Day 7 – Weds Sept 26 – Leo Tolstoy House

Posted on October 2, 2012 by Luana

Late morning on Weds I visited Leo Tolstoy's city house.

( author of War and Peace, Anna Karenina,
etc.)

 
This was particularly interesting to me, after seeing the 2010 movie The
Last Station, with Christopher Plummer, Helen Mirren and James McAvoy:
The house is preserved by his ancestors and a historic society. When you go in, you have to wear sock booties over your shoes so you won't scratch the floors.
They have tried to keep all the furniture, fixtures and even place settings the way it was when he and his family lived there.
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In one of the rooms, the embroidery on the chair's slipcover was by Tolstoy's wife Solphia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophia_Tolstaya
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In daughter Tatyana's room (she was a portrait artist) there is this delightful black tablecloth with 70 embroidered autographs – first written in chalk by visiting friends – then embroidered by Tatyana.
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There was not just one, but TWO grand pianos in the house: a baby grand on the ground floor in a private family room, and a large grand in this upstairs entertaining room that had a huge long dining table, lots of chairs, and Limoges china tea service. Here the Tolstoys received guests and held musical and literary evenings, with visitors such as Rachmaninoff, Rimsky-Korsakov, Chekhov and Gorky.  Here Tolstoy read his manuscripts to family and close friends, and also played chess.
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In the adjoining family salon, there are a lot of textile treasures:
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The family employed a dressmaker, and several of Countess Tolstoy's and her daughter's dresses are displayed:
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In the back you can look into Tolstoy's study, and see the desk where he wrote his stories.
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In the back there is a lovely garden area which is really a small forest! The red brick walls that are the boundaries of the property, are really the walls of textile mills that were there at the time the family lived in the house.
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They say that the cats that wander the property are the descendents of the cats that lived with the family. Here are the stables, with the walls of the textile mill behind.
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Day 7 – Weds Sept 26 – Fallen Monument Park

Posted on October 2, 2012 by Luana
My first stop Weds was the Fallen Monument Park, which is a Sculpture
Garden near Krymsky Most Bridge and Peter the Great Ship Sculpture
The park has an area for contemporary artists to show and sell their new work.
In the back is a huge area filled with many different types of sculptures – stone and metal.
It is sort of the graveyard for the obsolete Soviet 3-D art.
In the middle of it all was an outdoor exhibit of Vintage Soviet garment designs.
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Here's a closeup of one with red embroidery designs on a solid background:
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Here is one of the stone sculptures:
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a charming bronze of a Russian poet:
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this wood figure of Pinnochio
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and a closeup of the Peter the Great sculpture:
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Day 7 – Weds Sept 26 – Russian Eye Candy

Posted on September 27, 2012 by Luana
DSC_5951
My first stop today was the Fallen Monument Park, which is a Sculpture
Garden near Krymsky Most Bridge and Peter the Great Ship Sculpture
 
This is next to the Tretyakov Gallery which I didn't have time to see, but
it is on my Must Do list for next time!
 
…along with the Historical Museum in Red Square:
 
 
Next we crossed the Krymsky Most bridge (with a fabulous view of the Peter
the Great gigantic sculpture!)
 
 
to visit Leo Tolstoy's house ( author of War and Peace, Anna Karenina,
etc.)
 
This was particularly interesting to me, after seeing the 2010 movie The
Last Station, with Christopher Plummer, Helen Mirren and James McAvoy:
 
Next my friends too me for an appointment with a professor at the
Moscow State Textile Academy for a private tour of their Textile Museum:
 
In the evening they also took me to the opening night of a Moscow Flea Market/Antique Show – Opening Night Sept 26
Address: 1/1, Tishinskaya Square, Tishinka Commercial
Center, the exhibition hall T-Modul.
Stumbled across this interesting list while researching!
 
Wish I could see this:
Myths of 1917 to be
Debunked
  
I will post some more blog entries with photos, to give more details about
these 4 places I went today!
 
(First, must pack for train trip to St Petersburg Thursday)
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Day 6 – Tues Sept 25 – Ukrainian Hospitality

Posted on September 26, 2012 by Luana

StBasil_550

Today I am halfway through my trip
to Rome and
Russia, after spending 3 days in
Italy, and 3 days in
Moscow.

Both the
Italian quilters and the
Russian quilters have gone out of their way to make me feel very welcome.

