Thursday, May 10, 2012

Blogger Meetup - Karen of DidYouMakeThat


See me on the right? In the glasses. (Yes, I just got a haircut.) That's Beth at the very end, in a beautiful purple Donna Karan dress.

I love blogger meetups. I am an extroverted person living an introverted life. I work at home and rarely go into the office, which is about an hour away, or I'd go in more often. I live alone, unless you count my unsociable grey cat, who has never forgiven me for stepping on his tale, in the dark, when he was a kitten. (I never stepped on my white cat...) Even now, he panics if I'm standing up. To top it off, my hobby is SEWING. A solitary hobby, if ever there was one.

So I love to get together with other sewists and I take most every opportunity to do so. My sewing friend and blogger, Beth, of Sunny Gal Studio, emailed me weeks ago to let me know that Karen, of Did You Make That? was coming to the bay area. Karen was going to spend the week studying with Beth and learning couture techniques. Beth is a consummate sewist and teacher.

While here, Karen wanted to meet up with local sewists and Beth asked me for suggestions on where we could meet. As someone who doesn't really drink, eat out, or go out much, I wasn't much help, but Beth found a great wine bar in downtown SF, right at the entrance to China Town, Rouge et Blanc.


I didn't count how many of us showed up last night, but it was maybe 15 sewists. It was SO.MUCH.FUN. I had not been a follower of Karen's blog, which I have remedied. She is a totally delightful person who loves vintage style and wants to master couture techniques. Even though the only person I knew at the event was Beth, I was immediately in deep conversation with many different sewists. One sewist was actually visiting from the U.K. and her trip just happened to coincide with Karen's visit.

I think I'm not the only sewist who loves to get out and interact with other sewists. :)

And, guess what? I don't usually like wine (or most any alcohol). But I had two (rather expensive) glasses of the yummiest French wine! Sheesh, I could have downed a lot more, but I was quite buzzed as it was, so 2 glasses seems to be my limit. I'm glad that I took the subway home. ;)


There's Karen!

Let me point out a couple posts. Amy, of Sew Well, wrote the greatest post about last night. I borrowed her pictures for my post as I did not take any. (There were many people snapping pictures, but many of them don't blog.) She even lives relatively close to me! Amy, if you need help pinning a hem, let me know. :)

Karen, our guest of honor, wrote the greatest post about the sale last Monday at Britex. I don't usually attend these sales, but she is not exaggerating about the mob. I find that, even at the sales, their prices are quite high. But I'm pretty sure I recognize a local sewing friend, Wendy, in one of her pictures. :)

New haircut!

30 comments:

  1. Love your hair and love hearing about this meet up. I so relate to being an extrovert with an introvert lifestyle. The ONLY thing I miss from working is the people....well, ok, a paycheck would sure come in handy these days.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Jane! Yes, I would miss my paycheck. :)

      Delete
  2. Another sewist meet-up - I'm jealous! It sounds like a great time. I'm glad your extroversion got a good workout!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Dixie! One of these days, I hope you make it out here. Jillian and I would love to meet you! :)

      Delete
  3. Oh my. I am so jealous, you can't imagine.

    I am a bit of an extrovert and a bit of an introvert. I can imagine me walking by several times gathering up the nerve to go in. Sitting on the sidelines too nervous to jump into the conversation. But I still wish I was there.

    I am so pleased that you had a great time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, Elle, I would hope you'd come right in! :D

      Delete
  4. I had such a great time meeting you and chatting with everyone about sewing. I was just bubbling over with the excitement of it.

    Sarah

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was so great to meet you, Sarah! I am so impressed that you and your hubbie both sew!!

      Delete
  5. No you are definitely not. I planned part of my last Europe/london trip around meeting bloggers. I'd come to pop over the US too - any soulmate will do..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What a treat, Gail! I don't travel much, but meeting other sewists is a high priority!

