Monday, February 11, 2008

Promises, promises

I promised you a photo of the marquoir , but I have to admit that I didn't work on it at all this weekend. I spent much of Saturday working on a present for my niece's birthday. It's a rag quilt made from puppy flannel fabrics. Of course, I bought this fabric in December, and they're changing her room decor from puppies to horses (her other obsession) this month. Of course. We're also going to (God help me) take her to Strasburg when Thomas comes.

Then the dude called in one of his Christmas presents--a monthly trip to a new-to-us restaurant that was packaged as "around the world on your stomach, without ever leaving home." We went to Vietnam on Saturday night. There's a Vietnamese place of that name in Philly's Chinatown. We started in the third floor 40's style lounge. The dude thought it reminded him of "that movie...the one with Michael Caine." "The Quiet American," I said. Then we noticed it was playing in an endless loop on the flatscreen. We were sitting in a location where we could mostly ignore it because it's one thing to sit in Philadelphia's Chinatown in a 40's style French-colonial-inspired Vietnamese lounge, and quite another to sit on a fake Quiet American movie set while you watch the movie in an endless loop. We had some delicious food. So no stitching on Saturday.

Then on Sunday, I went to an alumnae club craft group. It was mostly knitters but one woman was spinning cotton and I stitched on Tall Flowers. I couldn't bring the marquoir and my travel piece is just cute, not very impressive. So I brought something that I hoped was funky to encourage people to see the possiblities of cross-stitch. It was a great group. Two students showed up (we met on campus) and we had alumnae from the 40s (dedicated argyle sock knitters as undergrads), 60s, 70s (the first class who could wear trousers to class), and 80s (the first computer users). I'd tell you more about the woman from the class of '62 except that she asked if anyone could show her how to do cables, and the woman in the most beautiful cabled sweater I've ever seen could. She spent two hours concentrating on that but she promised to come to our next meeting and participate a little more. We meet again in April.

After Sunday dinner I went back to work on the blanket which is due next Sunday. I sewed together three rows of seven squares. Six to go. Then it's on to Sissy's overnight bag.

9 comments:

Unknown said...

That's a very cool Christmas present. Sorry the restaurant turned out to be strange, but at least the food was good, and that's what counts.

Anonymous said...

Your marquoir looks fabulous, and I'm looking forward to the next update on "Tall Flowers." We did the Thomas trip several years back. Good memories. Thanks for the reminder.

Donna said...

Our reading group once had a presentation by a historian on the Quiet American - about the original Graham Greene book and the 1958 movie and he had a copy of screenplay for the Michael Caine version. Was extremely interesting. Boy, don't I miss that reading group.

Cathy said...

We took Josh to Thomas right before Evie was born. He loved it. Frankly, I'd rather take the plain ol' steam train ride.

Anonymous said...

Oh My Gosh, you are busy! Not me, I'm lazy. I just started stitching my first biscornu. Help!!! I'm looking for your old blog on how to put it together.

dd

Anonymous said...

I found this link, http://silepointcompte.free.fr/bricotruc/biscornu/biscornu.htm, for biscornu instructions which may be the same one you posted.

dd

xeyedmary said...

Puppies, horsies, I think your niece will love it all the same. Hey- you could back it with horsie fabric, make it reversible.
My theory on restaurants: any meal I don't have to wash dishes after is a good meal. I obviously don't get out much.
Anyway, nice work on your Marquoir.

Edgar said...

Oh Anna,
I know that the P&P adaptation is bad,(as so many are) not only that but the hair styles and dresses are completely wrong, thank you Adrian....but... I do love Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier, and Mary Boland... I guess it is the cast that makes is super duper!!! I would rather ead the book than watch an adaptation anyways. :)

Dani - tkdchick said...

YOur marquoir looks lovely