Sunday I gave a power point presentation at a quilt exhibition in
Moscow, to a full house with standing room only. The
Russian quilters were rapt with attention as I showed images of quilts from
Colorado, Houston, Tokyo,
Melbourne,
Ireland
and England. Then I photographed their quilts and their fashion show, and
promised to add some of those images to my presentation for next time, along
with the
Italian quilts I saw a couple days earlier.

I've been treated to
Georgian and Ukrainian
cuisine while visiting Moscow, and yesterday my hosts drove me out to an ancient monastery complex
outside of Moscow, where I was able to visit one of the most sacred sites in
Russia.

Today was a day I will never forget. I photographed the lake is
said to have inspired Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, and paid my
respects at cellist
Rostropovich's grave. I visited the churches and museums of The Kremlin –
was totally blown away by the costume and textile exhibit there – and then
viewed the gorgeous interior medieval frescoes and multiple rooftop golden
cupolas of the Kremlin's Cathedral
Square. Truly, I have never seen anything like this. The riches boggle the
brain.

Then this evening I was driven out of town again to a dinner in a
private home. I was given a private
concert of Russian classical pieces, by an 86 year old UNESCO Gold Medal
Laureate pianist. (and holocaust survivor) They handed me a bunch of fragrant
white flowers, sat me in a chair next to his white baby grand, and he played
several pieces for me. Wow!

Then we had an amazing spread of homemade Ukrainian specialty foods,
served on a lace tablecloth, with an autumn centerpiece. Then my hostess (who
owns a quilt shop) brought out her collection of 18th century chatelaines.

This was a day that I will never forget.

And… it all came from
a mutual love of quilting.

If I am lucky I'll get 4 hours of sleep
tonight – then I'll have another day and evening of sightseeing and quilting
camaraderie. I am being taken to a textile museum which is closed for
renovation, but we have an appointment for a private showing of the collections
tomorrow afternoon.

Thursday I take a train to St Petersburg, where I'll
fulfill my dream of seeing the Hermitage in person.

Be sure to check my blog for daily updates
(please be patient if I fall behind for a couple days!) and of course there will
be plenty of photos to follow.

Many thanks to my hosts in
Moscow, and all my new quilting friends in Russia!

* This is a closeup of the
multicolored and faceted cupolas of St Basil's Cathedral in Red Square, Moscow.
Doesn't look like it was inspired by a quilt design?

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Day 5 – Mon Sept 24 – Russian Countryside

Posted on September 24, 2012 by Luana
SergiyevPosadAssumption1_W
Today my hosts hired a car and again provided a translator (a young lady named Olga who also translated my power point lecture yesterday) so I could go for a day out into the countryside.  We went up to one of the towns in the "Golden Circle"  -  Sergiyev Posad – and our destination was the Trinity Lavra (Monastery) of St. Sergius which is the most important Russian monastery and the spiritual centre of the Russian Orthodox Church.
 
As soon as we entered the compound, Alexander appeared and offered to be my English language tour guide for "donations". So we agreed to use his services, and got a tour of the several structures, in English and Russian. 
 
I was able to take photos everywhere but in the most sacred room, where the silver casket of St Sergius is up in an alter-like setting. There were a few ladies singing beautiful acapella chants in harmony, which gave a mystical ambiance right away. The room was only lit by candles in colored glass chandeliers. The worshipers lined up to mount the steps and kiss the silver casket, their faces lit by candlelight. The time-darkened 15th century icon paintings added to the mystical quality of the chapel. Alexander encouraged me to join the queue to kiss the casket, which I did, but I just touched my forehead to the relic. Yes his remains are inside beneath a glass cover, but the relic is tastefully covered in a bright green brocade. I have to say that when I got close to the casket I felt a powerful energy, which seemed to be the focused energy of all the worshipers who were kneeling, praying, and chanting towards the saint's remains. Definitely a sacred spot.
 
Then we waited at a side door to go down into a golden antechamber with the interred remains of St Nikon.  Appropriately, since photos were allowed in this room, I took a photo of St Nikon's icon painting with my Nikon camera. Several beautiful icon paintings were set in rich gilt-covered decorative panels, in this opulent room.
 
After hearing lots of stories about the history of Ivan the Terrible, Peter the Great, Boris Godunov and Empress Elizabeth here, we filled up bottles with sacred water from the sacred spring (said to have healed a visiting Japanese emperor's ulcer) and went for lunch.
 
We ended up down the road a bit, after trying a hotel restaurant that was closed because the cook was ill. So we ended up at the Refectory Chamber Restaurant which recreated several frescoes from the monastery, on the walls of the dining room.
 
