Out and about (again) and home…

I was just one flight short of gaining A-list status on Southwest Airlines… early boarding at no extra cost and lots of trips planned for next year… what is a girl supposed to do? Why, take a flight somewhere… anywhere… Houston is reasonably priced in December and WARM! Steve can come too on my companion pass. Let’s do it!

So it was we found ourselves in Houston last weekend… just for fun 🙂

There was a special exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts, An Impressionist Autumn that sounded like something we would enjoy. We did! Of course we had to look around the rest of the museum too.

Here’s a Peruvian tunic from somewhere between 600 and 950 AD. The extremely dry air of its owner’s burial place kept it in such pristine condition.We also visited the Houston Museum of Natural Science. I had to spend time in the butterfly house!The dinosaur exhibit was extensive and informative. I took lots of pictures to share with Benjamin.Today’s featured image is a dragonfly fossil from the same gallery.

We found even older textiles in the Egyptian exhibit. A linen shawl from 1570 – 1070 BC. That’s really old!I can’t even begin to imagine the time that went into spinning and weaving something like that.

This is supposed to be my stay home and sew something time of year.

In between travels I have been doing just that. I am going to be teaching a variety of hand work classes at the Vermont Quilt Festival next June. I am changing up my introduction to embroidery class with the hand made batik panels from Turtle Hand. They are so pretty just as they are, but with a few hours of stitching…
I also made a new sample for my Houston 2020 proposals using one of my printed panels and the new Patriotic mini collection of 8 weight perle cotton from Global Artisans. All the basic stitches…AND, just because I can, I have been trying my hand at some Sashiko stitching using the Hana Fukin Sashiko samplers that I bought at STITCHES in Pasadena.

I used my favorite 8 weight perle cottons in a few colors for an interesting woven effect.I tried really hard to keep my stitches straight but this was the best I could do. Tips please?Here’s the back with the ends woven in. Definitely not reversible.
I started another one yesterday. They are just for fun. I will not be teaching Sashiko any time soon.

I’m also making something for Bonnie… It involves sitting at the machine. I am hoping to have it ready for Christmas… That’s less than a week away. Oops! We’ll see… It’s that wonderful time of the year?