I had a wonderful time at Glamp Stitchalot that was sponsored by Pink Castle Fabrics and held in Ann Arbor, Michigan, June 2-5, 2016. I met so many nice quilters/sewists. And I learned something from every class I took. I’m still a nervous novice when it comes to paper piecing, and three of the six classes involved paper piecing, so I had a chance to practice that skill. I was most happy with my mountain block which was designed by Penny Layman even though my edges ended up a little wonky and had to be trimmed. I’m going to redo the bottom piece and make it a little bigger. I only had solid background fabric and after seeing some examples of the mountain block made with different prints, I went to the Pink Castle Pop-Up shop and found a great fabric by April Rhodes (Survey in Heron in her Bound collection). It ended up being the perfect background, and I’m so glad I have almost a yard left of it.

I can’t believe I am saying this given my paper piecing anxiety, but the pattern I most want to make at home is Carolyn Friedlander’s Glamp pattern. It is just gorgeous, and I know it will look amazing in a future quilt project, probably using some of my favorite Carolyn Friedlander fabric. Below is a pic of the example Carolyn sewed for the class.

The funniest teacher, hands down, was Monica Solorio-Snow. I swear she could take her act on the road and sell out comedy clubs! And I will use the cheater flying geese technique we learned again using the Easy Star and Geese Triangle ruler.

I have been a big fan of Elizabeth Hartman since I first googled “modern quilting” and her Fancy Foxes and Hazel Hedgehogs showed up in the search results. Elizabeth loves fussy cutting, and I see more fussy cutting in my future after taking her class. I especially like her cats and the text in house windows below.

I learned a lot about sewing curves from both Rashida Coleman-Hale and Violet Craft, though I didn’t feel ready to sew curves yet. I took some good notes and someday may take on this challenge. I loved the fabric Violet used in her example blocks below. It is from her new fabric line coming out, and I believe Pink Castle Fabrics will have it sometime mid-June.

If anyone is thinking about signing up for a future Glamp Stitchalot, I highly recommend it. You’ll meet many friendly and talent fellow quilters/sewists and will have the opportunity to learn from some of the most talented modern quilting/sewing teachers around.

Glamp Stitchalot was not the only fun I had in Michigan recently. I flew into the Detroit Metro Airport on May 28th and was able to spend some with my family who live in Michigan. The highlight before going to Glamp was going to Mackinac Island for the first time and staying in the Grand Hotel. I love the pic below of the niece in front of the Grand Hotel in a horseshoe of flowers. And speaking of horses, those horse-drawn carriages were so awesome. I loved the name of the team that pulled our carriage–the Grubs!

After Glamp, I finally was able to give the Breaking Bad Wall Hanging  to my great-nephew, John, who absolutely loved it. Such a great ending to a fabulous trip. Many thanks to my sister who made my visit extra special.

Linking up to Cooking Up Quilts: Main Crush Monday and Blossom Heart Quilts: So Cute Tuesday.