After a long drive back to Moscow in the rain – an hour in the countryside and another hour driving in traffic in Moscow – we met up with our host at a Ukrainian restaurant and had one more special meal together.
 
I returned to the hotel in the rain, and am preparing to start the tour part of this trip. Tomorrow morning – The Kremlin!
 
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Day 4 – Sun Sept 23 – Moscow Quilt Exhibition

Posted on September 24, 2012 by Luana

 MoscFashion1

Today was my big power point presentation to the Russian quilters at the
Moscow quilt exhibition. They extended the exhibit by one day and also scheduled
a fashion show after my presentation, so it was a full day of quilts, photos and
fashion for the ladies who came from all over Russia.
 
Several of our eQuilter customers came to meet me, which was very special.
One of them was Alexandra Nikulina who I interviewed in a video at the
Birmingham Festival of Quilts in August. She brought me a good luck charm
necklace which was a tiny stuffed doll figure on a cord, which she put over my
head and insisted that I wear for the day. Several other customers brought me
gifts as well – a Christmas ornament made from eQuilter fabrics – a porcelain
"Moscow" collector thimble – a crazy quilt eyeglass case – and several ATC
cards.
 
I thought I was totally prepared when I had the power point file not only
on my laptop, but backed up on a flash drive. Wrong! I didn't realize that the
power cord was not drawing any energy from the plug, so 30 minutes into my
presentation my laptop battery died! We got two other laptops and tried to run
the power point from the flash drive, but they only had Power Point 2003, which
was not compatible with a PP 2007 file. Rats! Finally after about 15 minutes we
got it all sorted out and found a way to resume the presentation. I showed
images of over 200 quilts from 7 different quilt exhibitions around the world.
The quilters in the audience were absolutely fascinated, and it was so great to
introduce them to so many new ideas in contemporary quilting. I look forward to
seeing what the Russian quilters will do with these ideas, in the next year or
two!
 
After signing many autographs and taking many photos with quilters and
their quilts, we settled down to watch a fashion show with lots of great
wearable art. Several of the designer-models were familiar to me …. having
seen them at the Birmingham fashion show last year. Fashion sewing is evidently
quite popular here!
 
Then my gracious hosts had to close down the show and take down the quilts.
Finally we went out to dinner with a quilter from St Petersburg who translated
for us over a Georgian meal. It is customary to order juice for the whole table
in a cute little glass pitcher. One of these pitchers was filled with a bright
emerald green liquid, but with a sprig of herbs in the concoction. They said it
was a very special medicinal drink with no chemicals – all natural and herbal. 
(except for the green food coloring?)
 
I had some delicious Georgian bread (similar to Indian naan bread) and
several interesting vegetarian dishes.  Some of the tables had couches instead
of chairs, and some patrons were smoking from hookah pipes! Smoking is legal in
Russian restaurants and the men smoke like crazy, so by the end of the evening
my eyes were burning from the smoke. My hotel lobby is full of cigarette smoke
too, so you really can't escape it here. Apparently there is some talk of
passing laws to limit smoking in restaurants here, which would be helpful.
 

After dinner we went back to my hotel via the famous Metro which is deep
underground and decorated with gold and marble and glass mosaics murals. That
was on my list of things to see, so I was glad to check that one off on the
first day out in Moscow!

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Day 3 – Sat Sept 22 – flight to Moscow

Posted on September 24, 2012 by Luana

RomeGrafitti
It is too soon to be leaving Rome. I just got here! Leaving this city is
like prying fingers off a ledge… but I must continue my journey. I woke up at
6 am, before dawn, (very painful after the late dinner with the Quilt Italia
ladies!) and packed up. Made myself some tea and went downstairs at 7 am for my
taxi.
 
As we drove through town past so many landmarks, I tried not to moan and
sigh as we passed Piazza Venezia, The Forum, and then we literally drove in a
loop around the Colosseum! Arrivaderci Bella Roma!
 
The airport taxi situation in Rome is very interesting. There is a fixed
price of 40 euro from Fiumicino airport to the center of Rome, but they add on 8
euro for the luggage so it is 48 euro plus tip if you like. 50 euro for a
private car to the airport sounds like a lot – but it is basically the same as a
taxi but much nicer. Neither is cheap, but you get more for your money with a
private car which is booked by the hotel.
 
So… off to Moscow!
 
