X-Stitch: Lale Zamanı (aka Tulip Time)

Ask anyone where tulips originated and the answer will likely be: Holland. Actually, commercial cultivation of the tulip (or lale) began in the Ottoman Empire. As a matter of fact, there was an entire era in Ottoman history known as the Lale Devri (Tulip Period). Lasting from 1718 to 1730, this was a relatively peaceful period during which the Ottoman Empire began to orient itself towards Europe.

According to Wikipedia:

… the word tulip, which earlier appeared in English in forms such as tulipa or tulipant, entered the language by way of French tulipe and its obsolete form tulipan or by way of Modern Latin tulīpa, from Ottoman Turkish tülbend (“muslin” or “gauze”), and is ultimately derived from Persian dulband (“turban”).

Stylized tulip images were used in Ottoman art and could be found in everything ranging from fine fabrics to tile-work. My rendition is more realistic — here is Lale Zamanı …

Tulips are one of the most popular and anticipated of the spring flowers. I’m hoping that posting this blog entry on the last day of February will hasten the arrival of spring. I’m ready to put winter behind me.

X-Stitch: Patchwork USA

This was one of the very first projects I stitched after we moved to the US in 1981. It came as a kit that included light-blue aida cloth as well as the floss.

I consider this project to be the genesis of our plans to someday explore the country in a motor home. Well, we bought the motor home in 2010. Now we just have to retire and get on the road to fulfill our dream.

Here’s Patchwork USA …

By the way, this one has not one single mistake or adjustment to the pattern. Nada ... zip ... zero.

X-Stitch: Biltmore House

In May 1994, we went on a 5-day trip that took us from Virginia to Tennessee and North Carolina.  We spent a day driving through Great Smoky Mountain National Park; continued onto visit the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC; hiked to the top of Chimney Rock, where scenes from Last of the Mohicans (starring Daniel Day-Lewis) was filmed; and returned to Virginia via the Blue Ridge Parkway.  It was a whirlwind trip, and despite being dead-tired by the time we reached home, we had a great time.

Blast from the Past
at the Biltmore Estate — may 1994
[scanned from original photo]

Browsing through the gift shop after our tour of the estate, I found a cross stitch pattern for George Vanderbilt's 250-room French château.  Since I couldn’t afford to buy the house, I bought the pattern instead.

Here is the finished project for Biltmore House — the largest privately-owned house in the US; a prominent example of the Gilded Age.

Not a bad replica, is it?