Cross stitch and Korean embroidery

So, here I am in the public library, using one of the internet access PCs there and just taking a few minutes to post some recent photos.

The first four are from our trip to Korea late last month. These top two were taken through a shop window (it had lots of horizontal bars across it as it was closed at the time and so I could only get these close-ups without the bars spoiling things), which seemed to be selling very richly embroidered 'hanbok' - traditional Korean dresses. I think these are likely to be wedding clothes.


Later on we visited a tiny knotwork museum where there was an embroidery display. These items here were used by the owner for her son's first birthday traditional celebrations.

This was the corner with several lovely embroideries and knotwork examples. Aren't they gorgeous?

Just before leaving Taiwan, I finally managed to get the field mice cushion made up and sent. It's been received and its new owner is delighted with it, despite it being somewhat uneven at the bottom, but she would never notice that!!

And this is how far I got with the narrowboat cross stitch piece whilst we were in Germany for the first 12 days of September. The last time I posted about this piece it was just the green blob on the right, but now, thanks to the brown and grey bits, it actually looks like a tree, bushes and a bit of a fence!

Thanks a lot for all the well wishes that came my way following the last post. Thankfully, it wasn't neuralgia, but a tooth nerve that had actually been sensitive for a whole year. After a deep filling coming very close to it, it went potty, but I've had the initial treatment done and, except some post-op type of discomfort, I'm pain free again.=)

Anyone whose been reading for more than a year will know that we had trouble getting our shipment through customs on the way into Taiwan. Well, our return one has been stuck there again for the past fortnight plus and they even planned to send it back, despite instructions on the address labels under no circumstances to do this! Anyway, we seem to have stopped that and are literally praying that they are finally satisfied with the documentation and can get the boxes to us soon! Also having trouble getting the new car insurance sorted, finding a new home, getting work organised and what have you, so all is anything BUT smooth right now! Still, the weatehr's nice, we have a place to stay for as long as we need it (within reason) and we're keeping on trying to get stuff done. It will feel all the better for the amount of work it's needing.....

© Elizabeth Braun 2010

We're home!

So, we finally made it back to the UK in the relevant two pieces and with all bags safely in tow.=) I won't be posting much, if at all, until we get totally re-settled in a new home as we only have a very slow dial up service here at my mum's and that's no longer really any good with today's web functionality!

We spent a weekend in Seoul, then almost a fortnight in South Germany and have got back just in time to miss all the flats/apartments we were interested in in the pre-univeristy term housing rush, but we'll find something in time.

Other than that, I have appaling neuralgia in my lower left face after having two deep fillings done in my teeth 2 days ago. I've been haviung nerve problems there over the last year and now they seem to be shot to pieces and giving my real hassle. Anyway, that should settle over the next few days and I see the doc on Monday about it too.

Will post more when I can! Hope everyone's well and will catch up with you when I get bcak to good old broadband!

So, what's next?

There are now only 3 full days left before we leave Taiwan and you should see our living room! It's absolutely covered in things waiting to be packed into the 2 big, strong packing boxes I got from the Post Office. Looks like we're going to need a third really, but we'll take that as it comes tomorrow, when I/we plan to try and get the stuff into them.

We've had a number of invitations to farewell dinners for this week etc, so I've not had to worry much about cooking, but the friends who came to our little 'open house' do on Sunday brought so many goodies, that we sent the last few away with a good number of slices of cake etc and are still giving stuff away now after off-loading all the pop (soda) etc onto Sir's old teacher who hosted a lunch for her students yesterday!

I've saved the goldwork viola, the narrowboat cross-stitch and this new project on the right for the journey home. I don't expect to get a great amount of any of them done, but at least I have some variety in there. Hmm, looks like including my hardanger scissors might be a good move too. Best not put those in a box! Anyway, this is one of the Cross'n'Patch designs that I'm planning to stitch up for my mum - the green version of what you can see in the photo here.

Below are the paper things I got in Japan - a few origami papers in delightful designs and a set of bookmarks, which I daresay will provide inspiration for some future projects. I really like Japanese art much better than Chinese and am looking forward to seeing what Korea has to offer next weekend whilst we're there.=)


More soon, but I can't say whether it will be from here (should be as I need to get the fieldmice cushion finished up - planned for tomorrow, if poss), from Seoul or from Germany...

Japanese Kimono

I'm rather badly behind with blogging at the mo, especially here and on Brauns on Tour, but I'm just so wound up with the conclusion of our Chinese classes here (finished this lunchtime) and now the preparations to leave. Be that is it may (and it is!!), I thought most readers would enjoy some photos from Japan in the form of my being dressed up in a traditional kimono! It starts with these amazing socks that make your feet look so odd (I saw a local chap here in Taipei wearing leather boots like this recently too!):

Then you move on to the underwear stage. There's a special, cotton undergarment that forms a base layer to the whole thing. This photo also shows that you don't need to speak the same language well in order to share a laugh! My 'dresser' here only speaks her native Japanese of which I know only a little.