I flew Lufthansa to Moscow, with a short layover in Frankfurt. Layovers in
Frankfurt are always stressful unless they are very long. It is such a huge
airport. You get off the plane on the tarmac, go down the stairs and climb on a
bus. No hurry because the bus isn't going anywhere til ALL the passengers are
off the plane and onto the bus. Then it takes forever for the bus to drive all
over the airport and finally get to a terminal. Then you usually have to run to
a different terminal to catch your connecting flight. By the time I got to my
connecting flight it was last call for the flight to Moscow.
 
So I jumped on another bus and we all rode out to the airplane. The
previous plane was full of Germans and Italians. This plane was full of Germans
and Russians, naturally. I'd been warned that the Russians have a different idea
of personal space. The large Russian lady next to me elbowed me, kicked me, and
even handed me her lunch tray to hold while she rummaged through her big purse.
I thought to myself – "this is preparing me for my time in Russia" – and just
kept smiling at her. She kept yelling at someone behind us so I just kept my
head down.
 
Upon arrival at the Moscow Airport, we all got out of the plane and walked
10 yards in a glass corridor, and had to stop at a locked  glass door. After 10
minutes a customs agent with a bright red bob and pencil skirt unlocked the door
and we all followed her to Customs. It took awhile to get luggage and get out
the door, and someone from the hotel was waiting to pick me up. He grabbed one
of my bags, turned and walked off without a word! I grabbed my other bags and
ran after him through the airport, across the road, and into a parking
structure. After 1 1/2 hrs in traffic, we arrived at my hotel.
 
I always request a room with a bathtub when I travel. This is one thing I
just can't live without when I am on the road. So of course they put me in a
room with only a shower. I had a spectacular view, but no bath. So I will have
to pack up all my things in the morning so they can move my luggage to a room
with a tub.
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Day 2 – Sept 21 – Rome Embassy

Posted on September 22, 2012 by Luana
 
This morning was my big power point presentation at the US Embassy in Rome.

I arrived at the appointed time to the security gate and… there were a

hundred men in Italian suits and shiny black shoes already waiting in
line!

Since I was the speaker, I didn't feel like I should get at the
back of the
line, so I skipped to the front of the line. There was a young
lady waiting
behind the gate watching for me, so I slipped inside before the
suits could
protest… much.

We had a full room with people standing
in the back. Everyone seemed to
really appreciate the depth of quilting
talent that was shown, from several
quilt festivals worldwide.

Toward
the end as we left, we heard there was a demonstration blocking a
road
nearby. Later at my hotel I heard and saw a low-flying helicopter, and

wondered if it was related to the demonstrations. It was.  There was  a huge

anti-American demonstration near the Embassy all afternoon – we avoided the

area and I don't have any more information on what happened yet. Our friends

at the Embassy chose to stay inside the compound for the rest of the day

instead of going home.

I had lunch with a Venetian photographer and
his wife. They live on Lido Island and he is known for his atmospheric photos of
Carnivale. We talked about me perhaps coming to Venice Carnivale in Feb 2014 and
they offered to help me get into some private costume parties. Now wouldn't that
be amazing?! I would go in costume, with my camera.

 
This afternoon I went for a 2 hour walk – to the Spanish Steps and then
to
Basilica di Santa Maria del Popolo
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_di_Santa_Maria_del_Popolo
which
has 2 large Caravaggio paintings.

I walked back along the river, then
caught a taxi to the hotel to meet
my host Susan Fiorentino. We had to drive
the long way to get out of the city, due to the demonstrations. We saw a lot of
police but never saw the demonstration.
Anyway, she picked me up at 5:45, we
got to the restaurant at 7 pm, everyone
else showed up at 8 pm, we ate at 9
pm, there was a chaotic show and tell of
quilts at 10 pm, and after many
good-byes we left at 10:45 pm, and got to the hotel at 11:30 pm. A good time was
had by all. I had my first stuffed zucchini flower! Norah McMeeking and her
husband sat next to me and we traded travel stories.

Over my short trip
to Rome, there were several enthusiastic eQuilter customers who came to meet me
at all the events. One lady even cried, she was so excited to meet me. I got a
little teary too – it is so amazing that I can travel so far and find new
friends who feel so close to me – I feel honored to have friends like this
around the world – thanks to quilting!

