Starstruck!!

Wow!  I do NOT know where to start.  I just had a crazy, fun, whirlwind two days in New York City.  Weeks ago I read about some events in New York to benefit the Alliance for American Quilts and I was intrigued.  I couldn't resist a chance to spend an evening at Victoria Findlay-Wolfe's loft listening to a panel of famous quilters talk about modern quilting moderated by Jackie Kunkel.

And more fun the next day at the Fashion Institute of Technology.  There is almost no end to the name dropping I could do.  I originally bought tickets for myself and my daughter because I knew she (not a quilter) would love to see (maybe meet) Jay McCarroll.  Sadly, Olivia has been laid low by mononucleosis so I was lucky enough to be joined by a great quilty pal of mine, Chris. We had a blast and this was the view from our hotel room.  I can't tell you how beautiful this was at night all lit up.



Friday night we had fun at Victoria's.  I was so excited to see her 2009 Kitchen Sink quilt in person.  Victoria is beautiful and gracious as well as incredibly creative and talented.  She is so sweet and there is no excuse for how tongue-tied I get when I'm around her.  Sometimes I just get a little shy (hard to believe, right?).   So, let me tell you one of my little adventures with Chris.  The night before I left, I carefully wrote down all of the addresses we would need and packed them with my NYC maps.  We took the Megabus to the city, dropped our bags at the hotel and then snagged some lunch and trotted over to the City Quilter. (more on that shopping trip later, I have lots of goodies to show).  We checked into our room and took a little rest before getting ready for the evening.  As we headed for the loft, Chris asked me if I was sure of the time.  Uh, yeah, it's 6 to 10pm.  Well, I was sure until she asked.  So I pulled out my little green notebook with the addresses to check.  No times written, bleh.  Let me add that Chris and I must be the only girls left on the planet without internet access from our phones.  No iPad either and I didn't take my laptop for the trip either.  Soooo,  I said I was pretty sure but that I hate hate hate being too early or the first person somewhere.  Guess where this is going?  We found the address, got buzzed into the lobby, and hopped into the elevator.  As it headed up we saw a little post-it about the event with the times on it, 7 to 10 pm.  SEVEN!  Yikes!  Then the elevator door opened and we were looking right into the loft.  I spazzed out, shrank against the wall desparately pushing the button to go back down, lol.  No one saw us (unless there is a camera to let them know who they are buzzing in) and we took off around the corner.  We killed time with a few drinks then headed back at a more appropriate time.  The drinks gave me the nerve to fess up to Victoria that it was us who 'buzzed, spazzed, and ran'.  Thank goodness she is better behaved than the New York Housewives.  Can you imagine what the Countess would have had to say to me?  'Dahling, a lady with class simply does NOT spaz.'



  I do NOT like to dress up. My idea of a perfect life would be jeans every single day, with a PJ day here and there. Anyway, I didn't know what I was wearing until the last minute and I was a little nervous about it.  At the last minute I had thrown this dress into my suitcase.  I bought it for my daughter a few years ago but she never wore it, it even still had the tags on.  Chris loved it and encouraged me to wear it so I did.  Late in the evening, I found myself sitting just a few feet away from Jay McCarroll.   Eeeeeee, I was so excited and I worked up my nerve to ask him for a picture.  He said sure but I had to get in it too.  Well, gee Jay, twist my arm.  Chris got this picture for me and as I was going back to me seat, Jay said,  'I like your dress.'   I'm not kidding people, I do not lie.  Jay McCarroll, winner of the first season of Project Runway, a FASHION design contest full of famous fashion people,  liked MY dress.  Me, who hates to get dressed up and is insecure when I do, got it right for an evening in the Fashion District in New York City.  Please............pinch me.  Jay really is a great guy, funny and not full of himself.  I wish I had had my wits about me enough to tell him how much I like his fabric lines, all of them.  I even had some Habitat fabric and a pigma pen so I could get him to sign it.  But, again I spazzed, and I completely forgot.  waah.  I have some pictures of his newest fashion line, it's awesome.  I share tomorrow, promise.

I promise, there is much much more to share about my weekend.  Lots more pictures, excitement, and names to drop. 

We only took one cab ride, on the way to the loft on Friday evening, I was wearing prissy shoes (which you can see in the above picture that I took off when I got there).  Below is what happened when I walked back to the hotel in my prissy shoes.



 Poor little tootsie.