Drapery people meet en Mass. and talk about life, family, and what else... business.

After leaving Maine, our route home was going to take us through Massachusetts, where two of my drapery friends, that I first met at Northfield, live just a few miles from one another. And I was told most emphatically that I could not possibly drive by this close and NOT stop and see them. Which of course I wouldn't have anyway. So texts and phone calls were exchanged and a rendezvous was organized.

 

We drove first to Sue's house, where the  husbands got introduced, and after the four of us visited for a while, Sue and I spent time talking curtains and checking out her workroom. I have a pretty short commute, just down the hill, but Sue only had to walk from the kitchen to her workroom. Funny how we all have these workspaces, with pretty much all the same equipment, so why is it more fun to see someone else's setup and all their toys tools?

Rob was somewhat interested in the workroom chat, since he is in the "biz" now too, but I'm sure we were probably boring poor Steve, so we soon headed out to nearby Meadowbrook Orchards to meet up with Sarah for lunch. Her husband was a bit under the weather, so unfortunately we didn't get to meet him, but we did meet some of Sarah's family, who, to her complete surprise, were there for lunch also.

 

After lunch Sarah showed us her workroom, which is in Clinton, an old mill town near Boston. The building is an old plastics factory that was owned by the Van Brode Co. which manufactured the spork among other things.  She has a huge space that is jam packed with all kind of gorgeous fabrics from when she had a retail space. A dangerous place for a fabric lover like me, and not surprisingly we did leave there with a few yards of fabric.

     

  Inside mill and fabric photos courtesy of Storibook Designs

We were chatting about a chair that Rob had already torn down, and that we were having trouble finding just the right fabric for, and that also fit the budget. When I described the colors in the room, she pointed to a bolt near Rob and said, "What about that one right down there?"  Perfect! Just like that. And we bought it.

                                                                 

Here is the before and after, very delinquent as I promised Sarah a picture months and months ago.



The before is not a true before as the chair was so disgusting (the previous owner had cats that apparently thought the chair was either a scratching post or worse) that Rob tore it down immediately after getting it home, so I only have it in it's pure state, without even any padding or legs (which were those very ugly, very 50's skinny plastic ones, ick.)

New foam, new legs, new fabric, and now it's even good enough for the mancave, aka TV room. The ottoman, which came from a friend, we saved from the trash heap that it was headed to. Once Rob got rid of the very dated orange floral fabric, and the ruffled skirt, it makes a great companion to the chair. And we didn't even have to buy new legs for it.

 

Curtainladies on holiday

Last month I drove 18 hours to spend a long weekend on the coast of North Carolina with a group of "curtain lady" friends from around the country. I stopped in Ohio to pick up Beth and we drove to New Bern where Lorraine and her husband have a vacation condo and a sailboat.

I had met all but one of these amazing women for the first time at the Northfield Foundation house just under a year ago, where we spent a whirlwind weekend volunteering our time to upholster furniture for the house. There had been two previous upholstering weekends that I hadn't participated in, but it didn't matter, as I and the other newcomers were welcomed with open arms and treated as old friends. When Elaine moved into her new workroom, Beth and I started talking about visiting and pretty soon Lorraine and Elaine had a plan for a reunion.

The curtainladies.

We spent one day at her new workroom, ostensibly learning tips from Elaine about her fabulous cornices, but really I think we may have spent more time laughing and having fun, and celebrating Sue's entry into the 50 year club.

Elaine's new workroom.

Elaines' fancy work aprons.

The rest of the time was play time, and did we play. Good wine, even better food, lots of talk and laughter, sightseeing, sailing and even a game of Scrabble thrown in. And oh, the funny stories that were told... but I can't repeat them here.

Lorraine gave us all glasses with our business names on them.

On Lorraine's boat.

On Melinda's boat.

Besides the enjoying the camaraderie of a group of women who all speak the same language, the sailing was one of the highlights of the weekend for me. I used to go sailing on a big boat in northern Michigan with relatives on both Lake Charlevoix and Lake Michigan. My Dad also had a small boat that we sailed on an inland lake, but it was sold long ago, so I hadn't been sailing for years. What a treat, and our skipper, Melinda, was so much fun to talk to and just a fount of knowledge about all things sailing.

Melinda and her boat.

Hoisting the mainsail.

Under sail!

Lorraine takes the helm.

We had such a great time, we are planning another reunion...in Michigan this time!