It doesn’t get much better than the views in Alaska, quilting, and a cruise! My recent Guys and Glaciers Quilting Cruise was a BLAST and I’m excited to share a bit of it with you (although this short recap won’t even begin to give it the justice it deserves).
I packed up all my supplies for teaching and my wife and I began our drive early in the morning. You just can’t beat more sight seeing along the way, can you?
We got to stop by the tap room that my friend Violet Craft and her husband own. She even let me tag the fridge with a Man Sewing Sticker! How cool is that?? You can check out the Christmas Tree Skirt Tutorial that Violet and I did together HERE.
It was such a good time cruising, quilting and teaching with some other awesome man sewers including Joe Cunningham, John Flynn and Luke Haynes. Best of all, the cruise helped raise money for the International Quilt Study Center & Museum (IQSCM) in Lincoln, Nebraska.
And I tell ya, there’s just nothing like having the entire Alaskan landscape as your sewing studio and your beautiful wife by your side for the week!
Check out a list of upcoming Man Sewing Events HERE. I hope to see you at one of them!
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!
