2014 Smalls Stitch a Long - Blackwork Tissue Holder

This month I’ve made a mini tissue holder, using a blackwork pattern designed by Marion Scoular.

 

Linking up with Stitching Lotus’ Smalls Stitch a Long.

Take a Stitch Tuesday - 120 Double Herringbone and 121 Twisted Lattice Band.

These are two related stitches so I’m doing them together.  TAST 120 is the Double Herringbone Stitch and 121 is the Twisted Lattice Band (which starts out as the double herringbone).  I used #8 perle cotton for both stitches.

If you are interested in trying out new stitches, check out TAST at Pintangle.

Monday Morning Star Count - Very LIttle Done

I haven’t felt like stitching this week, but I did force myself to connect these few hexagons so I’d have something to show.  I hope I’ll be feeling better and have more to show next week.

Linking up with Jessica at LifeUnder Quilts.

London Shows

I love to see live shows and when I go to London, I usually try to see a matinee and an evening performance every day.  This trip I was only in London a few days, but I was still able to see five shows – Jeeves and Wooster in Perfect Nonsense, The Woman in Black, The Commitments, Once, and Let It Be.

Jeeves and Wooster is a comedy based on the books of P. G. Wodehouse. I really enjoyed this play.  I listen to these audio books over and over and never tire of them.  Since coming home, I have discovered a British television series about Jeeves and Wooster on YouTube and have been watching episodes.  The actor who plays House (Hugh Laurie) plays the Bertie Wooster character in the tv series. Duke of York Theater

The Woman in Black was really scary. I don’t recommend seeing this play if you have a weak heart! Fortune Theater

The Commitments is a musical based on Roddy Doyle’s best selling novel about a musical group in Ireland.  I hadn’t heard of it before and was surprised to find out there is a book and a movie already out there.  It featured the music  of Otis Redding, Jimmy Ruffin, Wilson Pickett, The Supremes, Marvin Gay, Aretha Franklin and others. Palace Theater

 

Once is also set in Ireland, and is a musical based on the film of the same name.  It tells the story of an Irish busker and a young Czech girl who meet through a shared love of music. It was funny and touching. The stage is a pub and before the show and during the intermission, people in the audience could buy drinks on stage. Phoenix Theater

My favorite of the plays I saw this trip was Let It Be, about the Beatles.  The audience was encouraged to stand up and sing along with the musicians who played the Beatles.  I often listened to the Beatles in my younger days and I knew all the words to all the songs.  It was very nostalgic. Garrick Theater

Miss Saigon is again playing in London, but I didn’t choose to see it this trip.  I saw it on my very first trip to London in January of 1991. I liked it when I saw it, but it is so dark and haunting that I couldn’t see it again.

 

Bath Summer Textile School - Janet Bolton Class

I took two classes (two days each) at the Bath Summer Textile School last month.  The first was with tutor Janet Bolton and was held at the American Museum.

 

It was a folksy applique, do your own thing, kind of class. Everyone brought what they thought they might need to work with, not knowing what they would be making.  I brought a lot less than most but still had much more than I needed.  Working from the outside in, we made frames, then filled them in.

Near the end of the second day, we had a “show and tell” so everyone could see everyone else’s projects. 



This is mine - with a lot more to do!

 

I haven’t worked on mine since I returned home, but I hope to work on it again soon.  I liked this technique and will probably do something with it again.

Ups and Downs

I had been feeling pretty good after surgery until a few days ago, when I started having pain and pressure in my lower abdomen.  I contacted the doctor and she had me come in for a blood test, x-ray, and ultrasound.  She said I have fluid collecting because of the removal of the lymph nodes.  This causes inflammation and infection, so I am taking antibiotics.  I haven’t felt much like stitching or doing much of anything really.  So far I have been able to take a walk each day, although some days it has been a slow short walk.  Ted went to the United States on the 10^th and is staying three weeks, so it's good that I don’t have much to do as far as housekeeping.  I’m not so good with this being sick thing.  Even though I know I need to take it easy and heal, I feel like I am just wasting time.

Guilty of Being a Foreigner

I’ve been walking slowly each day as surgery recovery.  The better I feel the farther I walk.  I was walking down Eki Mae Dori, a fairly busy street leading to the train station, when a police car stopped and two local police officers got out. I hadn't crossed on red or jay walked, I was just walking down the sidewalk.   All the people in the cars going by were twisting their heads off to see what was going on. 

The two officers asked for my resident card and one copied all the information while the other asked me questions – What is my name, what am I doing, where do I live, where do I work, how long have I been here, how much longer will I stay, how do I like living here, etc.  Finally they gave my resident card back and told me if I get in an accident, call 110 (the Japanese equivalent of 911 in the US).  I've never been stopped before and couldn’t help asking why they stopped me now. The answer?  Because I don’t look Japanese.

Work In Progress Wednesday - Sampler Wallet Progress

I finished stitching the sampler.  It was difficult to follow the chart at times – I wanted to “fix” the mistakes.  I think I managed to stitch it exactly wrong.

 

I used Waterlillies thread.  The colors are 236 Appalachia, 029 Seafoam, 017 Blue Lavender, 177 Sapphire, 018 Peacock, 019 Tropic Seas, and 041 Blueberry.

 

I’m not sure what I’ll line the wallet with yet.  Here are two possibilities.

 

Check out the progress of other stitchers at PinTangle.

Take a Stitch Tuesday - 119 Woven Trellis Stitch

I really like this one!  I made samples using Watercolors (brown) and #8 perle (grey).

 

If you are interested in trying out new stitches, check out TAST at Pintangle.

Monday Morning Star Count - 168 hexagons

Today is a national holiday in Japan – Respect for the Aged Day. 

I’ve completed 168 hexagons in these ten fabrics. 

 

I’m thinking about doing some off-white or neutral hexagons for in-between. I’m not sure if I’ll use any or all of these.

Linking up with Jessica at LifeUnder Quilts.

Tower of London Poppies

The Tower of London is commemorating 100 years since the outbreak of the first world war with an evolving installation of ceramic poppies.  A total of 888,246 ceramic poppies will fill the Tower’s moat between 5 August and 11 November, with each poppy representing a British military fatality during the war. Poppies are being sold for 25 pounds each, with money raised going to military charities.  You can read more about this project here.

This is what the moat looked like the day I visited last month.  It was a rainy dreary day, but the red poppies still stood out.

Blue and Silver Ornament

Vicky and I started working on little ornaments earlier in the summer.  Hers is red and gold.  We recently got together again to work on them.  When she went home, we each had only to stitch the cording.  Here is my finished ornament.