Friday, July 25, 2014

Coming Attractions & an Enthusiasm!

I hope everyone is having a good July!  Our weather has gone from way too hot one week to cool, no
down right cold :) the next week with blessed rains. 

In addition to working on stitching 'Violette' I've been designing the next two patterns for the Vintage Textile series.  I've been notified that a cross stitch magazine in the UK will be mentioning that series in their August edition, so I'm going to go ahead and give a sneak peek of the next designs though, as usual, they won't go on sale until I've stitched them.  No matter how hard I try to make a pattern perfect in the design stage there is rarely one that doesn't have to have a correction or tweak in stitching and I don't want them sold until I know they won't need any further changes.

The first is 'Alsace', an area of France that has been known for its wonderful textiles, especially red ticking fabric.
Vintage Textiles ~ 'Alsace'
And the second is 'Seville'.  I've wanted to do a lace piece since I love lace in all its lovely forms.  In fact I hope to do a band type of sampler similar to Back in the Day with rows of lacy motifs.

This pattern I placed on a sunny tangerine background to give the feel of Spanish lace.

Vintage Textiles ~ 'Seville'

Both of these pieces are done in the Assissi style of stitching the background and leaving the design unstitched unless you want to stitch it in needlepoint then just stitch the pattern in a white or off white color to achieve the same effect.

These two will definitely keep me busy stitching and don't let the Assissi technique scare you, the patterns are easy to follow.  In fact I find that patterns in Assissi stitch faster for me.

And now an 'Enthusiasm' I'd like to share!

If you've read the blog for very long you will know that one of my loves are Korean Dramas and that has only increased as we've watched so many great ones through Dramafever, Hulu Plus and online at places like Gooddrama.net   It seems they are only making better and better dramas with one of the best yet airing this year called 'My Love from Another Star'



A mega hit throughout Asia, breaking records in China, this gem is a super love story, mystery, comedy and all around perfection.  The story of an 'alien' from another star who comes to the Joeson era Korea and saves a young girl's life and in doing so gets left behind when the others leave.  Fast forward 400 years later he is still young, gorgeous and very rich (all those land deals before modern Seoul was built paid off) and he's been a doctor, lawyer and is at the present time a professor of Psychology who doesn't believe in what humans call 'love'.  He is also getting ready to leave since his 'star' that only approaches the Earth every 400 years is about to pass by.

A movie star who has become a suspect in a murder moves in next door and what ensues is pure fun.  It made us laugh, cry and gasp at its terrific plot and unparalleled acting.  

Warning!  After this drama aired the amount of chicken and beer sold in China went up several hundred percent, watch it and you'll know why you'll suddenly crave such things.

And one last topic, Jasper, our Chesapeake Bay Retriever puppy has been enjoying trips to the Pend Oreille river and each visit he has gotten up his courage and gone from wading to swimming and here is his first dock dive.  This won't appear in the newsletter, you'll have to visit the blog to see it.



Happy summer, happy stitching!