Chicago Fiberly Trip

I've spent the last 4 days in Chicago having a marvelous time with other fabulous sewers. Patti put it all together, and we had the best time. I got here Thursday morning, Patti drove us directly to 2nd Presbyterian Church where we viewed the Tiffany stained glass windows and other magnificent artworks there. This is truly worth a special stop if you're anywhere near there. That evening Patti, Norm and I went to The Chicago Symphony and Chorus's concert performance of Verdi's Otello. It was the return of Riccardo Muti, the soloists were fantastic, and it was simply a wonderful performance. I thought the soprano was especially good, and when I read the review, I was glad to see the Tribune's reviewer agreed with me.

"By far the best was the Bulgarian soprano Krassimira Stoyanova as the wronged heroine, Desdemona. Hers is a rich, gleaming lyric soprano with ample colorings and spinto thrust where needed. She sang with ravishing depth of sound, never more so than in the "Willow Song" and "Ave Maria," floating their soft, high-lying phrases so purely and poignantly as to have one hanging on every phrase. She did not need stage direction to bring out Desdemona's innocence and faith that pure love will be her salvation."

Following the performance, the weekend became purely textile-related. KayY (The Sewing Lawyer) and her husband Don came in, then Ann (Gorgeous Things) and Nancy (Nancy DaQ). Unfortunately, we were missing Linda, who was scheduled to come, but didn't make it.

Because Friday's weather here in Chicago was very foggy, both Ann and Nancy's planes were delayed, so Kay and I went to Vogue Fabrics in Evanston, Don tagged along and hit the 'trilobite shop', and Patti gathered Ann and Nancy as they arrived. We all met for dinner at Addis Abeba that evening.

From Chicago Fiberly 2011

Saturday morning, we met Cenetta at Fishman's and shopped there and at the Chicago location of Vogue Fabrics. Lunch at Manny's, an Architectural Walking Tour, dinner at Tapas Barcelona, and then more chat late into the evening rounded out our day.

Sunday we met Patti and two new friends, Karen and Adrienne at the hotel, walked to the train station, then made our way downtown to the Holiday Inn at the Merchandise Mart for the Haute Couture Club's luncheon and Fashion Show. It was a great day with probably 70 outfits in the show. Cenetta had quite a few, Rhonda Buss, whom we met before the show had multiple outfits as well. Altogether we had a lovely time. Nancy and Ann left us at the Mart and headed to their flights.

From Chicago Fiberly 2011

Patti, Norm, Kay and Don gave me my first experience of Indian and Nepali food as we went to Mt. Everest in Evanston for a light supper. Very nice. What a congenial group this has been, and I think we all had a marvelous time. It was just so much fun getting to meet and talk with longtime on-line friends. Everyone was just as nice as I'd thought they would be, and it was a most pleasant weekend to say the very least. And yes, I did buy fabric, but it's being shipped home, so you will just have to wait to see it. I was pretty circumspect in my purchases, but I have to say that between all of us, we made some fabric stores pretty happy.