u/snowghost-1

Maybe not the prettiest photo, but so delicious! I made the bourbon sauce as well, but didn’t add as much extra bourbon at the end.

Over the last few years I had started to listen to opera more often, but started to listen regularly within this last year. I was excited that the timing worked out for me to see my first operas in person this summer! I live in Iowa, and attended performances for all 3 productions in the Des Moines Metro Opera this summer.

They were:
- Tosca by Puccini (my favorite!)
- King Roger by Szymanowski
- Of Mice and Men by Floyd

I loved going and seeing 3 very different operas. King Roger was especially interesting, I really liked what they did with the production and it had me thinking all night.

I’m also lucky that I was able to go to a theater that’s smaller and more affordable. The theater has something in the 400 seat range, and seats are in a semi circle around a circular stage. I sat to the side (lower priced tickets), and very close to the front. It felt like a great place and theater for someone’s first time. And Tosca being the first one I watched didn’t hurt either.

I’m excited to watch more opera on YouTube, maybe some Met Lives in theaters, and maybe even trying to go to Minneapolis or Kansas City for another in person show before next summer.

Pattern by Caterpillar Cross stitch. I saw this come across their instagram briefly, and I loved it. It was a Nashville Market exclusive so only a few sellers had it. I purchased the pattern from Fat Quarter Shop.

This was also my first time using linen, and I think this was a great pattern for my first time. I really liked working with linen and I’ll keep trying it with new projects.

(And because I had asked earlier, the DMC 666 color did not bleed when I washed it!)

I recently returned from a month long work trip to Japan and here are the kits I bought. I bought these from Hobbyra Hobbyre (in Ikebukuro, Tokyo and Kyoto) and also from Echizenya in Ginza, Tokyo. All the kits come with frames of some sort which is nice, especially for the more long patterns.

I’m really excited for the Hydrangea one and the Italy one. I’m usually in Japan right when hydrangea season is starting and seeing the blooming flowers makes walking in humid and hot Tokyo almost worth it. But it has all the beautiful of the colors of the hydrangeas in Japan. And then for the Italy kit, I really love traveling to Italy and hadn’t found a pattern I’ve liked related to Italy yet. I saw this was coming out close to the time I was leaving on Hobbyra Hobbyre’s instagram, and I snagged the last one from Takashimaya department store in Kyoto.

Four Seasons - Spring by Kitty and Me Designs (purchases on 123stitch). This ended up being a pretty challenging pattern, there were around 40 colors for the shading and a lot of skipping around the fabric especially for the yellow plant by the chicken and the blossoms/leaves of the tree.

This is a gift for a friend who has a farm with a black cat and chickens she loves. When I found the pattern, it was just after her favorite rooster (who she had hand raised) had passed away.

It’s been washed and ironed, so next to the framers!