MEHC Workshop in St. Louis

You all must know that I am a huge Mary Engelbreit fan, so when the first (hopefully annual) Home Companion Workshop was announced last year, I immediately signed up for it. I had hoped some other people I know would have gone, but that didn't happen. The theme of the workshop was "Bring a friend, make a friend," and while I didn't bring one, I made several! I found a roommate on the Yahoo Group that had been set up ahead of time. Jen and I got along fabulously. She is one very talented lady!


The first thing on the agenda was a tour of the Mary Engelbreit studios. I had toured her old studio back in the 90s. This one is much smaller, but still very cute.



I felt honored to sit on the Queen's throne!


This is the print that Mary did to benefit the victims of the earthquake in Haiti. I bought one as soon as it was released and received number 2/250. I found 1/250 in the studio! I have a lot more pictures of the studio on Flickr if you are interested.

We had the opportunity to take four workshops with some very talented instructors. My favorite one was Charlotte Lyons.

This picture of me was taken in her workshop when Mary came around to inspect our work. This is what I made...I love how it turned out. Who would guess it was made from a corn flake box? I was pretty excited to see it (and my nametag) on Mary's blog!


And this is the bracelet I made with a kit from Kaari Meng. You may be familiar with her Rouenneries fabric from Moda.




There was a panel discussion entitled "The Future of Handmade" during lunch on Saturday, followed by a book signing and photo ops.


Amy Butler was just a sweet as can be...it was a thrill to meet someone whose art you admire.

Mary was very gracious about signing books and posing for the camera.



And this was the "goody bag" everyone received. It was a fabulous weekend...can't wait for next year!