I was happy enough when Mary Douglas Drysdale invited me to a small dinner party on Friday — just a few women eating by the fire, who could pass that up?

But it turned out that Mary used the evening to introduce us to Sandra Jordan, a textile designer with Peruvian roots whose alpaca fabrics are softer than cashmere.

Sandra Joran, sitting on Mary's Knoll sofa, which she covered in Jordan's alpaca. The pillows and window treatments are also Jordan's. And this setting is all in Mary's kitchen -- if only!

A closeup of this unbelievably delicious fabric

Sandra held forth on this history of Peru, and how the evolution of that country’s alpaca population is so intertwined with its politics. She had us hanging on every word. Her mellifluous Peruvian accent made the story that much more compelling.

But really? I just wanted to wrap myself up in these textiles and take a nap. (I’ll go off on a wee tangent here and say I first discovered the wonders of alpaca last year, when I used alpaca throw blankets from D. Bryant Archie in a photo shoot for the Washington Spaces gift guide. I did NOT want to send those puppies back, but at $600-plus per throw, I kinda had to. )

Sandra, whose collection is sold through the Holly Hunt showroom at the Washington Design Center, proceeded to wow us with a slide show of stunning photography of Peru. She took out her laptop to show us the pictures in front of the fireplace in Mary’s dramatic Dupont Circle brownstone living room.

Sandra and her Holly Hunt representative, Kate Lluberes, at Mary's antique table filled with food and drink.

Mary has a knack for bringing people together who don’t know each other at the start of the evening, but become fast friends by they time they leave.  I was so pleased to meet Susan Dowell, a fellow refugee from closed-down shelter magazines — in her case, Southern Accents.

Susan Dowell, left, and Mary share stories from years of friendship that was first forged when Susan wrote about her for Southern Accents.

I was also beside myself to meet a fellow DC design blogger — Jeanette Stieringer of A Passion for Home. She had just commented on this blog the afternoon before we met, and how cool to meet her in person.

Jeanette sits in front of a giant antique wooden horse, which was once used to train soldiers how to put on saddles and bridles, and how to mount. It's one of Mary's favorite possessions (besides the ginormous multi-colored elephant in her entry foyer).

I realize now that I didn’t get a picture of Mary’s cousin, Maryanne Pollock, an artist whose vivid painting is above Mary’s mantel. Maryanne was too busy running around, serving food and drinks, so sit still for any extended period of time, bless her heart. We got to hear about her interesting career, and Mary hauled out another one of her canvases during the meal to show us more of her work.

Thanks, Mary, for a fabulous dinner party with wonderful women who I won’t soon forget!