The magnet

As I am sure you have seen on many quilt blogs, a lot of quilters take pictures of floor tiles, carpet designs, iron gates or other sources of inspiration they find in daily life. Ami Simms has a space, Watch Your Step, on her blog where readers can contribute with pictures of interesting designs. There is much that can be used for embroidery pattern as well.

For me, it is rather fabric and embroidery that catch my attention. Last week I was walking along and my eyes were drawn like a magnet to this piece of antique goldwork:

The whole exquisite piece was framed and behind glass:

Now where on earth would you find such a jewel? 

Below is a hint. 

No?

Well, the piece of goldwork is on the wall of a corridor inside this building! 

Where are we? 

Here is another clue. 

Venice? 

Gondolas? 

Japanese gondoliers!

Could it be any other place than - DisneySea in Tokyo?!

 The piece of goldwork is one of many framed fragments of antique embroidery used to decorate the Hotel Miracosta which is located inside Tokyo DisneySea amusement park. The hotel is quite stunning and I was lucky to spend a short pre-Christmas holiday there last week.

The dinner show was on a fabric related theme, too. The story was about a stage show where props and costumes had gone missing and the clever cast used other things; the curtains in the first picture became gowns (can you see the tassels?) and instead of hats they used lampshades (in pink and orange).

I had a nice time and was so happy to see some authentic embroidery in this Disney world of make-believe.