Now I am packing, going to bed,
and checking out at 7 am for my flight to
Moscow tomorrow. (Saturday)
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Day 1 – Sept 20 – Rome, Italy

Posted on September 21, 2012 by Luana

PalazzoBarberiniStairs1_W

My taxi ride into town Weds went past so many famous landmarks – I

immediately had the sense that I was really in Bella Roma. It included

driving past the Forum and the "Wedding Cake" building, then the Piazza

Venezia where I checked to see if there really is still a policeman on a

pedastal directing traffic with his white gloves. (As in Woody Allen's movie

"To Rome With Love") Yes, he was there!

Then I checked into the
tiniest hotel room I've ever seen in my life. It was
so tiny that the twin
bed was shoved up against the wall, and my knees
touched the wall when I sat
on the bidet.

This morning I did go to the Cappuccini Convent & Ossuary Crypt on Via Veneto that has the
underground vaults full of bones. They are artfully arranged in different
subterranean
rooms – the skull room, the pelvis room, etc. They were
arranged by a
creative monk. Marquis de Sade commented, when he visited,
that he was glad
they left the windows open. No photos allowed inside. There
was a museum
full of artifacts, and it was clear that when all the
monastery's land was
expropriated for the Via Veneto area ( now full of
high-end shopping and
hotels, and embassies) they never got over that loss.
The friary was razed
to make way for a government office.

Also went to
the  Palazzo Barberini which is full of art, and got to see some
famous
Caravaggio paintings there. It is right off the Piazza Barberini,
built by
the Barberini family long ago. The photo above is of the staircase – or I should say ONE of the grand staircases – in this Palazzo.

When I came back, I was moved from my
teeny tiny room with no windows (only
a little skylight) to a beautiful big
room with a tub, sliding patio doors
and even a balcony with a patio table
and umbrella. Yeah!

The room however smells like the remnants of a
thousand Italian men's
cologne who have stayed here over the years. You
probably wouldn't even
notice it, but well… I have an incredibly
sensitive nose. It's not a totally
unpleasant smell, but I wondered if I would reek of 1000
men's colognes when I
left to go to the reception at the embassy.

The reception Thursday afternoon went well. My short looping presentation on "Quilts in
America" was
enthusiastically received. You can't bring any camera or even
iPhone into
the embassy because of the strict security, so I don't have any
photos yet.
There was an official photographer and I am supposed to get
those
photos.

I came back to my room around 6 pm and fell into a jetlag coma.  Friday morning
is the big
presentation. It was really interesting to go past all the
security and go
into the embassy. I wasn't able to take a tour around the
facilities – they
wanted us to just stay in the reception area.

Bella Roma… so lovely and so fascinating to be
among so much beautiful
history with every step. I always think of the movie
"Roman Holiday" when I
am here.

Ciao!

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Creative Nudge – Reap What You Sew

Posted on September 19, 2012 by Luana

LareneSmith_550

Friendship.

It's
a beautiful thing.

I have met more wonderful people who've become
wonderful friends in the
quilting world, than any other group of people I've encountered.

And
you know what? No matter where I go, I meet quilters
and fabric-lovers, and we are instantly
friends because we share this love of sewing and creating.

I am just
about to fly
across the Atlantic Ocean to meet a bunch of quilter friends, who I don't
know yet! But you know what? I know when I meet them, we'll sit down and start
talking and it will be like we've known each other for ages.

Today I was
giggling as I thought about this, because it reminds me of the Loyal Order of
Water Buffaloes on the Flintstones. Remember
that TV cartoon? Except we are more of a sorority than a fraternity, and we wear
tiaras instead of Viking hats with horns. (yes, we let boys into our sorority
too!) We have our special secret jargon (fat quarters, frog stitch, walking
foot, etc.) and our regular guild meetings.

Unfortunately every guild
has a Pearl
Slaghoople, but we mostly try to ignore her monologues about rules, so we
can get on with our sewing and our friendships. Oh yeah, and our appreciation of
each other's stashes!

Many years ago on my first
visit to Rome, the seeds were planted for a new quilting friendship. This
week our blossoming friendship will bear fruit, when Susan Fiorentino's curated
exhibition opens to the staff and visiting dignitaries at the US Embassy in
Rome. eQuilter is a supporter of this exhibit, and in addition I will be giving
a presentation there on Friday, reviewing all the international quilt
exhibitions that I have photographed in the last year.

Next Sunday I will
give the same presentation at the Moscow
Quilt Festival, and new seeds of friendship will be sown… or is that sewn?
*giggle*

*
This eye-popping quilt was made by Larene Smith of Mission Viejo California, and
was photographed at the Irish Quilt Festival in June 2012.

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