Sunday, June 10, 2012

Sew It Together 2012 - Canberra

I had a great day and night yesterday with the delightful crafty ladies who came to Canberra for Sew It Together. Organised by Sheridan (Chaletgirl), with a bevy of helpers - Cass (Snailblazer), Gillian (Silly Gilly), Donna (Creative Controller) and Cath (Bungalow Babble), who transported all the goody bags and associated delights from Sydney to Canberra - the event brings together crafty bloggers from around Australia for one weekend a year.


It was great to leave the family responsibilities behind for just one day and indulge in some swapping of crafty gifts, a spot of sewing, fabric petting and even a dash of buying. There were workshops for those who wanted to learn some new skills as well as prizes throughout the day - I was lucky enough to be one of the prize winners and I scored a Polly Pratt dress. So gorgeous!!

I also got to meet and catch up with some bloggers I've been chatting with on the Internet for about the past five years, including Karen, Leah and Becky, as well as meet some other lovely ladies, including heaps of Canberra crafters - loads of new blogs to explore!

Here are just a few of them:
Karen - And So I Sew
Bec - Beckyetal
Leah - Pugglelogic
Kelli - Not Quite Crafty
Michelle - Happenstance
Wendy - hARTylittlepeaces
Renae - Suzyhausfrau
Bronwyn - Whippet Good
Caroline and Maryanne - Sew Together
Alex - Mooncat

Here are some photos from the day - sorry for the crappy blurry images. Damned smart phones!
 
 

 

And so many others - and let me tell you, nothing gets a room full of fabulous crafters going crazier than a sample swap. Organised by the indomitable Cass, the swap involves groups of six, who each make five samples of their work and then, in a crazy dance, swaps are snapped up, the spoils are revealed and much oohing and ahhhing over the craft goodness ensues.
I made some mini art quilts, inspired by a similar design from Silly Boodilly, and I hope the girls liked them as much as I enjoyed making them. I received two covered notebooks, some ace zipped bags, a bunch of magnets, pendants and hair clips and some quilted pot holders/coaster. It was nice to come home with so much handmade love.

Here are some photos I nicked from Cass:
 
We had a lot of fun at the dinner at Tongue and Groove too, pigging out on shared yummy things, a glass or two of wine and nearly exploding from eating the dessert (which should be called 'death by giant chocolate cookie' or 'death by giant peanut cookie with icecream and caramel drizzle').

A little bit of stitching followed dinner, although I was so full from my dinner I really needed a nap! After another hour or so of really bad crafting (on my part), I decided to call it quits and say goodnight to my new crafty friends.

What a great day and night! I hope to join the gang for Sew It Together in 2013, although I think Sheridan deserves a well earned break before starting to think about next year's craftapalooza :)

14 comments:

Cass said...

Great post lily and it was lovely to finally meet you

Danielle said...

Hi Lily! It was great to meet you yesterday! Sorry we only got to chat early on, the day went by way too fast and I couldn't stay for the dinner unfortunately. Hope to see you again as you're not far away! Will email you. Danielle x

Cath said...

Lily, to be fair to Sheridan's amazing helpers for this fabulous weekend...my help was limited to transporting a few things in the boot of my car!

Thanks for sharing a great weekend and for my lovely name badge!

Helen said...

Sounds like an awesome weekend Lily! Lucky duck!

quilary said...

Lily I LOVE my lovely art quilt - it is beautiful...and you were so generous as to add a pretty piece of fabric too!

Bronwyn said...

Hi Lily! Lovely to meet you and will be blog reading regularly!

Caroline said...

I had a great time sewing with you Lily. I've really enjoyed reading about your crafting exploits. too!

Becky said...

I had a fantastic weekend, so glad to have caught up and am already looking forward to the next one!

michelle said...

It was lovely to meet you Lily - and exciting to know that we're in the same town! I look forward to keeping an eye on your writing endevours as well... :)

Gillian R said...

Lily, gold star to you for posting on SIT 2012 so quickly! Great to hear you had such a lovely time. I too was blown away by dinner and especially those desserts. YUM!

Maryanne said...

Hi Lily,
It was lovely to meet you over the weekend and see some great photos. I brought my camera without my memory card (!!!!!!!) Good luck with finishing the Christmas Tree wall hanging. It was gorgeous!

posie blogs Jennie McClelland said...

Lily so sorry we didn't spend time together this weekend. You've got some great photos, thrilled you enjoyed yourself, love Posie

posie blogs Jennie McClelland said...

Oh i got the same Polly Pratt dress too!! Great choice, love Posie

ARTwendy ... said...

Hey Lily ... lucky us being in the same swap too!! Was fab to meet you ... see you next time ...& in blog world xx