thai stiches & sights

 

hello, hello! i'm home (for a minute). our two weeks of senior tripping around thailand with d4 are done and dusted. i'm a jetlagged wreck, slowly trying to adjust. i can't seem to bring myself to sew anything, but that will come back soon enough.

the epp pouch went everywhere with me and i got some stitch time in a few airports and one slow hotel morning. the 3 days we were on a boat in the islands were too hot and sticky for stitching and the rest was all go, go, go. so my "100 days of stitching" didn't happen with regularity, but i did get some stitching done.

our beach front hotel in phuket had this sweet little "yoga window" where d4 and i relaxed and i did some stitching. i don't know what you call it exactly - it was unlike anything i saw anywhere else or have seen, but it was a small window bay with two mats in it that made me think it would be a great spot to do some yoga, so i called it the "yoga window." and i did some stitching there on my not-yoga mat.

the lighting was great and the view good. it's a design feature i may have to consider for my new house.

i started the trip off strong with basting several pieces in the airport. we arrived more than 2 hours early, so i had plenty of time for basting. i was a little peeved at my husband for making us get there so early, which turned out to be completely unnecessary (the rumored tsa troubles were not an issue, thank goodness), but better safe than sorry, i guess. 

i was irked because in the hour before we left, being fully packed and ready to go, i found myself with time on my hands and i got quite close to finishing the top for "pinky stinky" edna entirely. if only i hadn't forgot to add a few star points, which required unpicking and awkward adding, i would likely have gotten it done in the hour i had. if we had waited another half hour, i would definitely have finished it. so close! but as it was, i had to leave the last row incomplete and get on my way with world travels. so i used the extra time at the airport to baste and contented myself with that.

we first flew into singapore for a few days, then on to chaing mai, followed by phuket, and finished up in bagkok. at the royal palace on our last full day in bangkok, i found several quilt-related things. some of the temple exteriors were intricately decorated with colorful, mirrored tiles in geometric shapes that immediately put me in mind of quilt patterns. 

this tile floor was on a porch at the entrance - definitely a quilt there.

this diamond floor pattern was in the queen sirikit textile museum, which was a small gem with the best gift shop ever.

the queen was a fashion icon in the 1960's. she revived and popularized several traditional thai dress styles, which were featured at the museum. these fabric samples from some of the dresses caught my fancy.

i do love a good textile! they are all thai silk and just beautiful.

these vintage printed cottons were especially nice. somehow i missed the sign at the beginning of this room that said "no photos," so as i was preparing to take a photo of the information badge that told all about the fabric, a guard came up and chastised me. oops!  photos were definitely allowed in the other rooms, so i was confused. but this room had some very old textiles in low light, which may be why they didn't want photos because anyone using flash would damage them. fortunately, i hadn't used a flash. 

i wish i'd found some fabrics like these for sale somewhere because they would have been great for quilting. what i found a little later in the gift shop was almost as good.

a whole section of fabrics for sale! i was swooning and started imagining which i wanted immediately. they were all silks such as those used in the queen's formal clothing, but i have seen quilts made with silk before and knew i could use them if i was careful. the only problem was they only sold the fabric by the meter, no small cuts. it was surprisingly inexpensive, certainly less than liberty, but i didn't want too much of it. i had little to no room to take it home in my luggage, so i made myself pick just two colors and left it at that. i was a little flustered having to pick only two and needing to do it quickly, so i'm not sure i made the best choice. but i did what i did and i have some lovely silks to make into a small quilt of some sort. i can't complain.

i was drawn to the blues and greens first and had several in mind while i waited my turn. when i realized i would only be getting two colors, i picked this pretty blue first (photographed a bit bright) and wanted to get a coordinating woven print, but second guessed myself and decided to just go with another color. so i picked the gorgeous citrine color next. it's the color i like best of the two and now wonder if i shouldn't have picked something other than the blue to go with it. when i decide what i'm making with them, i'll see if i was right or not.

when i asked for one meter of the first fabric, the saleswoman told me i would need two meters minimum for a skirt and i tried to explain to her i was making a quilt, but the language barrier did not compute. it's alright. i know what i needed and got it.

i would have taken more photos of the fabric options on the shelves, but i was pretty sure i'd seen a sign at the entrance to the shop forbidding photos. i couldn't resist these quick covert snaps, but i didn't want to take any obvious ones.

so, royal palace in bangkok was a complete quilting/fabric win, i made my first fabric purchase of the year, and i got some more epp shapes basted on the trip. success!

now i'm home and looking forward to more wip busting.