20 Hours: Network, Dance and Threads

Just had a spectacular 20 hours;  Swan Lake ballet, the annual meeting of the Needlepoint Network and choosing threads of my next project;  sitting with a cup of tea,  catching my breath after so much excitement.

Last evening we went to see ‘Swan Lake’ at a live cinema relay from The Royal Opera House, Convent Garden.  I have written about these live relays before, one sits there and join audiences in more than 1069 cinemas in 26 counties to enjoy world class performances. 

Swan Lake was no exception; Anthony Dowell’s production evoked the opulent period of 1890 Russia when Tchaikovsky wrote the music; In my ignorance I had thought the whole story revolved around the swans living by the lake with their classical white costures, but two of the Acts were at Prince Siegfried’s palace, masked balls, acrobatic entertainers and sumptuous costumes. In addition to the beautiful sets by the Lake with the ‘swans’.   Natalia Osipova and Matthew Golding danced Odette and Prince Siegfried to the delight of the audience. 

Celtic Hearts I
This morning we had the annual meeting of the Needlepoint Network; this is a group of trained women who teach my designs together with other designs also created within the network.   The Network was started by me some 25 years ago in the response to students enjoying both stitching with like-mined people and having help with learning good techniques.   Now All Stitched Up’s web site www.needle-point.co.uk has each Networker’s programme and dates.  There are also open events in many places in the UK also listed.
They are always looking for people who are fanatic about needlepoint and might be interested in helping other people in their own area.  Do let them know of your interest they would love to hear from you.

Threads for a New Project
Then, I headed straight to the thread store. When planning a new project I do like to actually see the threads, group them together and have the widest choice available.  Re-ordering on line is fine but there is nothing like seeing the actual shades and how they blend (or highlight each other) in the flesh.  As I mentioned recently I have photographs of a palace in Aleppo in Syria (taken 4 years ago before the problems started) that I have longed to start for some time and with my memories of the rich colours used in the Swan Lake costumes I plumped to go theatrical!

This hand-woven scarf bought in Guatemala was a further inspiration for the colours – will see how it goes and I will keep you posted.
 

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