We can’t believe it’s already the middle of March! Time sure has zipped right by! You know what they say though, time flies when you’re having fun and that’s exactly how Rob has felt! He has been a busy guy, traveling and teaching his passion of quilting! So far this year, he has been up and down the California coast doing what he does best, having fun with his fans!!! If you’ve ever had the chance to meet Rob, then you understand how passionate he is about quilting! No matter where he goes, he’s bringing it up in conversation! At the grocery store, on the beach, on the plane to Hamilton, MO to film new tutorials, he really wants the world to know how great sewing is! Thank you for following along with Man Sewing and helping Rob to share his passion for quilting with you!! Check out these fun photos from the last few months of Rob’s travels!
Shawn said, It was great meeting you in person during Trends at EE Schenck here in Portland today. I have been quilting for 2 years now and it’s a blast. Thanks for sharing your enthusiasm for quilting, your journey and your faith today. It was awesome!
A photo posted by Man Sewing with Rob Appell (@mansewing) on
Missy from Sacramento said, “Thank you for sharing your quilts and your story Rob!”
Judy said, “I attended Rob’s event at Meissner’s Sewing and Learning Center in Sacramento yesterday. WOW! I came home so inspired, both by his amazing art quilts but most of all by him. Incredible man with a wonderful story!”
Wow, what a year! We have LOVED 2015 here at Man Sewing! We released a bunch of fun tutorials, made new friends, bonded over our love of fabric and learned a lot! 2015 was a year to remember for sure! We are so thankful for the milestones we were able to hit because of our loyal followers that we’ve gained since the launch of Man Sewing in February of this year. Because of our viewers we were able to release a brand new tutorial every single Monday along with a bunch of bonus videos. That’s 49 tutorials, 11 Quick Tips and many more fun videos. We wouldn’t of been able to do it if we didn’t have people watching them! So thank you! We hit some huge milestones like 25,000 subscribers and 2 million (almost) views on YouTube! Wow, our followers rock!!!
Our most popular quilting tutorial this year was the 3 Dudes Quilt with a Twist. Jenny Doan of Missouri Star joined the set for this one and man did we have a blast filming this tutorial! I think it’s safe to say that we had even MORE fun looking at all of the pictures that came in of the beautiful quilts that were made following this tutorial. There is something truly special about teaching something to a camera, not knowing who will watch or what they will think of it, but then seeing pictures of someone’s own version of that project. Jenny has been doing this longer than I have and I couldn’t agree more with her when she says that every single photo that is shared with her will forever be a treasured spot in her heart. Keep those pictures coming, my friends. We really do love looking at them and admiring what our fans are making!
Our most popular Facebook post in 2015 was our introduction to the “How to Hem Jeans” tutorial. This one was a great skill to teach and we were happy with the response it got. Just like anything in life, people have their preferences and hemming jeans this way just happened to be our preferred method. We learned a lot from our fans about what they did to hem pants, why they liked our version or why they didn’t. We love the feedback good and bad from our followers. As we continue to grow Man Sewing we look for the good AND bad, so we appreciate every comment and message that comes through. Thank you again for your awesome feedback!!
Our most popular Instagram post was something silly that we found on Pinterest recently. We’re not surprised this one got more attention with the hype of the new Star Wars movie. Who doesn’t love some good sewing humor??
A photo posted by Man Sewing with Rob Appell (@mansewing) on
Coming in close second on Instagram was this one… Again, humor wins in our book! We spent the year smiling and laughing every single day. It’s hard to not be so happy when we get to work with the best fans every day!
In 2015 we had our very first Surf’s Up Retreat at Missouri Star Quilt Company! The turnout was small but that made the whole weekend a more personal experience for us and the retreaters! Many of you know that Man Sewing is powered by MSQC, so it was a no brainer that we should have a Man Sewing retreat! The awesome Retreat Staff at Missouri Star put everything together and it was a blast! We’re already looking forward to the Man Sewing Retreat in 2016! Take a look at the fun we had at the retreat here: http://msqcmansewing.wpengine.com/2015/11/surfs-up-retreat/
Towards the end of the summer we started using a fun app called Periscope. Periscope allows us to have a live interactive video chat. Thanks to some helpful followers, we were able to start saving those videos with another app called Katch. The scopes were a blast because we can do them anywhere with cell service! Our most popular recorded Periscope was one we did about Thread Shredding. You can watch the rest of the periscopes HERE!
Another exciting event that happened in 2015 was the Color Strata tutorial and BOOK!!! Color Strata was a quilt made long before the days of Man Sewing but we were SO excited to get this tutorial filmed and a book published! The Color Strata quilt was on the cover of Quilting for You, a European quilting magazine this year. The quilt has also been on traveling displays around the country. Color Strata was the perfect tutorial to end 2015. Missouri Star will soon be carrying ALL of the Cotton Couture color ways from Michael Miller Fabrics. We sure do love Michael Miller fabrics at Man Sewing, so we are EXCITED!!! You can grab our new book HERE!
