When I first starting dating Train Guy, we didn’t go on the normal dates. Instead of restaurants, nightclubs, movies or the typical dating dreck, we took a less conventional route. We went to quilt shops, hobby shops, quilt shows and model railroading shows. Now that I think if it, I’m not really sure how this pattern evolved. I’m pretty sure it was something like, Him: “What do you want to do this weekend?” Me: “Well there’s a quilt show I wanted to go to…”, thinking he’d take a hard pass and I’d have to find some other time to go by myself. To my surprise, his response was an enthusiastic, “OK!”
After that, the next weekend we looked for something model train related for him. It turns out, I found model railroading to be very cool. It reminded me of the modeling that I did when I was growing up. I had a dollhouse which I adored and made everything you can think of for the stylish 1:12 scale family. I’m not kidding when I say I actually used the line “Want to come in and see my dollhouse?” at one point in our early dating days. We had to get down on the floor, as I had recently moved and didn’t have it set up on a table. I pulled out all the little wooden furniture I’d made over the years, recounting how old I was when I made each piece and proudly showing off the insane level of detail. Case in point, I once made a sewing machine that flipped up out of a little cabinet and even had spools of real thread with little holes in them so they could actually set on the machine. The little machine also had an actual needle and a little stitch length lever made from a glass head pin. As I learned more about model railroading culture, I found out that that kind of crazy attention to detail made one what is known in the model railroading vernacular as a “rivet counter”. Upon that realization, Train Guy was more smitten with me than if I’d showed up to our date in a leather mini skirt.
For Train Guy’s part, I’m not sure that he really cared much about quilting per se, but he really enjoyed all the tools and widgets we quilter’s use. He was particularly excited about rulers and cutting implements, specifically how one could cut up fabric faster. Back at home, he designed a system of clamps and rulers derived from his wood working tools by which he could cut an entire yard of fabric into perfect 2.5” strips in less than a minute. Now that’s the kind of man you want to keep around.
Those dating days are far behind us now, but today whenever we go on any kind of vacation or even mini-road trip, we start out by mapping all the quilt and train shops as well as any shows or events. The fun of finding new places and the joys of seeing something new never ends!
