Last week many folks in this country were shoveling the white stuff.  I even got stuck in Seattle on Sunday evening because my flight into New Jersey was cancelled.  What I cannot understand is how my Colorado grandchildren were playing in their new playhouse in 70 degree weather during that time!

I was in Seattle for the 25th annual Washington Sew Expo that is held in Puyallup on the state fairgrounds.  We were told that the expected gate for 4 days was to be 30,000 happy people who liked to sew along with their significant others who were along to carry bags, play with the kids or just have a cup of coffee and a scone (which apparently is the state pastry).  I have gone to this show several times and it never ceases to amaze me. Over the years I have met the gal who told her husband that she "won" the Brother machine that our sales rep delivered to the RV in the parking lot, the gal who brought her 1 day old baby because she was not going to miss the show and this year, and sisters who were sharing a Innov-is 2500D but decided to trade it in and buy two Duetta 4500D's so they would not have to share a machine any more. This year I also made a memory for myself, too. I walked into Quality Sew booth at the show on Saturday and before I could take my coat off, I was demonstrating a Quattro machine to three ladies and in less than 15 minutes, one of them bought the machine! The other two were not far behind but they already had the Duetta 4500D's. It was a fun day. My three co-workers were in shock, they did not think that I could sell a machine....not sure what would make them think that.

The next morning at 8.30 am was the Go Red Style Show where over 800 ladies gathered to see how many different ways you could make a "little red dress."  I am not prejudiced but I had Jillian Lewis in my back pocket and boy did her black and red ombré evening gown stop the show.  It was a 3 tiered evening gown of washed, $90/yard silk, designed in 2 pieces for the "recessionista" in all of us.  You could slip off the bottom tiers and have the cutest little cocktail dress. She made it on the Quattro 6000D, and it is part of her fall/winter line. Below are images of her wearing the dress as a short A-line dress with Brother Dealer Paul LaPonte from Quality Sewing & Vacuum, and another shot of the dress being worn as a gown from Jillian’s Fall/Winter Fashion show:

Darn, I sure wish I could wear those cute little dresses again.  It sure looked cute on her.  Off stage lots of gals wanted to speak with Jillian and hear about how she got her start and where she was now.  On the way to the event Jillian told me that her fashion event the week before in New York City had gotten her a lot of attention and at that point her line had been picked up by more than 20 boutiques in the US as well as two department stores in London and Hong Kong.  Fashionistas like Sandra Betzina, Peggy Sayers, Patti Palmer and her daughter could not ask enough questions and rightly so.  These gals have held the torch high for designer sewing for many years.  I am sure that they are thrilled to see shows like “Project Runway” finding great success.  Below is a group shot of us girls backstage:

My Colorado daughter in law is so proud of the fact that she has completed the necessary paper work to truly have her own embroidery business.  With the advice of Brother Educator Paulette Bell, former editor of Stitches magazine, Christine took the proper steps to establish her embroidery business.  Next she hopes to get a PR620 embroidery machine so she can use her PC8500 for those simple projects.  I told her about the wonderful idea that our own Michelle Gillmartin had while she was at the Sew Expo. Michelle loves the "cylinder frame" that was developed for her PR600 (nicknamed "Bob" I might add).  Michelle ran out to the big "W" and bought their version of the "UGG" boot, slipped the boot on the cylinder frame and instantly made a wonderful embroidered boot.  To quote Michelle, "how cool is that?" 

Well folks it is off to my favorite downtown restaurant for dinner with a close friend.  How close is she?  Our children were friends since kindergarten in the small town of Metuchen, NJ and when they were seniors in high school, we found out that our great grandmother and great grandfathers had been married.  I might add that neither of us were living in the same state that we had grown up in.  Our friends still don't believe it but the kids call us Aunt June and Aunt Rose. Small world.