Sunday, June 29, 2008

PR goes to Baltimore

Having this much fun should be illegal. Kisha and I got started on Saturday morning around 7:30, and we arrived at A Fabric Place at about 9:45. While she got hijacked into helping put snacks together for the soon-to-arrive PR ladies, I got a quick, mind-boggling tour of the store. Every time I stopped and said, "Ooh, I like that," she firmly took my elbow and said, "There's more. You can come back." I'm still not sure I revisited every "ooh" but I did plenty of damage.

The most fun thing about these meetups, even including fabric-buying, is talking to all these other women who I only know from online, but who within seconds of meeting I'm talking to like I've known them forever. It's a powerful obsession we all share, and I think we're all eager to have someone to share it with besides our patient (but not necessarily comprehending friends, family and partners). I saw people I've met before - Deepika, Cindy, Renee - and met people who I know from their blogs - Narcissaqpie, Robin Denning - and many people, including several named Chris, who I'd never met before. Plus there was Kisha. We drove together but had never met before that morning. Ah, the power of sewing.

After we finished shopping (or almost finished, I know for a fact that several of us stopped back later), we drove to the Dogwood Deli for lunch. Kisha and I thought we were following the car we had been told to follow, but somewhere along the line we lost them and started following a completely different car. We realized this only when we followed the poor man to his driveway. But he knew where the Dogwood Deli was, and gave us good directions, so it was all good in the end.

Lunch was fun - there were 22 of us keeping the waitstaff hopping - and more sewing was discussed. It's amazing how none of us managed to run out of words, though I did start to run out of voice by the end of the day.

After lunch we split up. Several of the women were going to G Street Fabrics, and we were tempted, but we decided to head back to Philadelphia and stop at Jomar instead. But even the best made plans of sewists can go awry. We left the deli, stopped back at A Fabric Place so Kisha could get the last piece of black and white linen (the one everyone was buying to make the Michelle Obama dress), and headed on our way.


All was well until we slowed to go through the toll at Perryville. We slowed; the car stopped. And stayed stopped. After we were pushed to the side of the road, Kisha called her husband (to come get us), the tow company (to get us to the dealership) and her father (to diagnose the car problem). All of which got done in record time, but while we were sitting in the (thankfully) air conditioned car, we were very grateful that Renee had lent me an entire bag of Patrones magazines. Time passed a little more quickly when we could sit there and ooh and aah over patterns. Thank you, Renee.

Eventually we got towed to Wilmington and met up with Kisha's husband and baby girl, and by 7:00 p.m. I was on my doorstep, where Mario was waiting with a chilled glass of wine that I most desperately needed. All in all, we didn't get home all that much later than we would have if we'd stopped at Jomar! Which will happen at a later date, we've agreed on that.

There will be a separate post about my fabric purchases, which were not large (by PR shopping standards anyway), but which cost me a pretty penny and not one of which I regret. Though I bought one fabric that I surely would have regretted leaving behind, even though I could afford so little of it I'm not sure what I'm going to use it for. Yet. Inspiration will come.


Note: In adition to my own pictures, I have absconded with the photos of others to fully illustrate my tale. Some photo credits to Renee and Robin.

7 comments:

cidell said...

I'm sorry you got stuck on the way! I just wish I had put a bottle of wine in the bag too!

NancyDaQ said...

After reading all y'all's blog posts and PR today, I'm so jealous of you East Coast gals! Don't get me wrong, I love being in the Southwest, but...sometimes the wide open spaces make it hard to bond with other sewing fanatics. For example, Denver's 7 hours, Dallas is 10 and Phoenix is 8. Kind of hard to do a road trip unless one wants to spring for air travel.

Elaray said...

Awww! I wished I'd been able to go with you and Kisha. I've been reading the blogs and it sounds like lots of fun (except for the car trouble)!

a little sewing said...

Oh I am so glad i found your blog Karen! I really enjoyed meeting you and I liked your Sandra Betzina top. I can't wait to see what comes from the big bag of Patrons! Enjoy!

And yeah, bring Elaray next time!

a little sewing said...

OK.. I got you and Kisha mixed up on who was wearing the SB top, right?
woops!!

Carolyn (Diary of a Sewing Fanatic) said...

Okay I gotta know when y'all are going to JoMars and to which one...I haven't been in years and I could be persuaded to meet you there!

Sorry to hear about the way your day ended but it seems as if the good times definitely outweighed the bad!

MarilynB said...

Thanks for sharing your adventures. A nice glass of wine always helps one to forget about the negatives and remember the fun parts.