Out with the old...

And in with the new.

2015 brought many life changes for me - some good, some bad - and had me re-evaluating the load I placed on myself with work, family, hobbies and other commitments. As much as I wanted sewing to be a priority because I enjoy it... over the summer I was so overwhelmed that sewing became an obligation and no longer very enjoyable. I dropped some sewing commitments that I enjoyed and wanted to be a part of, but just couldn't handle at the time and took a general hiatus from all things sewing related for about 6 months.

In the new year I'd like to keep up with the blog in order to keep track of my progress and not have to track down pictures of my makes, but I'm not sure if it will be realistic or not to make that resolution. Regardless I wanted to do a re-cap because even though I had a really turbulent year I still got a lot of sewing done.

I finished 1 baby quilt for a co-worker, and completed 3 tops from my long suffering WIP pile (not pictured are my first gemstone quilt blocks assembled into a baby quilt - I will use it to practice some FMQ).

1. Baby Quilter's Mixology medallion (blogged here)  2. Heather Ross Saw Tooth Stars (twin size)  3. starting to quilt my massive queen sized X-Plus quilt at the Nov. DCMQG retreat

I had the good fortune to attend 3 quilting retreats this year - Sew South, Mid Atlantic Mod, and the November DCMQG retreat. Sew South and Mod were back-to-back in April so I was a little burnt out sewing wise by MOD time but it was still a great couple of weeks. I participated in Secret Sister/Sewist at both retreats, and a private swap with my friend Jess at MOD.

1. Sew Together Bag made for Laurel, my Sew South secret sister (pic by @singallyouwant)  2. items made for my Mid Atlantic Mod Secret Sewist, Cathy from the Philly MQG (pic by Cathy)  3. Mug rug for Laurel (pic by @singallyouwant)  4. Jess with the Aeroplane Bag I made her, and me with my amazing mini she made me at Mid Atlantic Mod

I also participated in 5 mini quilt swaps (4 hosted through Instagram and 1 at Mid Atlantic Mod), and a guild hoop art swap.

1. Schnitzel and Boo mini for @fernsfrocks  2. Rainbow mini for @blotchandthrum  3. Selvedge mini quilt for Mid Atlantic MOD  4. Cotton +Steel mini for @eloquentmime  5. Anna Maria Horner mini for @emileemason  6. Winter Solstace hoop art for @smartash (DCMQG swap)

I also participated in my first craft show. I didn't sell much at the show, but I sold several items to co-workers who saw my pictures on Facebook. All-in-all it was a good experience and something that I hope to do again in 2016.

I wasn't going to set any year-long goals for myself but I did think of two that are pretty non-specific: 1. make things for me and my family/friends  2. use fabric in my stash! I did treat myself to a new sewing machine last month... so here's to getting stuff done in 2016!

Since I'm generally terrible at blogging, you can follow along on my Instagram where I'm much more active. Happy New Year :)

Sew South Recap

Holy cow, it's been almost a whole month since I went to Sew South! I quit my job on April 10, went to Sew South April 16-19, Mid Atlantic Mod the weekend after, and then started my new job April 27... so, needless to say, things have been in flux around here lately.

It was a rainy 6.5 hour drive from MD to NC!

Sew South is a quilting retreat hosted by Jennifer of Ellison Lane, held in Charlotte, NC. I was lucky enough to get a ticket this year, and I'm so glad I did!

I actually managed to pack a reasonable amount of projects. DCMQG represent! :)

The structure of Sew South is a little bit different than Mid-Atlantic Mod (2014 recap, 2015 recap coming soon!) After a longer-than-expected drive, I arrived right in time for the welcome reception. I had time to settle in between the reception and the opening of the sewing room at 8 pm, and boy did I need the down-time to get my stuff organized and to relax after the long drive.

The ballroom!

On Friday and Saturday mornings the sewing room opened at 8am, and there was a group workshop each day. In the afternoons and evenings there was free sewing time with various activities sprinkled in.

On Friday, the ladies from Sew South Sponsor, Dritz taught us how to make fabric covered rope bracelets.

My finished wallet that I use every day.

All the pretty wallets!

After the Dritz workshop, Jennifer walked us through constructing awesome wallets (yet-to-be-released pattern by Lindsey Rhodes).

On Saturday, Amy Gibson (from Stitchery Dickory Dock and the Craftsy BOM) came all the way from Colorado to talk to us about her new book, and teach us a nifty applique Drunkard's Path technique. I chose not to participate in the mini-quilt project, but it was so much fun to hear Amy speak, and to meet her in person, she's adorable!

My biggest achievement of the weekend was piecing the x-plus quilt top that I have been working on for years! All the ladies were so encouraging and the round of applause after the last seam was sewn was a reward in itself.

Jennifer had lots of other activities including Secret Sister (more later), a Fabric Basket swap, the Fat Quarter Game (based on LRC rules), get-to-know-you games, charity sewing for  and door prizes of course. I had so much fun I barely took any pictures, but you can see them all in the full recap.

my table-mates: Heather, Lori, Jonan, and me!

