Nabbed
Finally!

Anytime I get ready for a trip, I somehow gravitate to the fabric store. I can't really explain it. There's just this instinctive need to acquire more textiles before I vacate the premises for a while. It's not like I'm going to be sewing while I'm away. Perhaps I'm prepping my home for my eventual return to the sewing machine, lining my nest if you will for when I must come back to Chicago. I went to Jo-Ann Fabrics on Saturday to take advantage of the $3.99 Vogue Patterns sale (I finally managed to get the above set of hat instructions on sale. Hurrah!). Even at Jo-Ann's, I was buying a concentric-patterned chartreuse, turquoise and brown fleece for inexpensive airplane blankets. Now that I'm leaving tomorrow night and I'm packing I have this incredible urge to go to Vogue Fabrics. I nearly went there tonight but I decided I needed to go to the grocery store instead. Even so, I'm already making plans to go there tomorrow before I dash off to the airport in the afternoon. I'm thinking of getting this Italian eyelet that I swear I've been seeing everywhere. If I don't do it before I take to the skies, this particular cotton might be gone when I return, and I know I will be devastated beyond imagination if that turns out to be the case. (Actually, I'll be kicking myself, but I seem to be end up with sore buttocks when I do that. Kicking yourself is a little difficult if you think about it. I'm certain I'll fall on the floor multiple times trying.) So on My To-Do List, somewhere after copying my passport is...going to Vogue. It'll be a mad dash, I swear. No lingering around the remmant tables. I know exactly what I'm doing. In fact, you could likely blindfold me and I'll be able to pick out the fabric. It's the second row of shelves, third one up as you enter the Silk Room. (Isn't that a lovely name for a particular place in a shop? But I have to tell you there's a lot of more than just silks in this department). I'll grab the bolt, head to the cash register. I know how much yardage I'm getting. Credit card? Here you go, Gabby, Kate or whoever else is manning the cutting table. Sign receipt. I'll be out of the store faster than Spiderman with Mary Jane in tow. Except you'll see me running down Main Street with eyelet in hand, moving so fast, some people might think I'm a ghost from the one of the sunken ships off of Lake Michigan. I might get arrested, not for indecent exposure, but scarying the living daylights out of the local residents. Then I won't be able to board my plane with my mother (!!!) to go to Galway, Ireland where I'll be attending this conference. where I'm certain I'll be daydreaming during one of the lectures about the next pattern I'll tackle when I'm back in the Midwest. How often do you think about sewing when you're doing something work-related?