makerie sewing

We had a wonderful time last week at the Makerie Sewing retreat in Boulder, Colorado. Now that I’ve had a chance to catch my breath afterwards I thought you might like to experience a bit of it for yourself.

 

 

Last year the weather was warm and sunny for our crafty weekend. This year, we had some beautiful snow instead. It was cold out, but so cozy inside the little cottages and the classrooms. And the main building, where we had our larger sessions, is perfect for this sort of weather. It even has a fireplace, so we were just fine and perfectly happy all gathered together with a full weekend to just stitch and have fun.

When we pulled in on Thursday afternoon, the mountains were beautiful in the snow. The Chautauqua, where the Makerie is held, is right at the foot of the Flatiron mountains. Literally. You walk out the door of your cabin and you’re at the trail head. It’s pretty amazing, especially for someone like me who has to ride an elevator down seven floors to go outside.

 

 

Over the course of the weekend the weather warmed up and much of the snow melted. And look what everyone was making in the meantime! Here are some mushrooms and root vegetables from Tamar’s class:

 

 

Jenny Hart brought all the colors from her beautiful embroidery floss line:

 

 

Her class did such beautiful stitching.

 

 

Everyone had a wonderful time creating personal mood boards and color palettes in Amy’s classes:

 

 

Each of the instructors got to take a class, so I had a great time spreading out with all my tear sheets in Amy’s class. I don’t have this sort of space to really spread out when I’m at home or in the studio!

 

 

Kaari Meng taught shibori dying with indigo, which sent us all into realms of infatuation over the results and creative options it presents. I’ve already got plans to do lots more with this technique and have ordered supplies so I can share it with S and some friends.

 

 

In fact, I decided to dye my smocked necklace project with the indigo for an ombre effect. I still need to finish the necklace so I can see how it works out!

 

 

It was such a lot of fun to spend time chatting with everyone in my smocked necklace classes. We really had time to get to know each other while we stitched, and the variety of necklaces was so amazing! Here’s one being worked up with neon pink and little pearl beads. Several people were wearing their necklaces during the retreat, and they really turned out beautifully.

 

 

Heather Jones taught a wonderful improvisational patchwork class and Cal Patch taught patternmaking, and there are lots more photos over at the Makerie Sewing Flickr group if you’d like to see them.

And after classes were over, we had a great time getting to know each other and hanging out together. I love spending time with crafty friends, and we really bounced around a lot of ideas for future events and activities.

 

 

Like all crafty events, this one ended far too soon. The food was delicious, the events were so inspiring, we had a ton of laughs, met many many new friends, and we all went home with loads of new memories to savor and new skills and passions to explore.

P.S. I almost forgot: Thanks for letting me borrow your photos, Linda Winski and Teryn Wilkes!