      Delete
  6. You are right Shams, it was a fantastic get-together. I could do it again next week. Because I ALWAYS have more sewing topics to discuss! I am so glad you could make it and thanks for supporting me in the planning stages. Now our west coast sewing meetups have gone international :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for organizing this, Beth. It was a lot of fun and so nice to meet Karen!

      Delete
  7. Hi Shams, one day maybe I will get to the US and of course you know if you ever get to holiday down under there are plenty of sewing friends who'd love to meet up! I so enjoy meeting other sewers and also work from home, so understand. Your hair cut looks lovely, everyone looks happy, a wonderful get-together by all accounts.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That would be great, Dilliander! Either way, it will be great to meet in person. :)

      Delete
  8. Ooh, I AM envious! Sounds like it was a lot of fun :D

    ReplyDelete
  9. Cute, cute, cute haircut! You all look like you had such fun. I've been to SF years ago a couple of times for work, but that was before "blogging" and knowing sewing friends thru the net. Maybe I'll get to come back someday and I'll be sure to see if anything is happening while there!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Great haircut. Love, love the opportunity to meet up with fellow sewers. We had a blogger dinner like yours a few years ago when 3 out of towners came in to NYC for a Sit and Sew class with Kenneth King and Susan Khalje. We were about 9 and it was wonderful. It seems that our lifestyles have a lot in common. I too work from home which I share with a dog. I do have a dh but the days are solitary. Sewing of course is my hobby, and it is solitary. We don't go out much either. I am generally up for taking a day off to go into NYC (about 2 hours, door to garment district) to meet up with any fellow blogger or sewer. It's wonderful to chat with people whose eyes don't glaze over when you talk about sewing and aren't amazed that you do sew.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Oh, you are so lucky to have met so many interesting people!
    Ah, yes - the remnant sale at Britex - I remember those - many, many years ago. I used to drive up after work (I may have even left work early) and left with several bags full. That was a long, long time ago.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Sounds like you had lots of fun.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Lovely write up! Wasn't it a great night?! We will have to do it again soon...

    ReplyDelete
  14. As I read this post I turned a stylish and trendy acid green! This sounds like big fun! Also, that is a fine haircut!

    ReplyDelete
  15. It was a great evening - thanks so much for coming. and your hair looks fantastic. (plus I am totally envious of all your jeans - you are the jeans queen.)

    ReplyDelete
  16. First of all, you hair looks wonderful!! The pics show everyone having such a good time. Makes me more focused on trying to get to one of the Sewing Guild meetings! Last week I went over my friend Heather's house and we all sewed together. It was really fun!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Wow! What an inspiring group of sewists! I read Karen's blog (and your's - of course) and was intrigued by the sale at Britex - the one store I ALWAYS stop at when in the city. Never been there for the sale - but have dropped considerable coin there over the years! Looks like a wonderful group of sewists together. Sewing (actualy all creative activities) is really an international language :-)

    ReplyDelete
  18. There, I finally found the blog of the lady with the red jeans, it was nice meeting you last wednesday! :)

    Véronique

    ReplyDelete
  19. That sounds like so much fun! I recently started following Amy's blog, and I didn't realize she lived near you! Someday, if I ever make it down to San Francisco, I would love to get together with a group of sewers! I love the online sewing world! I can name many different places around the world that I could visit and arrange for a sewist group get-together!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Lovely hair cut. I just love meet up, they get your creative juices going. Everyone is so nice too. X

    ReplyDelete
  21. So in less than 2 weeks, besides you, me and Jilly, are you planning to round up other SF sewists that I can meet at lunch? That would be so fun and we could, en mass, attack Fabrix!

    ReplyDelete
  22. You're pretty as a picture in your new haircut! I especially like that second picture, SO good. Stick with me, kid, and I'll turn you into an introvert! (People think I'm an extraovert, but I ISN'T!)

    Annette

    ReplyDelete
  23. Looks like so much fun. Your post has me smiling. Excellent pictures, and great haircut, Shams!

    ReplyDelete