Is It Possible To Enjoy Myself Too Much?

June 14, 2010 By 20 Comments

What a treat this weekend!  I’m so excited to tell you about it.  Saturday I got up at the crack of dawn and drove 4 hours to Atlanta, GA to meet the woman who inspired me to sew, Dana Willard from MADE!  If you have been visiting the Southern Institute for long then you know that many of the things that I have made are the result of following her tutorials.  Dana and I have gotten to know each other by email over the last several months, so I was so excited when she told me that she was going to be in Atlanta doing a workshop at Whipstitch.  I cleared it with Tom and signed right up!  It was so much fun to meet her… like meeting an old friend.  The workshop was a ton of fun and boosted my creative confidence a notch.  I met some lovely women and learned of new blogs.  All in all, a wonderful 24+ hours.

The store itself is so great!  Open and bright and cheerful, with a great sewing lounge at the back.





It was so much fun to walk in and see Dana at the machine in the back.  I think we were all impressed!


I had signed up for the Mystery Workshop.  We were given a bag full of goodies to work with, elastic thread being the thing that we were challenged to create with.  We were left to our own creative devices and told to make something.  YIKES!  No other direction whatsoever.  Here are some of the ladies at work…
Tiffany from The Nesting Project and Larissa from mmmcrafts.

Here are some of the materials that I found in my bag…

… and this is what I came up with…


I have to say that I love this dress!  It should fit my niece and I can’t wait to see her in it.  Dana picked it as one of the top three… thanks Dana!  There are definitely more of these dressed in my future and you can be sure some of them will end up in my etsy shop (when it opens…)!
The workshop was limited to 10 people which was really nice… it kept it very personal.

  

I had the pleasure of meeting and spending time with Tiffany from Simply Modern Mom.
Great blog and a really fantastic gal!
Saturday night was spent having dinner and drinks with Dana, Deborah (the very fun owner of Whipstitch) and her husband.  Dana, Deborah and I sipped Shirley Temples while Dana and I wished we could be at the Fox Theater to see Conan. 


Sunday morning I took Dana to Java Jive for breakfast.  Yummy, yum, yum… you know this is one of my favorite spots in Atlanta, because you know, it’s all about the food for me.


What a fun weekend!  To meet and spend time with Dana was such a treat.  If you ever get the chance to meet her, please make sure you do.  She’s a ton of fun and simply adorable!  I’m hoping that some of her creative juices might have rubbed off on me.  But to tell you the truth… I have decided that a craft blogger I am not.  Not to say that I won’t  blog about things that I have made, but Dana does it so well, there’s just no keeping up.  This woman is the bees knees when it comes to craftiness, as far as I’m concerned.  We plan on more fun visits in the future, that’s for sure!
Make sure to come back to the Southern Institute throughout the week.  I’m guest posting at one of my favorite blogs, I have a great new series starting for those of us who have preschoolers (boy do I need this one), and I’m having a giveaway too.  If you want to stay up to date, why don’t you follow along or subscribe?  I’d love to have you!   
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Jenny Yarbrough

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Jenny is a wife and mother first and foremost. You can find her here at The Southern Institute, as the founder and owner of the blog, as well as at unboundbirth.com. She enjoys blogging and sewing, cooking for her three picky eaters, and playing tennis with her husband, Tom.

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Filed Under: Atlanta, Made, Whipstitch

Comments

  1. 2busy says:
    June 14, 2010 at 7:49 PM

    Looks like an awesome weekend. Love the dress! Some are just blessed with more talent than others.

    Reply
  2. Katrina says:
    June 14, 2010 at 8:18 PM

    It looked like such a fun weekend!! The shop you girls were at looks so beautiful!

    Reply
  3. Hi, I'm Hannah. says:
    June 14, 2010 at 8:43 PM

    Your dress is just beautiful! What a treat to meet Dana IN REAL LIFE. I feel so lucky that I actually got to talk to her on the phone once ha ha ..she is just so genuine and down to earth. What a fabulous time! I’m excited to have finally taken the time to look through your blog. I am definitely adding you to my list of daily reads!

