Chalet Sewing Weekend

Monday, July 8, 2013

Chalet Sewing by Jeni Baker
Chalet Sewing, a photo by Jeni Baker on Flickr.
Last weekend I had the pleasure of renting this beautiful cabin in Mt. Horeb with Anna, Deedee, Faith, Holly and Jacey for a sewing getaway! We sewed, shopped, ate, experimented with indigo dyeing, and did lots of catching up and chatting!

Chalet Sewing by Jeni Baker
Chalet Sewing, a photo by Jeni Baker on Flickr.
The cabin was beautiful and in a gorgeous location southwest of Madison.  It was so nice to show everyone around town!

Chalet Sewing by Jeni Baker
Chalet Sewing, a photo by Jeni Baker on Flickr.
The views!

Chalet Sewing
Chalet Sewing, a photo by Jeni Baker on Flickr.
The cabin was so cool inside, decorated in mid-century modern style! I wanted to take home all the furniture!

Chalet Sewing
Chalet Sewing, a photo by Jeni Baker on Flickr.
Everybody traveled handmade! It's crazy how much stuff six people need for a sewing weekend!

Chalet Sewing
Chalet Sewing, a photo by Jeni Baker on Flickr.
I brought Hilde, my Singer featherweight, out for the trip! I had to try out my new travel set of course!

Chalet Sewing by Jeni Baker
Chalet Sewing, a photo by Jeni Baker on Flickr.
I didn't end up doing much sewing, but that's perfectly fine with me! I try not to put too much pressure on myself to sew, it takes away all the fun! I did manage to make a set of six pillow cases for Michael and I using Art Gallery Fabrics Voile and the Roll-Up pattern by American Patchwork and Quilting! They turned out really cute, and so soft!

Antique Mall Finds by Jeni Baker
Antique Mall Finds, a photo by Jeni Baker on Flickr.
On Friday before we could check into the cabin a few of us headed over to the Columbus Antique Mall! I always love going there! We didn't get through the whole mall but still managed to find lots of goodies!

The Grumpy Troll
The Grumpy Troll, a photo by Jeni Baker on Flickr.
Did I mention we ate? That's an understatement.  We ate all the food! I think my favorite meal was at The Grumpy Troll in Mt. Horeb.  Three of us had the Uff Da Pretzel for our entree, which is a 1.5 lb soft pretzel, YUM! I should clarify, we each got our own!

Chalet Sewing
Chalet Sewing, a photo by Jeni Baker on Flickr.
Deedee made us so many delicious treats including an Iced Mocha Cheesecake! It was SO good! I made some salted caramel sauce to drizzle on top and let me tell you, it was heaven! She has posted the cheesecake recipe on her blog, here.  It is amazing, go make it!


Photo by Holly DeGroot

Photo by Holly DeGroot
Holly was so sweet to take some head shots for us! She has a Facebook page for her photography business, Holly DeGroot Photography, and a website, HollyDeGroot.com! If you're in the area, look her up! She made us all look so good, it was hard to choose a couple favorites to post here! You can see the rest from the weekend on her page, here. Thank you Holly!


Photo by Faith Jones
Thanks to Faith for toting around her camera and Sara at The Sewcial Lounge for taking it, here is a photo of us all together! We stopped by on Saturday for some fabric shopping before we headed downtown for a bite!

chalet sewing. by Bijou Lovely
chalet sewing., a photo by Bijou Lovely on Flickr.
We managed one last photo before we left on Monday. It was truly a weekend to remember.  I'm so thankful to call these talented ladies my friends! Already looking forward to our next get together! :)
Indigo Dyeing Results by Jeni Baker
Indigo Dyeing Results, a photo by Jeni Baker on Flickr.
I have wanted to try indigo dyeing for a long time, and have actually had a kit for years, waiting for the right time.  Thankfully Deedee, Holly and Jacey were excited to try it too, so this weekend was the perfect opportunity!  (This is the kit we used.)
Indigo Dyeing - Before by Jeni Baker
Indigo Dyeing - Before, a photo by Jeni Baker on Flickr.
Deedee's husband was so kind to make us wooden resist shapes to try out resist dyeing! I also purchased a set of acrylic circle resists from Rossie.  We had a lot of fun just getting the fabrics ready and the resists in place.  My favorite piece to prepare involved using small rocks secured with rubber bands. It took a while, but was worth it!

Indigo Dyeing by Jeni Baker
Indigo Dyeing, a photo by Jeni Baker on Flickr.
We followed the directions in the kit as best we could and sure enough, it worked!

Indigo Dyeing by Jeni Baker
Indigo Dyeing, a photo by Jeni Baker on Flickr.
When the pieces first come out of the indigo bath they are green! They slowly turn blue as the oxygen hits them.

Indigo Dyeing by Jeni Baker
Indigo Dyeing, a photo by Jeni Baker on Flickr.
Jacey unwrapping one of her pieces! That was the best part for sure, it was like Christmas seeing what each pieced was like!

I dyed mostly white linen and a few other things, here are is one of my favorite pieces:
Indigo - Rocks by Jeni Baker
Indigo Dyeing- Rocks, a photo by Jeni Baker on Flickr.
This is the piece that was secured the rocks.  It creates a wonderful ring design.  I think I'm going to use this for a tank!

For more from the weekend, I've put lots of photos in a flickr set, you can see our instagram hashtag from the weekend: #chaletsewing.

12 comments :

  1. You aren't old enough to go on a quilting vacation ... you appear to be about 16 or so! Glad you had a great time with your friends. I need some friends who have enough money to go ... LOL

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  2. I have a retreat coming up in Sept. I went last year and it was a beautiful place full of wonderful ladies and delicious food. We shopped too. I recommend a yearly retreat! They are awesome!

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  3. what a wonderful time you all had, like Paula I would love to have a group to go away with but seeing all your photos and reading all about I felt part of your trip

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  4. I'd love to have a weekend like this with my quilting friends. Looks like you all had a wonderful time.

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  5. Looks like lots of fun. That iced mocha cheesecake looks absoulutely divine

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  6. Jenni, what is the name of this cabin in Mount Horeb. I would love to schedule a retreat there for my friends.

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  7. It was fun watching what everyone was sewing pop up on instagram. Mmm..now I totally want a pretzel the size of my head.

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  8. Yay!! It was the best trip. I'm so glad I was able to come. Thanks for sharing your town with me, friend! Also? That pretzel (and it's accompanying cheese sauce) is the stuff of dreams.

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  9. That sounds so amazing! What a great idea and the food sounds amazing! I am jealous of that vintage bowl! What a great find!

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  10. This looks like the greatest sewing retreat ever! Love the photos Holly got of you, too - especially the one of you nestled in with a bunch of vintage sheets. Perfect. :)

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  11. Sounds like a great weekend! And that pretzel! Well I need it :P

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  12. Would love to tag along to this cabin...wherever it is!! Perfect sewing weekend!! Who wants to make it a week long retreat?? I'm there!!!

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