Next comes the white layer you can see here with the red belt, which seemed almost an outfit in it's own right to me. I rather like the colour scheme too.=) Here you can see the patterned top layer going on as well.


Here's a shot of the trickiest part, tying the big 'obi', the belt. I think that took almost as long as the rest of the dressing process put together!

After having a fancy hairdo done - plaited across the back and then formed into a side ponytail, which is a very trendy style in Japan (mostly without the plait though as you need someone else for that), this was the finished look, complete with the correct sandals.

And here from the back out of the local street. Our, mercifully, Chinese speaking Japanese friends wanted me to go out onto the Shiji Dori, Kyoto's main shopping street and walk down there, but anyone who knows me well would know how little I would enjoy that! As a rule, unlike the Chinese, the Japanese don't stare at white people, but they do when one appears in a kimono!!

Hope you've all enjoyed our little excursion into traditional Japanese culture!

I've no stitching to show at the mo, although the field mice are further on in terms of being finished up. However, we took a trip to Tokyo on our last full day in Japan and visited the Okadaya textile crafts emporium. I was really inspired by all the lovely embroidery threads available on the 5th floor (there were also trays full of Japanese embroidery silks, which I've always wanted to drool over) and that fired my enthusiasm again.=) I didn't buy anything, but it was fun and here's a photo of a class that was being held during my visit. I think they're doing crochet or something like that.

Hope to post soon with the completed cushion cover and progress on the goldowork which, ideally, I'd like to have done before we head back on 28th.

© Elizabeth Braun 2010

Last stop before Japan

Just a quick post to show off my latest finish - the hardanger doily! I completed the edging whilst enjoying a TV mini series and it was all quick work from there. Well, all except the weaving, which I always find long winded and which I regret not dumping in favour of plain old wrapped bars, as I usually do. Here it is anyway and I hope you like it!

I'll be taking the narrowboat cross stitch to Japan with me even though I really should get the goldwork done out of the way before working more on this one. It's not a project I feel will travel well, so the cross stitch is better. I rarely get much stitching done when travelling, so I don't expect to make great strides with this one either.

The field mice has been about half finished up into a cushion/pillow cover. I've done the front (which was 4 sections) and now just need to get another piece of fabric for the back and put it all together. I've decided against the piece I bought a few weeks ago and just need a nice cream piece now. See what I can find in Japan??

A finish - gasp!

Yup, I finally got something finished up - the hardanger needlecase. A couple of weeks ago I got some green fabric to use as a backing for the actual stitching and also found the cotton doctor's flannel that I'd cut and brought with me specially. Here's the finished results.

Front:

Back:

Centre with the green backing showing and the cotton doctor's flannel 'pages':

I've also done a few more lengths of thread on the current hardanger piece and got about half way through the buttonhole edging. I think I'm more getting the hang of it now, but it's still a bit uneven in parts. I'll get there and no-one but me will notice anyway. Sigh! The curse of perfectionism!!!

Next up is to get the 'field mice' finished up into a nice cushion/pillow cover. I've got the first few pieces of fabric cut and pressed and should have that started over the rest of the weekend.

Too busy to stitch again!

I did spend a little time on the hardanger piece the other day, (I gave myself an hour's 'weekend' whilst watching a Sherlock Holmes on Youtube on Sunday!!), but I ended up having to pull a lot of stitches out as I'd gone wrong. I don't like buttonhole edging, grrr! So, nothing to show there.

We've had unexpected guests for the past three days which, along with being back at language school, (I was able to stitch and post a lot during that last lot of holidays), has kept us very busy. Anyway, yesterday was a public holiday - the Dragon Boat Festival, so we went up to the Yangming Shan national park, which is all within the Taipei city limits, and visited one of Chiang Kai-shek's 15 homes there!!! This was his 'guesthouse' apparently, and it's green! Had it been white or stone coloured, it would have been nice, but the green was a bad, BAD choice. So bad that I won't post a photo!! Whilst we were looking around the rooms, however, I got a lot of great design inspiration photos from the artefacts and trimmings there, such as this firescreen:

And this red vase:

And the set of 4 seasonal blue glass internal windows, of which this is one:

I can see that done in silk and sheer fabrics in appliqué etc, can't you?=)

Hope to get back to being able to stitch something soon, and at least get poor Dianne's package in the post, then I can show off the nice fabrics I bought last Thursday. It mightn't seem much, going to two hours of class a day, but add in transport, extra classes and/or library time etc and we're out of the house for at least four hours per day, and up to seven!

Now, Carol S asked me about the field mice cross stitch chart and where it came from. Carol, I can't tell you exactly at the moment as I don't have my mags with me and I'd been using a copy I made to bring with me, which has no indication of date. All I can tell you is that it's by Maria Diaz and it appeared in 'Cross Stitch Crazy', probably some time in 2003, (I bought a fair few cross stitch mags 2002-4, but very few since). As it's an autumnal sort of design, it might be something like the September issue. I checked on the publisher's website, but they don't have it available as a download to sell. Leave me another note with contact details and I'll see if I can help further.=)