Sewing and Stitchery Expo, 2011

This year I FINALLY had the opportunity to attend the Sewing and Stitchery Expo in Washington! My mother goes every year, but alas, I am usually in school--yay for graduating! :) So this year I got to tag along and check out all the awesomeness.

First up--SUEDE! Suede is a designer from Project Runway. We attended the Simplicity fashion show and saw some of his latest designs ("Suede Says"), and I even got to meet him. Oh, and he liked my earrings--that was pretty awesome. :)

One of my favorite games at the expo was spotting the best outfits--best meaning horrendous. Some of these ladies really go to town when it comes to the "wearable art." It's hilarious! As we were heading to lunch my mom says to me, "Look, that lady is wearing drapes!" Apparently we had just passed someone who looked like she was wearing drapes... but we also happened to be next to this lady, who really was wearing drapes--literally! See the curtain rod across the shoulders and the giant tassel she's playing with? Yup, fashion...

Although all of the classes were wonderful, my favorite was Zipper Couture--partially because this stuff is just so dang cool, but also because it was a hands on class and we actually got to make zipper necklaces! I haven't finished mine yet (slow and steady wins the race, right?), but eventually it will look something like this:

Of course, my mother actually did finish her necklace--check it out! Beautiful, right?! I just love it!

But the best part of the trip actually didn't even involve the Expo itself, although that really was amazing and honestly changed my life in many ways (surprisingly enough, at least it surprised my).... the best part of the trip was spending an entire week at the Willis abode! Aunt Buffy picked us up from the airport the first day and took us straight to the Cheesecake factory and H&M (LOVE!). She knows how to treat you right. :)

Little Eva Jean never ceased to amaze me--she's 7 years old but acts like she's 30. She gets up around 6am, let's the dogs out (one of which has a cast on her leg, but Eva is an excellent little mother), feeds the dogs, and gets her reading done. On Saturday she slept in later than she ever had--all the way until 7:40am! ;) She helped us keep things in order (she even cleaned our bathroom before we arrived), and even helped pack our lunches every day--awesome sack lunches complete with veggies, fruits, dessert, and names written on the front. Eating lunch became one of the best parts of the day. I love that girl! Here's an example of her amazingness:

Saturday night Eva's friends came over: we ate pizza, my mom taught them how to burn/make fabric sunflowers, and then we all sat down to watch the Sound of Music (which was very entertaining because the girls knew and sang along to every song).

And we can't forget little Ian--what a sweetheart! I can't tell you how much I miss him. He's such a good egg--he even let me sleep in his Buzz Lightyear bed! I felt very privileged. While the girls were partying it up doing girl things, Ian was counting down to blast off. However, he did take a break now and again to join us girls (he even played dress up--what a great kid!).

Ian loves the movie UP! (of course, who doesn't?) Every day I found a new representation of UP! somewhere in the house--sometimes it was a drawing....

Or a Polly Pocket playhouse...

Or my personal favorite, my pony-tail holders and bobby pins--now that was creative. :)

We even got to see Ron one day we were there, which was a real treat because he opened up his new gun safe for me!

Yes, I was very much enjoying myself, not gonna lie. ;) Of course, so was little Eva Jean--can you say Kill Bill?

That is a real Marine sword by the way--pretty dang cool!

It was quite a party--we were all pretty tuckered out by the end of the week.

Dear Willis family:

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We can't wait to see you in a few weeks!