All the amazing trees in blossom right now made me think of a very special trip. Japan had been high on my list for years. I have met so many lovely Japanese visitors in England and particularly when an exhibitor at The Knitting & Stitching Shows, so I was very interested to visit this extraordinary country. If you add to all this the chance of seeing all those glorious obi fabrics and silk production, it was an easy decision.
Our trip was called a Taste of Japan and was an escorted tour with Jules Verne and we chose the spring to catch Blossom Time. Our tour included Tokyo, Hiroshima, Kyoto and Osaka taking in a ride on the bullet train and getting a view – if fleeting – of Mount Fuji. I am not old enough to have been about when the atomic weapons were used on Japan at the end of the last war but I do remember seeing news images of Hiroshima after the bomb and what became known as the Atomic Dome (the only thing still standing in Hiroshima after the blast).
We had a marvellous time although we managed to get a bit lost in the big cities but without fail were rescued by kind Japanese people who could not have been more helpful.
Whilst in Tokyo I had realised just how costly some of the gold thread fabrics could be and had given up my plans to create a wall of fabric pictures. As it happened, we spotted a fabric shop with boxes of remnants outside and I quickly snaffled all the pieces I wanted. I used black box frames from Ikea and mounted small pieces of the fabrics and set them in the frames. It is very effective…
The fabric pictures are, in fact, in our downstairs loo and are very effective but impossible to photograph successfully. Perhaps you can use your imagination!
Stunning fabrics with prices to match! 
The Atomic Dome
While we are on the subject of travel… with luck and a following breeze, you will be welcome to join Bill and I on our much-awaited trip to Northern Cyprus later this year. We have heard from our partners, Arena Travel that my cross stitch retreat for eight days in November is back on after being postponed last year.
Bill, my husband, is our tour manager and responsible for all the organisation on the trip and yours truly will be teaching a new and special counted embroidery project created especially for the holiday. All the details of the trip are now on the Arena Travel website with the itinerary and booking details.
Many Cross Stitch Guild Members have joined us on our stitching holidays in the past and without exception, we have laughed ourselves silly and stitched ourselves daft but in a good way.
Our trip to Cyprus this year will include a number of stitchy outings and also stitching at the hotel for at least three and a half glorious days…. What’s not to like!
The thought of November in the sun… 
Traditional Cypriot embroidery
