Feathered Friends and France

As one of our coldest Halloweens on record comes to a close, I thought I would write a few lines as I wait for the final trick-or-treaters to come by. Last week marked the last of my fall meetings, and it was one that brought me "across the pond" to France. As I have already shared in some of my posts, these long flights provide a great opportunity for some stitching. 

October also marks the start of the Wooly Block Adventure. Participating shops design an 8-inch block based around a given theme. This year's theme is Holiday Celebrations. As you might imagine, shops are featuring holidays and seasons throughout the year. I find myself rather partial to patterns featuring fall themes. When I saw this pattern from Piecemaker's Quilt Shop in Hackensack, Minnesota, I promptly ordered it.

Although I missed the opportunity to document the process of tracing and fusing, here are a few tools of the trade that I thought I would share. There really aren't hard and fast rules about what thread and what stitches to use. The main thing is that you secure your pieces down. Depending on your overall goal, you can use either matching threads or ones that bring some contrast. As you can see from my picture above, I used a combination of both. The larger pieces are stitched to the background using a blanket stitch and matching colors. The leaves feature an outline stitch in a contrasting color. 

The picture below shows the different colors and types of thread that I used. For the most part, I use Valdani size 12 thread. As nice as these threads are, they are also a bit expensive. If I'm just needing a small amount of a given color, I most likely won't head to a quilt shop that sells Valdani thread. Rather, I will go to my stash of cross-stitching floss, pick the color I want, and use two strands of it for my stitching. Depending on the color and tones of the wool I am using, I may opt for an overdyed thread to add a little interest.

The tool in the picture below is a must for anyone with midlife eyes who needs some extra light for close work on an airplane. This is actually a necklace with an LED light that supports enhanced lighting to allow one to pass those long hours on an overseas flight with some stitching. Those overhead lights are nice, but they just don't cut it in the overall low lighting environment. This little device costs about $35 and is well worth it. I like to think of it as a quality of life intervention.

Although I had previously been to Europe on several occasions, I hadn't been to France. The international meeting I typically attend each fall was being held in Lyon, France, and I was fortunate to share some of my research at this meeting. An added bonus was bringing my daughter along. She had studied French in high school and was eager for her first trip to Europe.

Please rest assured that we were fully engaged in the meeting and attended our sessions. Here are a few highlights from our free time and adventures in Lyon. Lyon actually dates back to Roman times. It sits at the convergence of the Rhone and Saone rivers and was founded about 34 BC. One of the "must see" places in Lyon is the ruins of the Roman era theater. What you are seeing below is a picture of the "stage" of one of the theaters. The marble work was very impressive. Each of the different colors was imported from a different part of the known world including Greece, Turkey, Tunisia, Egypt, and Italy.

The precision of the original work is still very much intact.

Here is a view of another portion of the theater to give you a sense of its size.

Now for a more "modern" structure in the city. The following picture is of the St. John the Baptist Cathedral. Construction began in 1180 on the ruins of a 6th century church. It was not fully completed until 1476. It was absolutely gorgeous. On our final evening in Lyon, we had our dinner at a cafe just to the left of this picture. It was quite an ending to an amazing week.

One of the most iconic structures in Lyon is the Basilica Notre Dame de Fourviere. It is even more "modern," having been built in the late 1800s over about 12 years. It sits on the hillside overlooking the Saone and is actually only a short walk from the Roman theater. Here is what it looks like as you approach it from below.

And here is a front view once you make it to the top. We took the cable car given how steep the walk would be.

Finally, here was our final nighttime view of the basilica as we concluded our dinner by the cathedral. Unfortunately, the picture really doesn't do it justice.

 So, here we sit a few hours away from November. It's been quite a great year with many new adventures. Through them all, God has been faithful. I will close out this post with a verse from my last evening's devotion. It was a great reminder of God's sustaining faithfulness.

Do you not know? Have you not heard?

The Everlasting God, The LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth

Does not become weary or tired.

His understanding is inscrutable. Isaiah 40:28