Sew Much More with Sue: Sue's been in Puyallop

Greetings from the Sewing and Stitchery Expo in Puyallup, Washington about an hour south of Seattle. For the last 24 years Washington State University, Pierce County Extension under the leadership of Joanne Ross, Program Chair, Janet York, Show Manager and Ann Sagawa, Speaker Coordinator has hosted the Sewing and Stitchery Expo at the Fair Grounds in Puyallup, for four days at the end of February. More than 200 Expo volunteers, many of them Clothing and Textile Advisors from around the state work to make this event happen each year.

Herb and I flew out early to meet with Jenny Haskins to go over all the details for the Jenny Haskins Academy of Accredited Teachers in June. We will be sewing on the new top-of-the-line Husqvarna Viking sewing machine and Jenny will be licensing teachers in her techniques and projects. Last summer Jenny and I were shopping and she saw a really neat skirt. She quickly worked out the concept of strips and created the wonderful skirt pictured below. Yesterday in Poulsbo I bought the fabric to make one for me to wear in June.

Wednesday we drove to the airport to pick up Marie Duncan, our Education Creative Coordinator and Lauren Hickey our Marketing Director. The sky was bright and blue and we were able to see Mount Rainier in all her splendor. What a site to see!

Many sewers and quilters arrived into SeaTac Airport on Wednesday. While waiting for Marie and Lauren, I “ran into” Mary Mulari and a group of sewers from Phoenix. What fun! We visited for a while in front of the amazing glass bulb quilt on the wall.

Mary was waiting for Nancy Zieman who was arriving on the same plane as Marie. Small world of sewers!

From the airport we drove to the Fairgrounds to ready the classroom and rehearse for Friday Night Live. A quick supper at Denny’s and early to bed that night!

The show opened on Thursday morning. The weather was beautiful and attendance at the show was excellent. Each year 30,000 sewers and quilters come to the Sewing and Stitchery Expo. I presented a lecture demonstration class titled “What’s New With America Sews”. The Husqvarna Viking booth was packed all day and I had loads of questions about the new top-of-the-line Husqvarna Viking coming in June. My lips are sealed except to say it is “sew” fabulous you will surely want one!

I had the opportunity to demonstrate the Designer SE Limited Edition to several sewers and quilters. Many people purchased the Designer SE Limited Edition at the show and were really excited about the $2000.00 value added package including all the designs, projects, CDs and more plus the $1000.00 shopping spree and 36 month financing. But the thing I think they were the most excited about was that they can upgrade exchange their Designer SE Limited Edition for the new top-of-the-line Husqvarna Viking for up to one year and get the full amount they paid for the Designer SE Limited Edition toward the new Husqvarna Viking. This is such an exciting offer available at all participating Husqvarna Viking Dealerships. Be sure to take advantage of this one time offer!

Thursday night SVP Worldwide, parent company of Husqvarna Viking hosted the annual Sewing Stars Dinner. All the teachers and industry professionals at the show are invited to come to network and share ideas. Our President Charlie Bayer presented exiting information about the growth of the sewing industry and hinted about the new Husqvarna Viking top-of-the-line coming in June. More than 150 of your favorite Sewing Stars attended. They even talked me into putting on my “where’s Sue” hat!

Friday was another big day at the expo. Thousands of people attended hundreds of lecture demo

and hands-on classes. Kathy McMakin from Martha Pullen taught a fabulous class on the Huskylock and everyone finished their project! The special event Friday evening was called Friday night live! The local Public Television Station KBTC hosted a reception for their donors before the event. Saturday morning is all sewing and quilting shows on KBTC and sewers and quilters in the greater Seattle Tacoma area are so fortunate to have this special time of educational television just for them each week!
Friday Night Live “sold out” right away and over 700 people attended. Rita Farro was the mistress of ceremonies and “stars” Martha Pullen, Nancy Cornwell, and I “performed”. We shared stories, special sewing songs and “sew” much more. Martha tap danced to New York, New York. Nancy played a piano solo and duet and I sang Wind Beneath My Wings as a tribute to Herb, who has encouraged and helped me in everything I do.

Other special songs included Favorite Sewing Things sun by the “Sewpremes” and I’d Like to Teach The World to Sew.

The most exciting class was Saturday when we taught a class called Design Your Denim. Each person brought something denim to embellish and we gave them a square of denim to practice on. There were 5 stations and they moved from Needle Felting on the Huskystar ER10, Couching on the Designer SE Limited Edition, Free Motion with Fab-U-Motion, Huskylock 2 thread flatlock trim, and Designer SE Limited Edition Embroidery.
Wow, everyone created the most fantastic garments and samples. Many embellished their denim square with a plan to turn it into a purse, knitting needle holder, wall hanging and more.

It was fun to watch everyone create. Many embellished the denim garments they brought to the class and wore them the rest of the day. Fun!
Irena decorated her jeans with the different techniques.

Everyone has a story!
Lisa wanted to be in the blog to impress her teen son!
Judy from Colorado works in a Husqvarna Viking store and paid her own way to Expo to learn so she could bring back to her customers!
Sharon brought a pink denim shirt and had a bunch of fun!

Sunday brought more classes, shopping and the Charity Tea. This charity event was started several years ago Expo attendees buy a ticket to the tea and this year the proceeds more than $5,600. was donated to the Susan G Komen fund for Breast Cancer. Expo teachers host a table and bring a “goodie bag” for their table. The tea is lovely with real china and serving tea, scones and petit fours but there is only 15 minutes between teas to clear and reset. Herb hosted and helped most of the day.