5 days in Chicago

Well, I just spent 5 days in Chi-town (Chicago). My daughter's basketball team played in the Nike Tournament there. They managed to place 3rd in their bracket, which was very good.

For those of you that are really into the Girl's basketball, they loss to a team out of Dallas, (that team went on to win the tournament), one of the nations top recruits for 2009 was on the team.

It was so amazing, and I felt truly in my element, nothing but young girls 6 feet tall and over (where were these girls when I was growing up!). BTW, I'm 6 ft, my daughter is 6'1", and my daughter has a teammate that is 6'6".

Here's a couple of pictures:

My daughter's team (in white) during a game

My daughter during a game (in red uniform)

While I was in Chicago, I had to go visit at least one fabric store ( I know I was supposed to be there to support my daughter, but hey I needed a side trip; besides I took my daughter to the Nike store after the tournament). I decided to go to the Vogue Fabrics flagship store in Evanston. Imagine my good luck to arrive right before the ASG (American Sewing Guild) bus tour did. I was lucky that I had my ASG card on me, so I was able to get the discounts that the Conference members got (Yes Sandy, there is a God!). Overwhelming, is an understatement. I wish they had something even close to this in the Colorado area. In talking with some of the women I found out that next years conference is scheduled for Albuquerque NM (my backyard & only a 6 hour drive), so I'm definitely making plans to attend.

Inside Vogue Fabrics in Evanston, IL and the women of ASG

I overheard one of the ladies coming into the store say "My God, I've died and gone to heaven", I knew exactly how she felt. One of the more interesting things that I saw was the dress forms available for rental:
Anyway, needless to say after about an hour of grazing thru the fabrics (I had to be back to meet my daughter for her next game - oh well). I did get to pick up some fabrics. It helps that you can't take a 2nd bag on the planes for free now - sort of helped me keep my spending down. I just couldn't accept the idea of sending my purchases back by mail. I ended up buying 5 pieces of fabric: 1 piece of lawn/voile fabric in a lime&brown with a border, a piece of chiffon, 2 pieces of silk dupionni (burgundy and sage), and 1 piece of cotton lycra in a soft lime green.
The colors don't show up too good in the picture.

Now I'm thinking of reasons to go and visit my sister who lives downtown Chicago, just so I can go to the fabric stores in the area. Next time I'll hit Fisherman.

Hey maybe I can convince my daughter to go to Northwestern for college next year! Oh well, after writing this, I really need to make a confession:

"Hi my name is Sandy, and I have an addiction to anything related to sewing!".