Bonus Video: Project Preview

Take a peek at the projects Rob has been working on and is filming in Hamilton this week! We can’t wait to get these fun tutorials out to you, we hope you love them as much as we do!

Bonus Video: Sea Otters

Here’s another short video for ya! It’s always a cool site to see so many otters swimming around in the bay! Watch this video to get a glimpse of where I live and why I love it!

 

Bonus Video: Huge Waves in Morro Bay

Many of you know that I’m a surfer when I’m not in the studio working on quilts. The winter swell is moving into Morro Bay and the waves are HUGE!!! Looks like I’ll be sitting this winter out… I hope you have a swell day! 😉

Bonus Video: California Reindeer

In yesterday’s Periscope we had a little fun and did a Christmas craft! What’s more fun than creating reindeer using objects you can pick up on the side of the road? Check out the fun scope here:

Bonus Video: Periscope’s with Rob

We’ve got quite the collection of bonus videos for you and we’re excited to share them here on Mansewing.com!

From here on out we’ll be updating the blog weekly with the newest scopes! Be sure to subscribe to the newsletter so you don’t miss a thing! Here are the scopes we have saved so far! We hope you enjoy these bonus videos with Rob as the cameraman!

Surf’s Up Retreat

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!

IMG_6777
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!!

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! rob, jenny ,josh 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!

 

Dolphin Dance
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!!!

 

Seascape
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! IMG_6860

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!
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!

 

quilts on the walls
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?!

quilts on wallMore quilts! PS the green one on the back wall is an upcoming tutorial!

Close up of one of my quilts! The Twizzal Orizzinal

 

dancing dots
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! 3dudes class

stripset
It was awesome to see the quilts come together with completely different fabrics! They were all so unique!

 

sewing strips
These vibrant colors were so refreshing! I’m a lover of all things bright!

 

stripset
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!
IMG_6719 copy
I spy a Man Sewing t-shirt and lots of awesome fabric!! We had so much space to spread out and get comfy!

 

IMG_6965 copy
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!

 

Busy, busy, busy!

 

These fabrics were right up my alley!

 

strips
And you can never go wrong with a Moda Grunge!

 

orange and red

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!

Machine Shed

machine shed
The window displays were pretty slick! Such a cool idea!

 

IMG_6891 copy
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! 😉

 

IMG_6885 copy
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!

 

Rob fixing the crown jewel
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!)

 

macine shed
She was a natural!!

 

machine quilting
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!

20151114_152224
Can you tell what it’s going to be??

 

20151114_151941
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!!

 

20151114_151834
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!

 

dragon
This dragon is so slick! Crazy intricate design!

 

IMG_6642
This is a sample that I brought along with me!

 

Phillip's design
Phillip’s creation was so cool! So much talent at this retreat!!

Look at this good looking group!!!  

Here are some of the Reverse Appliqué creations from today’s class!! #mansewing #surfsup #quiltretreat #appliqué   A photo posted by Man Sewing with Rob Appell (@mansewing) on

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!