It was so amazing meeting old (internet) friends, and new. I was lucky enough to be at a table with Lori Hartman, Heather of The Sewing Loft, and Heather's mom, Jonan who was a riot!

My awesome Roomie and bee-mate, Laurel!

I roomed with my long-time #GraceCircle bee-mate Laurel (who was also my Secret Sister). I can't wait to go to Sew South again in the future. :)

Oh, and while I was in NC, I couldn't resist going out to the local BBQ joint, R&R Bar-B-Que... it was amazing!

best Hush Puppies I've ever had.

Mid-Atlantic Mod

So I am just now unpacking and catching-up from an amazing weekend at Mid-Atlantic Mod.  Yup, it's been a week since I returned but I have been scrambling at work from those two extra days of being off.  I did take my nice camera, but I was having so much fun that all I managed to take was IG pics on my Nexus (sorry!)

Mid-Atlantic Mod was a joint venture put together by Andrew from the Philadelphia MQG, Jess from Central Jersey MQG, and Katie from the DCMQG, and wow did they do a fantastic job!  65 quilters from the Mid-Atlantic region got together at the Doubletree in Lancaster PA for a 4 day quilting extravaganza :)

These are just the projects I packed.  I had a laundry basket with interfacing, an ironing board, ott light and other stuff... PLUS my clothes, lol!

After packing up way too much stuff, I headed off to Lancaster.  It's a really convenient, straight shoot via Rt. 30 and took a little over 2 hours because of traffic congestion in York, PA.  Since this was my first quilting retreat I had no idea how much I could realistically get accomplished.  I guess I overestimated since I figured I could get a TON of sewing done without having to worry about dishes/laundry/vacuuming/work, etc. etc.

It was so great getting to meet other quilters whom I had only known through the online community that I ended up socializing the majority of Thursday and only managed to get two of my Briar Rose blocks constructed (more on that on Wednesday!).

Shopping for Kona solids at Burkholders.  Photo from @jtlevitt 

I got a little bit more done on Friday... especially SHOPPING!  Jess S., Jess L., Rachel and I took a trip to Burkholder's which was about a 40 minute drive (you can see more pics of our trip on Jess's post linked at the bottom of this post).  Burkholder's was giving Mid-Atlantic Mod attendees a generous 25% discount so I walked out of there with quite a bit of fabrics, some out-of-print and hard-to-find.

Sassy Tassel Pop Shop

When we arrived back at the Doubletree, the proprietor of the Sassy Tassel in downtown Lancaster had set up an amazing pop shop in the ballroom.  She had some great out of print fabrics: Tula's Parisville, AMH Innocent Crush, DS Hopevalley... /swoon.  The Sassy Tassel was also offering an awesome 25% off, AND buy 4 get on free on all pre-cuts.  Needless to say, I bought more fabric :p

Fabric Haul from Burkholder's and the Sassy Tassel.  Check out all those OOP beauties!

Kona: Cloud, Alegria, School Bus, Camellia, Sour Apple, Cerise, Kale

I really went to Burkholder's for solids, which I legitimately needed for my Briar Rose blocks.  But as you can see I came home with way more.  But at such great deals and so many OOP fabrics, who could resist?!?!

Saturday, I took two workshops: Piecing Gentle Curves with Andrew, and Modern Log Cabins with Jess L.

Piecing Gentle Curves fabric pull and results

Modern Log Cabin Block

I really don't have definite plans for these blocks yet, but it was nice to break out of my comfort zone and try new techniques.  One thing I discovered that I do really love working with solids so I'll have to be sure to keep stashing them!

Besides working on the Briar Rose quilt for my niece, I wanted to make a divided basket for a friend who just had a baby (to match the quilt I made for her).

Silly me, I decided to start the divided basket around midnight on Saturday... it's definitely hard to follow directions after a few beers and an exciting day.  I did end up finishing it on Sunday morning but unfortunately didn't get to stop by and see my friend after the retreat as planned... it came in handy for toting my fabric haul home though!

All-in-all it was such an amazing experience to meet people that were previously bloggy friends, and to make many many new friends.  Hopefully I can start attending DCMQG meetings regularly even though it's a not terribly close to my house.  The entire weekend was so inspiring, even if it wasn't terribly productive.  I will hopefully be able to return next year, and hope you'll join us too!!!

Things to remember for next year:

• participate in a few of the activities
• a cushion for the hotel chair with a fancy cover of course
• shoes with more arch support
• veggie snacks 
• more travel handmade items :)

Kickass SWAG!

There are so many things that I didn't cover in this post, so you should check out some other great Mid-Atlantic Mod recaps!  And the #midatlanticmod hashtag on Instagram :)
Jess @ Quilty Habit
Rachel @ Like to Sew (part 1) (part 2)
Miki @ Sparrow Quilts
DCMQG
Linda @ I Finally Have Time