    Hannah
    http://www.minimepaperdolls.com

    Reply
  4. Andrea says:
    June 14, 2010 at 10:40 PM

    What a fun weekend! I’ve got some elastic thread calling my name now. Your dress looks darling!

    Reply
  5. Larissa says:
    June 15, 2010 at 1:46 AM

    Hey, Jenny, and the answer is no, it is not possible to have too much fun. Looks like you made a weekend of it, too, so you are lucky! I so loved your pretty dress! What a lucky niece. It was lovely to meet you! I’ll see you online, unless Dana comes back, then I’ll see you at Whipstitch. :-)

    Reply
  6. lisa says:
    June 15, 2010 at 2:49 AM

    Oh I’m so jealous! I would have loved to have been there, but then again I would have been scaried to death. Half the time I’m not sure if I’m threading my machine right! HA!

    Reply
  7. Anna says:
    June 15, 2010 at 5:29 AM

    oh that looks like so much fun. You guys are too cute!

    Reply
  8. dana says:
    June 15, 2010 at 2:52 PM

    so many great pics! It was so much fun to meet you and the other fun ladies too. I’m glad we had extra time to drink shirley temples and eat waffles also :)

    Reply
  9. Deborah says:
    June 15, 2010 at 3:22 PM

    Am SO glad you made the loong drive to come down this weekend! Thanks for letting me drag you out so super late and for saying such wonderful things about the shop–can’t wait until your next visit!

    Bee tee dubs: that dress is INSANE in its cuteness–I really, really love it. Prize fully deserved!

    Reply
  10. Amber says:
    June 15, 2010 at 6:51 PM

    Hi Jenny. It was so lovely meeting you over the weekend at the workshop. Such a treat to be around so many creative women. I just love your blog, such fun!

    Reply
  11. Melissa says:
    June 16, 2010 at 3:01 AM

    Hey Jenny! It was so wonderful to meet you this weekend! I love your dress and I hope to see some pictures of your niece in it soon!
    Melissa

    sewlikemymom.com

    Reply
  12. Lori Danelle says:
    June 16, 2010 at 5:00 AM

    Jenny!!! That is awesome! Oh you must have had a blast!! I am so totally jealous! ( You might be able to tell from my extreme use of exclamation marks! HA!!)

    Glad you had fun. :)

    Reply
  13. michael moebes, esq. says:
    June 16, 2010 at 8:03 PM

    Great meeting other folks who love Nashville. Hope you can come visit us again before long!

    Reply
  14. Mee a Bee says:
    June 20, 2010 at 2:29 PM

    Oh I feel so jealous reading your blog Jenny. You have the most fun and look gorgeous doing it!

    Reply
  15. Tiffany says:
    June 20, 2010 at 4:54 PM

    i know. way too much fun right? let’s do it again soon! please, please tell me next time you’re in town. let’s meet up again. soon.

    Reply
  16. Tiffany says:
    June 30, 2011 at 11:24 PM

    i know. way too much fun right? let’s do it again soon! please, please tell me next time you’re in town. let’s meet up again. soon.

    Reply
  17. michael moebes, esq. says:
    June 30, 2011 at 11:24 PM

    Great meeting other folks who love Nashville. Hope you can come visit us again before long!

    Reply
  18. Deborah says:
    June 30, 2011 at 11:24 PM

    Am SO glad you made the loong drive to come down this weekend! Thanks for letting me drag you out so super late and for saying such wonderful things about the shop–can’t wait until your next visit!

    Bee tee dubs: that dress is INSANE in its cuteness–I really, really love it. Prize fully deserved!

    Reply
  19. Lori Danelle says:
    June 30, 2011 at 11:24 PM

    Jenny!!! That is awesome! Oh you must have had a blast!! I am so totally jealous! ( You might be able to tell from my extreme use of exclamation marks! HA!!)

    Glad you had fun. :)

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Mini Memo Book Covers from Larissa at mmmcrafts. - thesoutherninstitute.com says:
    August 15, 2012 at 9:32 PM

    [...] is visiting.  Have you met Larissa yet?  I met her last summer in Atlanta when we both attending Dana’s workshop… it was a blast.  Larissa was a treat to meet and definitely had the cutest shoes in the [...]

    Reply

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