Being a tourist instead of a quilter.

Some days don't turn out as planned, and that can be a very good thing. Last Sat, yes, I know I'm a bit behind on the news, I planned to sew all afternoon with my gal pal Muriel. I packed up my trays of Log Cabin strips, my machine and headed north to Burnaby, BC. Once I arrived, she asked if I wanted to do some exploring in the city, so off we went. Our first stop was Chinatown in Vancouver. We were at the doors of Dr Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Gardens
Just stepping in through the doors, you enter a place of tranquility and calm. They have some amazing things here and although we didn't go along with the oral tour, we certainly enjoyed viewing all that was there.

There were many windows similar to this one and I thought of all the Celtic Applique designs that could be inspired by these window frames. Since I've been waiting weeks and weeks for the tulips to bloom in this cold spring, I loved this one. It was so fresh looking.

This masterpiece was donated by a private citizen. It is all hand embroidered on silk and is the most amazing piece of work I have seen. It was a challenge to capture the detail of the workmanship since the light shines right though. Regardless of looking at the front or the back, you could not tell which side the artist worked from. Simply amazing.




Click on any of the photos for great close up details of the workmanship.


Since this was an actual garden, here is a photo of a lovely blooming shrub. There were a lot of these rocks, I forget what they are called. We originally thought they were man made, but this is a natural formation and I believe they come from somewhere on Vancouver Island, BC

After the garden tour, we wandered over the the Vancouver Police Museum. That was very interesting and fun to see a bit of the history of this great city.

Due to a brain pause I have no photo of our last stop, I guess I was so excited that we were actually going there. Dollar Meats, my favorite shop in Chinatown. This is usually a two person job. One to drive the car and drop the other on the street. The driver continues around the block again and again until you have waited in line, picked your piece of BBQ pork and BBQ sausage, had the guy chop and package it up, and go back out to the sidewalk and jump back in the car. Since we were walking, we skipped that part of the adventure. Instead we walked right in, got our box of delicacy, walked out and opened the box right there on the street. Yummmmmmm!

It's the weekend, sew go be a tourist somewhere!
Sharon