A Chance Meeting -The Sewist and The Thief

My favorite local sewing haven, Stonemountain and Daughter, was on the route home from a client visit today, which means that I just had to pop in, of course.   I also happened to have some fabric swatches that I needed to match with me...just in case...and was determined to keep my eye on the goal and not get distracted by bright shiny objects.

It almost worked.   But they had a couple of inches of this on display:

Now, if you've seen Mary's fabulous version of Marcy T's jacket, you will understand why I stopped dead in my tracks, turned around & shouted out "Where do you have this????"  It actually took a little while to find it, but with the help of one of the Stonemountain ladies, we finally spied what precious little there was left...and it was HALF OFF!  Now, this is pricey stuff folks, imported from France, and at $24.00 yard, even at half off it still ain't cheap.  I eyed the length, knew it was more than enough, but figured I would take it ALL home and hoard what I didn't use on the jacket.   Just because.

Per Stonemountain protocol, I placed it lovingly on their counter & put one of their order pads on top of it.   This is the equivalent of a she-wolf marking her territory, and as I wandered through the store, I  returned to check my markings and add to my pile....and all was well in my she-wolf world.

In my wanderings, I struck up a conversation with a friendly woman, who was there with another friendly woman, and wouldn't you know it, after a bit we realized that we already knew each other!   In the online sense, that is.  The creative and talented Patti B, who is definitely one of my sources of inspiration, had driven up with sew2little (who does need to sew more, because she's made some delightful items!).   So we giggled a bit & chatted about fabrics & patterns & all those things that sewists tend to chat about, and I must say that Patti SEEMED to be as delightful as her big smile in her pics indicated.

"Seemed" being the operative word.  (Note:  I'm allowing my inner selfish seamstress to emerge; normally I hide her well, but she's there, lurking....)

So I'm all done shopping, I've done a pretty good job of not being distracted by bright shiny objects (My Precious, above, being the one understandable exception), and I go to my pile on the counter......and.... there is NO HOOK AND EYE TAPE!)   Now, I did a double take, staring in disbelief, but you should have seen the look on the face of the employee who had helped me find it earlier.  This woman, trust me, is a formidable presence, and she was ready to go into attack mode to find out what happened to My Precious!

Seriously.  You had to be there.  She was frightening me!

What ensued happened very quickly.  Stonemountain uses clear plastic bags.  The sweet and innocent Patti B was also at the counter.  With her clear plastic bag in front of her.  Filled with fabric.  And.....you guessed it....MY PRECIOUS!!!!   Well, only part of it....my sharp eyes could tell that she, unlike me, was not being greedy and only cut off what she needed.  Meanwhile, my helpful cutter found the remaining bit of My Precious, which, thankfully, was enough. Just barely. Even so, she was ready to pounce on Patti's bag & reclaim My Precious to return it to its rightful owner.   Patti B begged forgiveness, CLAIMED she didn't know the aforementioned protocol, and pretended to be all embarrassed and remorseful, but I knew better....   Still, I chose the high road, and opted to be my usual gracious public self and pretended like I believed her.  In a fit of generosity,  I even let her maintain her dignity and keep her cut.

Especially since she really DOES have fabulous creative taste.  And we both wanted that tape for the same reason (Mary should be getting commissions on this!).  And there really was enough.

OK, ok....it's time to shove my inner selfish seamstress back inside...  And the truth is, it really was delightful  meeting Patti and sew2little, and I'm glad that we BOTH got our tape.   We parted with hugs & smiles, and I hope we get to meet again!

But if we do, I'm keeping my eye on any precious notions I might have with me ;-)

Here's my mini-haul for the day:

Golden silk charmeuse w/ lycra, a copper silk dupioni,  
and a textured, sheer silk from the half-off floor.
I'm SO proud of myself, because all of the fabric was bought
specifically to match something I already have - I'm learning to control myself!

I hope you had a day that was filled with enough for you, and everyone around you :)