!  I wanted to cry!  Some of them had used the template copies I brought and some had printed at home, but when they were copied they must have been slightly shrunk.  I was so sick to my stomach over this!  It was all my fault!  I copied the template the night before I left and I never thought to compare it to the original.  For any of you in my first class, I'm so so so so so sorry!  Thankfully, I had my originals and the next two classes made sure their fabric was cut the correct size.  Lots of people went home with a completed pouch and the confidence to make more so, mission accomplished!  I did end up with a bit of tendonitis in my wrist after helping so many people glue their pouch in the frame! LOL!  

Jeni's color class was awesome and we all got color cards from Michael Miller!

Me, Elena, and Terri hanging out before the SLCMQG mixer.  Love these girls!

My mini from Christina's curves class!  I didn't get a picture of Kati and Faith's Shapes and Angles class, but that one was my fav.  So many great little tips and tricks for me to use!

Got to hear Joel Dewberry and see his new collection, Notting Hill. 

Final morning breakfast with a lot of my favorite people!

The three musketeers, Ali, Elena, and me.

My sister in law, brother in law, and nephew live in SLC so I stayed an extra day to hang out with them.  Isn't he the cutest?!?!?  Yes, this is the infamous Ezra Stegosaurs (for real, that's his name). 

He's a hoot!

I fell a bit in love with Fall in Utah!  I may blow this picture up and hang it in my house! 

So beautiful!

I made my brother in law stop in the middle of a street for me to take this one! The light was amazing!

I participated in Amy's bunting swap (I made a Mendocino one) and this is the one I got!  I love it!  Jeni made it from vintage sheets and it's so colorful and the perfect addition to my mini quilt wall!

My sew-fantastic roomie, Terri, made me this Bohemian one so I wouldn't have to fight for it in the bunting swap (she made a second one for the swap).

So there you have it! My Sewing Summit recap!  There was obviously a lot I left out, but with all the blog posts going up I'm sure you can fill in the blanks! :)  I had such a great time and I can't wait for next year!  Whether I go as a teacher (puh-lease Erin!) or just an attendee, I know I want to be a part of it!  

Preparation

I'm trying to get my act together and prepare for Sewing Summit!  I've done most of the prep work for the classes I'm teaching--whew!  Oh, and in case you're late to the party, I am teaching a 3rd metal frames class at Sewing Summit (see my previous blog post for details).  I still have a few spots open!

I've got half my fabric cut to make my own duffel!  I have done this pattern before so it's going pretty smoothly.  FYI, if you don't have bag experience, I wouldn't recommend the Simplicity version (not a lot of detail in the instructions).  I think  Cherie (Studio Cherie on etsy) provides better instructions if you buy the patter directly from her.  Just a heads up!

I got my fabric that I'm using for my Sewing Summit lounge pants class!  Mmmmmm, organic Laurie Wisburn! So soft!

I also made this Mendocino bunting for a bunting swap at Sewing Summit!  I think this one might spark a few fights!  Hopefully I can snag a good one myself! 

I'm also making some progress on my Modern Maples quilt for fall.  I didn't really have time to start this project, but my enthusiasm for it is pushing me to finish things I HAVE to do.....like finish this quilt for a silent auction at my son's school

I promise myself I can work on my Modern Maples if I complete at least two other tasks on my *must do* list.  So far it's working! 

On a totally unrelated note,  I have a charm pack of a hard to find collection and I'm dying to make something with it!  Anyone have a favorite charm pack pattern?  I'd rather add a lot of solid color fabric and make something lap size, but I'm lacking inspiration right now! Help!

Third Time's the Charm!

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!!!!!!

I will be teaching a THIRD metal frames pouch class at Sewing Summit on Saturday, October 13th from 115-315!!!!!!  There are a couple of important things to know about this extra hands-on class:

1.  This is an unofficial Sewing Summit class.  You must email me at kelbybowser@gmail.com to claim your spot.  I will email you back to let you know you're in.  Once you are officially in my class, you MUST MUST MUST MUST MUST unregister for any class you have on Saturday, October 13th from 115-315.  This is essential!   

2. It will be limited to 40 students

3.  It will cost $4--given to me at class time--for a frame.  I will have enough frames for everyone to purchase one at the time of class.  Even if you do not get into any of my classes, there will still be frames available for purchase at Sewing Summit so you can learn from me or someone else during open sew times!

4.  You need to bring glue, or share glue with someone.  I will have the left over tubes from the morning class, but there is no guarantee there will be enough for everyone.  One tube of the Gutterman glue I recommend will make at least 5 pouches, so feel free to share!

5.  Bring a FQ worth of batting OR fusible fleece to class.  I'm unsure whether there will be left overs from the previous two classes, so to be safe, you may want to make sure and have a scrap on hand.  There will be plenty of batting floating around at SS so I'm sure you can scrounge up a scrap when you get there.

6.  Winn at While Baby Naps on Etsy has sweetly given us a 20% coupon code for supplies in her shop until October 13th (code can be seen on the Sewing Summit Google Group page only).  You can buy all sort of sizes and style frames as well as the Gutterman glue from her site.  If you are international, I would suggest asking an American Sewing Summit friend to be your mailing address so that you will be certain to have your order in time for Sewing Summit.  She ships very quickly!  Again, I will have frames for you to purchase at class time, but this is a great opportunity to stock up on supplies at a fabulous price!

7.  We will only have a few sewing machines!  I hope to have around 4 machines in the class for us to use.  This means we have to share, however, this class time is 45 minutes longer than my other two classes so we should be good!  If anyone doesn't finish and still wants help, please just corner me during the open sew times and I'll help you out!

8.  Please keep in mind that I gave up one of the classes I wanted to take in order to teach a third metal frames class.  I do NOT want to hear any complaints about how I'm handling the signups.  It is at my discretion who gets into this class, so don't piss me off! :)   I would love for everyone who wants to learn to get in, but I must cap the class at 40.  I will post on the Google Group discussion when the class is full.  

So, if you want in, email me at kelbybowser@gmail.com  I will email you back to let you know you're in!  If more than 40 people email me, I will start a wait list based on who was first.

I hope this helps those of you who were unable to get into a hand-on class!  I'm so thrilled to be teaching at Sewing Summit and I can't wait to meet you all!

UPDATE: I'm over half full already!  Be sure to tell any friends you have coming to Summit so they don't miss out on a chance to take another hands-on class!

More Life Through Instagram

This is the past week in a nutshell.  Stay tuned for a prize at the end!

I'm making more pouches for my Sewing Summit classes

Working on custom orders.  Quilts, pillows, and crib skirts, oh my!

Ordered some more Liberty

Received an amazing swap package

Trying to find time to make a bag

Got some great deals at JoAnns

Laughing at my kid and my dog singing

And if you made it through all that you deserve a prize.  Use the code SUMMIT20 for 20% off the pouches and patterns I have listed in my etsy shop!