Sewing Blogiverse Love

It's been a fantastic last several days! The sewing blogiverse, which, while lovely and encouraging and all, resides pretty firmly inside my laptop (for all I know, everyone except Oona, whom I've actually met IRL, was created by an exceedingly clever spambot), suddenly intersected with my "real" life in a whole bunch of ways.

Both us wearing me-mades, too!

Last Friday, I was just browsing in my somewhat-local discount fabric store, when I pulled a 60" roll of knit fabric off of a high shelf. I'm not super coordinated, so when a nearby lady started staring at me, my first panicked thought was that I had hit her in the head with the bolt. But then she said tentatively, "Cindy?" And I replied in the affirmative, equally tentatively. Well, as it turns out, this lady was none other than Aleah of No Time to Sew! We read each others' blogs, and while neither of us lives in the city usually, we managed to run into each other over by the $2.39/yd fabric table. After much mutual exclaiming and laughing and gushing, we calmed down enough to snap a quick photo as proof to the world that "this lady whose sewing blog I read" is, in fact, a real person. It was so fun to be recognized out in the wild, and I am so glad to have had a chance to meet Aleah; she is such a lovely person! 

I love getting sewing-related presents, especially when there are bonuses!
Thank you, Leah!

And then over the weekend, I was so fortunate as to receive two packages on the same day, both packed with sewing goodies! I got my giveaway package from Leah of Struggle Sews A Straight Seam, which had not only the promised patterns, but some salmon-colored silk and seam binding as well! The other package was an unsolicited box of awesome from Meg the Grand -- yes, you read that correctly, it wasn't a giveaway or my birthday or anything; she just sent it out of the goodness of her heart. Seriously, the sewing blogiverse is populated with the most lovely people!

Isn't that dinosaur patch the best thing ever? I need to figure out what would be worthy of such an adornment. I also adore the sailor outfit and the pussy bow dress! Thank you so much, Meg!

Walnut also likes it when I get packages, as it means new playthings for him.

Walnut, that box isn't big enough for you to climb into.

And just in case I wasn't inundated enough with blog/real life intersections, yesterday night I had the chance to meet up with several other Bay Area sewing bloggers at a meetup hosted by Cañada College's Fashion Deparment. I was too starstruck to take pictures of all the fantastic hats and garments on display, but go check out Shams of Communing With Fabric's recap. I was kicking myself that I didn't have enough cash on hand to purchase Lynda Maynard's book from her directly so she could sign it, too, but such is having to pay for bridge toll all the time life. And I so wish I lived in the city all the time so that I could take millinery classes! It was such an inspiring evening, seeing everyone else's lovely couture garments during the show and tell portion of the evening. And I? What did I bring to share? Hah! A wearable muslin of a simple bias-cut dress, made from leftover Spiderman sheets. Thankfully, I grabbed my 1912 blouse at the last second while running out the door, so I had something slightly less juvenile to share with all of these accomplished seamstresses.

You can't see it here, but she was wearing this gorgeous, vibrant red skirt.

Many thanks to Amy of Sew Well for letting me know about this event! She is just as thoughtful and sweet IRL as she is on her blog. If anything, I find her more inspiring than some of the more experienced professional seamstresses who were there, since she's been sewing for about as long as I have, but has a much more balanced sewing portfolio to show for it. Hmmm, I guess I should get back to cake-sewing. Prom dresses and whales don't quite fall into that category!