A photo posted by Man Sewing with Rob Appell (@mansewing) on
All in all, 2015 was good to us. We accomplished a lot and made the best memories, all thanks to YOU! We can’t thank you enough for helping us make Man Sewing into something incredible. We look forward to what 2016 has in store for us. Thanks for being so loyal and following along with the content we’re putting out. Have a Happy New Year!!
I had so much fun at the Surf’s Up Retreat at Missouri Star Quilt Company! What a blast to spend one on one time with those that traveled to come to my retreat! Because we had a smaller group we were all able to spread out our sewing supplies and use the spacious Sewing Center to our advantage! Let’s just take a minute and talk about this Sewing Center. Nothing is better than a comfortable space with amazing lighting and plenty of space to spread out. Anyways, here are a few pictures of the Sewing Center!
This town is amazing! Definitely a place to visit at least once! Notice the flag… The local football team is on fire this year and headed to state if they win one more game! The whole town was painted blue and gold for the Hornets!
The whole place was a quilting inspiration. I may have a few new motifs up my sleeve after being in there all weekend!!
A photo posted by Man Sewing with Rob Appell (@mansewing) on
On the first night of the retreat we had my trunk show! The trunk show was pretty sweet! I even brought in all of the projects I was filming this last week and previewed those! I love it when I get to spoil those who come to my retreats! Here’s a little shout out to Jenny, Ron and their son, Josh for coming to the trunk show! And another HUGE shout out to Mr. Jenny for holding all my quilts while I spoke! Here are a few photos from the trunk show! Each of the quilts in my trunk show have a story. Some are funny, others tug on your heart a little but all of the quilts have a place in my heart and have shaped who I am today. You’ll have to come to one of my trunk shows to hear the stories!
That’s Mr. Ron Doan AKA Mr. Jenny! See that surfboard in the background? Mr. Jenny made it! He even went and bought lace and then spray painted over it to give it an awesome pattern! Thanks, Ron!!!
The first Seascapes quilt I ever did, I’ve come a long ways!
When the trunk show was over, Susan (who ran the retreat center) was kind enough to hang up every single quilt! It totally added to the ambiance and put us in caffeinated sewing mode!
These one’s were pretty popular this weekend, it’s hard not to fall in love with quilts that have animals though, especially when the quilts carry an amazing story for an amazing cause!
I love a wall filled with quilts and a floor filled with sewing machines and fabric! Doesn’t this look like a party to you?!
More quilts! PS the green one on the back wall is an upcoming tutorial!
Close up of one of my quilts! The Twizzal Orizzinal
Closeup of the Dancing Dots Quilt! I’ve been wanting to experiment more with free motion quilting. I really enjoy it!
I loved the quilts hanging up so much that I did a live video chat showing them all!! You can watch that HERE!
Here are some pictures from my 3 Dudes Class I taught! This one has always been a popular one and the retreaters LOVED this quilt. Almost as much as I loved their own renditions. Most of them had already started sewing strip sets and cutting blocks before the class even started! We were all so excited about this quilt!
It was awesome to see the quilts come together with completely different fabrics! They were all so unique!
These vibrant colors were so refreshing! I’m a lover of all things bright!
I can’t tell you how much I LOVE batiks! These ones were awesome!
I think the best part of the whole retreat was watching these quilts come together! I was in awe!I spy a Man Sewing t-shirt and lots of awesome fabric!! We had so much space to spread out and get comfy!
I’m glad my wife wasn’t with me at this retreat, she might have been stealing this fabric for her stash!!! 🙂 Such a fun print!
I’m so in love with this quilt! The colors were fun and her smile makes it that much better! We love happy sewers!!
After hours of sewing it was time to take a field trip to the shops! With a smaller group it’s easy to do that! We walked through some of the shops, I showed them my favorite products and we even got to practice our Free Motion Quilting on a Crown Jewel in the new Machine Shed! What an awesome store!
The window displays were pretty slick! Such a cool idea!
Doesn’t she look like she’s glowing??! That’s because she was in the quilting destination of the world, at an awesome retreat of course! 😉
Mid sentence photos are always the most attractive I think… Notice that I have my french press traveling coffee kit in my hands. I needed the caffeine!
Being a sewing machine technician has it’s perks. Like when the bobbin runs out after 10 seconds of quilting and the entire group is bummed out. Rob to the rescue!!! (Thankfully it was an easy fix and we were on our way quilting again!)
She was a natural!!
I’ll give you 2 guesses who quilted these flames… Not my best but hey, not bad for my first time on this machine!
On Saturday we had our Reverse Applique Class! I’m amazed at what this group created!! Here are a few pictures of the fun!
Can you tell what it’s going to be??
I think she had the best spot in the house! With the sun resting on her back all weekend, what a relaxing way to sew!!
What an awesome idea!! I’ll have to make more of these bad boys when I get home! I feel so inspired after spending the weekend sewing with this group!
This dragon is so slick! Crazy intricate design!
This is a sample that I brought along with me!
Phillip’s creation was so cool! So much talent at this retreat!!
All in all the Surf’s Up Retreat was awesome! We made new friendships, bonded over our love of fabric, made a few quilts and most importantly… had fun!!! We hope to make this a tradition and do a Surf’s Up Retreat every year! I’ll be sure to let you all know when we have the dates set in stone!
