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It seems to me that after Thanksgiving -- time begins to speed up. And Expo will be here BEFORE YOU KNOW IT!! So you need to get your posse together...gather up your sewing sisters -- biological and adopted -- and start to MAKE YOUR PLANS. Remember -- it's March 1-4, 2012. Remember where I was in this picture?
Yes, that's right. In Bettendorf, Iowa for the Super Seminar with Ricky Tims...the whole room was a beautiful quilt show...

And HUNDREDS of sewing enthusiasts filled the auditorium...

Sewing Sisters ALWAYS MANAGE to have a good time, don't we??

Of course, I was delighted to have a visit with Alex Anderson to talk about her 2012 Quilter's Night OUT...!!

Here's a description of what she's bringing to Puyallup:

Alex Anderson has put together a very special presentation for our Quilter’s Night Out. She likes to call it, “How in the world did that woman get a television show?” For 11 years, she served as host of HGTV’s “Simply Quilts” and she continues to be one of the most sought after instructors and lecturers in the international quilting industry. A founding partner of The Quilt Show.com and The Quilt Life magazine with Ricky Tims – Alex was chosen by the readers of Quilter’s Newsletter as “the most influential person in the quilting industry”. (okay, it was a three way tie with Ricky Tims and Karey Bresenhan of Quilts, Inc.). Alex will be presenting a “virtual trunk show” -- telling her life story through quilts.

AND -- more good news -- BERNINA is the sponsor for the 2012 Quilter's Night OUT..!!

THANK YOU BERNINA...we are looking forward to having Alex at the show.

We are putting the final touches on the Registration Brochure -- even as I write this blog post.

Excellent New Speaker!!

Gail Yellen of Gail Patrice designs is COMING TO PUYALLUP!! Here she is -- teaching in Chantilly, Virginia. Her classes are sold out -- and I heard nothing but rave reviews.
Of course, she came to visit in the Schmetz Needles booth -- here she is holding the Super Needle...and wearing one of her great jackets...

A fabulous project to upcycle your old sweaters -- Gail has developed a technique to butt-the-edges-together...
And the results are FABULOUS...

Here's a description of her class -- BRAND NEW FOR SEW EXPO...

# Collage It! The Ultimate Recycling Project
Gail Yellen, Gail Patrice
Room H
Thursday 1:30 pm, Saturday 1:30 pm
Room L, Sunday 1:30 pm

With Gail’s unique approach, create one-of-a-kind jackets from recycled wool sweaters using template sets as the collage "puzzle pieces". She will explain how to felt old sweaters, when and how to interface, combine colors and textures, then put it together with perfectly flat butted seams. Gail will share her collage jacket trunk show – each one a unique work of art. From initial sketches to the finished jacket, see the step-by-step process of how to make your own collage jacket.

Welcome to Puyallup, Gail! Our attendees are GOING TO LOVE YOU...

Sewing Sister Story

It is SO MUCH FUN for me to hear your sewing sister stories. As I'm writing this, I'm working for Schmetz Needles at a show in Minneapolis. And Jan -- a woman who regularly reads my blogs -- walked right in the booth to introduce me to her crew of sewing sisters. Hopefully -- I'll next be writing about them when they COME TO PUYALLUP.

This is an email I received last week...from another one of our sewing sisters...and she is actually PICTURED in the photograph at the top of my RitasSewFun blog. Can you spot her? She writes...

Dear Rita,

I have a couple of 'Sewing Sisters' . Chris and I met back in the 70's when we both volunteered at our local art center, The Old Hotel. I was into sewing and painting back then. Chris was with a group of sewists and needleworkers who rented a room in The Old Hotel for their shop. It was a co-op called 'Cozy Corner' We both were farm wives and volunteered on Saturday, as that was a hard day to find volunteers....and the day made no difference to us.

After Cozy Corner closed I didn't see Chris for a while.....till we ran into each other at a 'Clotilde Seminar' in a nearby town.... Soon after, I heard about Sew Expo, and a bus was taking a group from nearby Tri-Cities, Wa. I called to see if she would be interested.....she was, but not on the bus.....:)

She wanted to drive....the rest is history....we have been going to Expo for over 20 years, now! Along the way we have bonded with a few other Sewing Sisters -- (including the Yahoo group -- right, Linda?). Chris lives 30 miles away....and when she goes to the city, it is in a different direction than me.....so we don't get to see each other often. Expo is our Getaway together!!!

Another 'Sewing Sister' is my beautiful Step-Daughter, Debra! Actually, that's the first time I ever called her my step-daughter.....I have shared her with her birth-Mother since she was 8 years old and I was 19! I hope she got her love of sewing from me....we have different interests...she loves machine embroidery and I love hand work and applique & 'wearable art'. Several times she has either came home and went to Expo with Chris and me or met us there. Last year she went with us.....what a great time we had.

All the best, Linda B. in... Othello

Linda -- I WAS HORRIFIED when you wrote that you and Chris had actually talked about going SOMEPLACE ELSE for your "Sewing Sister" weekend!! PERISH THE THOUGHT.

And OF COURSE I REMEMBER YOU.

Hey -- You are the reason there was a sock monkey invasion at my house starting two years ago...!! Mary and I LOVE THE PICTURE of you, wearing the fabulous apron you made out of the "kitchen towel" door prize the last time we did the Midwest Ya Ya Sister show.

Thanks for sharing your Sister Story, Linda. It really is what Sew Expo is all about. Whether you have any real, biological sisters is not the point. It's our love of sewing and our need to share with others that brings us together... and that makes us a Sisterhood...

WE'LL SEE YOU AND CHRIS AND DEBRA AND THE YAHOO SISTERS at the 2012 Show....it'll be here before you know it!!

The Heart of Expo

Laura is a wonderful example of what Sew Expo is all about. She won a hot pink sequins sweater at Friday Night LIVE (Mary and I were giving out tacky door prizes) -- and in the true SPIRIT OF CREATIVITY -- she made this...



She recently wrote me...

Hi Rita,

So, you want "sister" Expo stories. Well, how about mom/daughter instead :-) My mom (Charlotte Lee) and I have been to every Sew Expo except the first one (and one year she was sick). We started out going just one day and shopping. Even when I worked the Fabricland booth, we always had one day for just the two of us to do Expo.

We then started adding two seminars to our day. In 2006, Mom and I joined CTA, and our Expo world changed. We now go to Expo every day, but still only have one day just for us. We spend Wednesday helping with the fashion show prep. Thursday/Friday we shop or attend seminars in the morning and are fashion show dressers in the afternoon. Saturday is still our play day. That's when we see everything and maybe do a seminar or two. On Sunday, we go to the charity event and then do seminar room hosting in the afternoon.

We also did Pacific Fabrics Thursday night, Friday Nite Live, and Quilters Nite Out. And, of course, we now do the Annual Sew Expo Yahoo Groups Wednesday Night Dinner :-)



Here's another Expo story. Through the Yahoo Groups, I have made several new friends. One of my favorites is Anna from Albequerque, NM. We have become very good friends, even though we only see each other once a year. We do communicate with each other all the time.


Laura
You can't use up creativity; the more you use, the more you have.

**********

You are EXACTLY what Sew Expo is all about, Laura. Thanks for taking the time to write -- and for being such a huge fan -- always having that wonderful energy and smile -- YOU are the reason there is a Sew Expo.

SO THE REST OF YOU -- take a lesson from Laura. CALL YOUR SISTER, YOUR MOM, YOUR GIRLFRIEND -- mark your calendars -- the countdown has begun.

March 1-4......SEE YOU AT THE SHOW, LAURA!!