From K - Sewing Summit Recap and Photos

Last week Amanda and I were very fortunate to attend the third annual Sewing Summit in Salt Lake City Utah, and I feel like I can't possibly convey what an amazing time we had - but I'm going to try my best in this post!

Oh look, a photo of me and Amanda... like together in a photo! ^

We each took 8 classes and surprisingly only 2 of those overlapped. The first class we both took was Fabric Design with Pat Bravo on Day 1, and we were blown away with her presentation. It was really fascinating to hear what inspires her and what process she uses when designing new lines.

Pat Bravo teaching Fabric Design

The second class we took together was Stash Mixology on Day 2 with Elisa from Stitch Outside the Ditch. This class was easily one of my favourite courses and I learned so much about how you can give your quilts depth and impact. Seriously people, this class was the bomb and Elisa was the perfect way to wake up after a nearly all night sew fest the night before.

Olivia Omega's presentation on Personal Branding was the perfect mix of engaging, hilarious and completely enlightening. I think a lot of us left her course feeling empowered in who we are as bloggers and people... and maybe a few of us debated a way to steal her super cool comic book skirt!

Here's a shot of Shannon, Olivia, Erin and I after the Personal Branding class.

I learned a lifetime of information in Melissa Esplin's Photography course and I hope to improve my photo skills really soon! I apologize in advance for how yellow many of these photos are - the hotel lighting left much to be desired unfortunately.

Melissa posted a summary of her presentation yesterday on her blog and I strongly suggest you check it out - she has some very unique tips that are worth the read.

One of my favourite classes was learning how to make an Equilateral Triangle Quilt with Jeni Baker from In Color Order. It felt so freeing to purposely jumble up my triangles and then sew them together in a completely random fashion. It was the perfect after lunch hands on class and I'm excited to share my progress with you soon.

It was really neat to put real faces and voices to blogs that I love and have followed along for ages. I had more than one fangirl moment at this years' summit. Here's a shot of Katie, myself and Jeni. These girls have truly inspiring blogs and they were some of the very first I started following.

While the classes were fantastic, I have to say though that without a doubt this past weekend was incredible if for no other reason than because of all of the amazing new friends that we met. I have never felt so at home in a room full of strangers before in my life, and after only a few short days I wouldn't consider using the term 'strangers' again. We met so many wonderful people and I would be happy to bring them all home with me (seriously friends, visitors are always welcome!). Few experiences are as fun as late night open sew and the energy and enthusiasm in the room each night was infectious.

Here are just a few of the incredible people we met last weekend:

Amanda, myself (Kelsey), Shannon and Shannon. ^

Middle eastern cuisine for supper - yumm! Amanda and Erin. ^

Late night open sew with delicious delicious iced tea. Me and Shannon. ^

Sara and her incredible quilt. This lady was a basting machine, I only wish I could be so speedy! ^

Lynn, Christine and Kate in class being super studious. ^

Shop hop stop at Quilter's Haven with Shannon, Megan and Anna. ^

Elena (who may just be the world's sweetest person) taught the metal frame purse class and was really encouraging. I'd love to bump into this lady again someday. ^

 

I think Amanda and I averaged about 4-5 hours of sleep each night so we're still catching up on zzz's but it was worth it in every way. I have some pressing deadlines to get cracking on and I hope to have more to share soon (including a 30lb shop hop, yarn and swag post yay!).