Monday Randoms…

A  mashup of what’s happening in my life at the moment…

1.  A new website!!!! I’m really excited about it.  If you’re reading through email, pop over and take a peek!   Like a total crazy I decided to tackle this project myself, but I’m really proud of how it turned out.      I’m still working on getting readers transfered over from the old site.  If you want to make sure you don’t miss anything, you can enter your email in the box on the left sidebar to receive posts or follow along on bloglovin’.

2.  A new adventure selling leather!  Built into the website is a store where I’m selling cuts of leather.    I get lots of questions about where I find the suede that I use to make clutches and bags and there really weren’t a lot of options out there.     The ladies at Sewing Summit have already about bought me out which has been overwhelming!   Check back often for a restock of items.    There will also be a giveaway at LBG Studio for 2 cuts of suede and 2 of her Fold Over Clutch patterns on Oct 6th!

3.   A new pattern.   The pattern I taught at Sewing Summit is available now as a pdf pattern.    There is also a kit for the suede needed in the shop.   It may be out of stock at the moment, but more are coming.    You can find the pattern here on my site or at Craftsy.

4. Sewing Summit itself.

I’ve been home for a week now and my brain is still fried.    It was such an extreme high and low trip.

Highs:

• Continuing to push myself outside of my comfort zone.   Like a lot of people, I don’t like public speaking.   I had a lecture class with 50 students where I did nothing but talk for 75 minutes.     Ahh!   Each time I speak the jitters are less and less.  I’m hoping one day they won’t show up at all!   The class went really well and it was wonderful to see so many faces I recognized.

• Conquering my fear of flying.   I got tired of missing out on things because of fear.   I hadn’t flown in 15 years and my last experience was not so great.    The unknowns of all of the new procedures at the airport had me very antsy, but I made it!   I feel like a real grown up now, ha.  It feels really good to mark this one off my to-do list.

I also conquered the weekender 3 days before I left.  Not the smartest decision.  It didn’t get finished on the inside, but I took it any way.

• Spending quality time with my roommate Amy.   It was awesome to hang out in real life.   We have so much in common and it was wonderful to realize that even more on this trip.  Lots of idea bouncing, encouragement and staying up  all hours of the night laughing and eating pizza.   Love her.

• Seeing online friends in person and making some really meaningful connections.  Above all else, this is why I think attending a conference like this is worthwhile.

Shawn, Me & Elena

Angela & I were a little delirious in the sewing room late at night

• Great classes.   Each person had 8 classes for the weekend.  I was teaching 2 and took 5.   My favorites were Personal Branding with Olivia Omega and Hand Printing with Miriam Tribe.

Olivia was so encouraging and genuine.   I’ve always struggled on my blog with sharing my true self.   Sharing real life along with what I’m making.    She reminded us that you need to write like you talk.   You want to attract readers that care about you first and what you’re making second.   If someone doesn’t want to see pictures of your kids or hear about your life, then they aren’t the best readers for your blog.

It was a good reminder that you don’t need everyone to like you.  Another powerful quote for me was ‘You have no competition because no one else is you’.   A lot of times we get wrapped up in what others are doing and what we aren’t doing.    If I’m being my authentic self, I don’t have to worry about any one else.

She also encouraged us to show more of ourselves.   Many times we only post pictures of the things we make and we should share our faces too!   In class she had us all take a selfie.

Elena, me and Deedrie.  We cheated and took a group shot.

 In the hand printing class we each carved a linoleum block and an eraser.  It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be!  I need to find my stamps and take a picture.   Truth:  I still haven’t unpacked.

Miriam is super cool.   She calls herself Mrs. Frizzle because she prints so much of her clothing.  In the pic below she’s holding up her swimsuit that she printed.    Can you see the pillows?  They were all amazingly gorgeous.

Lows:

• 10 mins before my hands on tote class, I found out that the machine dealer forgot to bring the leather needles!  eek.   I can look back on it today and it doesn’t feel like a big deal, but in the moment I was FREAKING OUT on the inside.  Man.  I seriously wanted to cry.      The students in my class were insanely gracious and either chose to make the project at home or share a couple of leather needles that some of the students had brought.    It was a complete Project Runway make it work session.

• I found out on Saturday night that one of my friends at home had lost her husband over the weekend.   He was 33.   I was in the middle of the mixer with the Salt Lake Modern Guild and just randomly checked my phone like we all do.   I had an email from another friend sharing the news.    I started crying and had to excuse myself and head back to the hotel.    I immediately regretted not speaking to my family before bedtime.   The time zone difference had us thrown off.    SO important to make sure those you love know it at all times.

• Having to leave for the airport Sunday at 5am.   I was so worried that I would oversleep and miss my flight that I decided to stay up all night.  WHAT was I thinking???   I made it until 3:15 am and couldn’t keep my eyes open another second.   So the travel day was made on an hour and 15 min of sleep.    Never doing that again!!

 

All in all it balanced out to be a good trip!

 

5. Patchwork Please Sew Along

I can’t believe the 19 weeks are quickly coming to an end.   If you are participating and have or are planning to make all 19 projects before the end, can you send me an email?   We have a grand prize drawing for those who completed the most projects and I’m having a hard time figuring out who those people are!   The drawing is for a $100 GC to Fabric Worm.

 

xo Lindsey