The past year has been full with preparation. I’ve been working behind the scenes and can finally share them with you. It’s so hard to keep a secret and I’ve been allowed to be a part of some super amazing projects since last April!

First off, I’ve been fortunate to work with Janome Canada as one of their Artisans for almost a year and a half now and I’m thrilled that they’ve just loaned me the next in their series of Skyline machines – the Skyline S9 – a combination sewing and embroidery machine! This baby has above and beyond the bells and whistles. (And I thought the S7 had them all!) Lots more to come about the machine later this year.

The photos above are a sneak peek at one of my first projects – a pillow with an embroidered butterfly using one of the Anna Maria Horner designs included with the machine. My girls have kept me busy with requests for embroidery on everything as I practice and prepare a new post series, coming later this year!

Creativ Festival is coming again soon – October 27-29 in Toronto – and I’ve been invited back! This time I’m speaking and teaching a Janome-sponsored workshop too – eeek! (Sooooo nervous, and sooooo excited!)

Remember the Fat Quarter Skirt tutorial above? I’ll be teaching a 3 hour hands on workshop where everyone will sew one! This is a great beginner project. And I’m thrilled to fuel lots of new sewists’ passion with the ability to sew a simple cute skirt! Of course if you are an advanced sewer and want to sew 1 or 3 of them, please come out too! I’ve got lots of tips and tricks planned, plus handouts and pattern information for sizes 2-6 available only with the class.

The Fat Quarter Skirt Workshop is at the Creativ Festival, Thursday October 27th from 9am – noon. Sign up today – the class limit is 20 people!

Be Brave and Sew – a Trunk Show

Also at Creativ Festival, I’ve been invited back to continue the series “Be Brave and Sew”, Part II! New projects, old projects and tons of tips and tricks. All to hopefully inspire everyone on the fence to become as stash-crazy as me! Or at least maybe to sew something once in a while *wink*. #sewistswillconquertheworld!

Be Brave and Sew – Part II is on the Creativ Festival Fashion Runway, Thurs and Fri at 2:30 and Saturday at 1:30. There are lots of free events planned, you can see them on the event schedule.

Last but not least (sneaky intro for later this week!) Janome has just launched the M Series and I was asked to make a set of Maker Aprons to go along with it, there’s a new blog series starting this week as well! You can check out the aprons on pages 10-12 of the M Series Look Book – almost 50 pages of free patterns, tutorials and tips from lots of super talented people.

All of these crazy-amazing opportunities couldn’t happen without you! Thanks so much for being here through it all.

My favorite part is always talking to other sewists as passionate and crazy about sewing as I am. (That’s you!)

I hope to see you at the Creativ Festival! If not, leave a comment sometime and let me know if you have any questions, or just tell me what you are sewing right now! I’d love to hear about it.