melanie wellman

I've just returned from Creative Escape,
a several-day craft-a-thon with hundreds of enthusiastic and kind women
from all over the world: Japan, Canada, France, Australia, the U.S.
Though I taught all day a couple of days in a row, I'm surprisingly
refreshed. I blame it on the touching & funny keynote addresses
presented by Heidi Swapp & Melanie Wellman — and my decision to wear tennis shoes instead of heels. 

The CE students went out of their way to express their excitement
for my class, bring gifts (chocolate, jewelry, handmade cards, hair
clips, etc.), and make the experience fulfilling for us teachers as
well. (Thank you, ladies!)

All 700 or so in attendance were deeply moved by the response to
CE's designer lamp fundraiser for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
the final evening. All of the teachers at the event, and from past
years, donated a hand-built, one-of-a-kind lamp to be sold in silent
auction — all $ going straight through to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

To
add excitement to the final evening, two of the lamps were sold at live
auction. One bidder forked out $29,000 for charity to get her hands on
Tim Holtz' lamp (neat girl too), and Heidi's lamp raised over $8000.
Without gushing on, I'll just say I was seriously moved. I think we all
were. It was a great time. Thank you, Heidi & the Bazzill team for
including me in this year's event.

So…Now
that the cat's out of the bag on the fundraiser, I can finally show
photos of my lamp design — think tweet, tweet, chirp, chirp. I'll
gather up some photos to post.

It's great to be back. I'm wrapping up several big projects (hallelujah!) this week before heading out to Utah to deliver a keynote address at the Start-Up Princess event
on September 11th. If you're anywhere near South Jordan, Utah next
weekend, sign up for Friday's event and come say 'hi'. Or visit me at Material Girls
quilt shop on Saturday the 12th — around 1ish (till 3ish?), I think. 
I'll post a sure time as soon as it's confirmed. I'll also be on t.v.
on Thursday, the 10th at Studio 5 in Salt Lake City. As for the rest of the trip — I'll probably be sleeping, huh?