Transfer Design for Kyjov Costume Blouse

While my latest piece(apron for Hanacky kroj) is at the cleaners, I am working on a new project. I have a copy of the embroidery design that I used for a blouse for my daughter several years ago. The copy is not in very good shape because I used it to transfer the design to the material so I am tracing the design on to vellum (semi-transparent paper) that I can scan in to the computer. My hope is to save this priceless design so that others can use it and, who knows, maybe I will use it again sometime.

By the way, the Hanacky apron I am working on is nearing completion. So far I have been working on it about 11 months and I think I still want to do a little more work on it. I am always anxious to get a piece pressed at the cleaners and when I get it back I will post pictures.

Czech Comic Opera to be Performed in Texas in February and March

The Czech Educational Foundation of Texas announced that the college of Music at the University of North Texas, in collaboration with the CEFT Kostohryz Residency in Czech Music and Culture, will present Bedrich Smetana's internationally acclaimed comic opera, Prodana nevesta (The Bartered Bride).
It is scheduled for 8 pm Feb. 26 and March 5 and at 3 pm Feb. 28 and March 7 in the Lyric Theater in the Murchison Performing Arts Center on the UNT campus in Denton.
This will be a full production with period costumes, special sets, dramatic lighting and the UNT Symphony Orchestra. The lyrics are to be sung in Czech by students in the College of Music and will have English subtitles so everyone can follow the story.
Tickets are $35, $25 and $15. For more information on these performances, contact the box office at 940-369-7802 or opera office at 940-565-4654.
There will also be modified productions of this opera at the following locations: March 24-Temple (contact Sandi Wicker-254-899-2935): March 25, College Station (Clint Machann-979-845-4898); March 27-Houston (Effie Rosene-713-528-2060); and March 28 (matinee), Austin-(Roger Kolar-512-474-6526).
Bedrich Smetana, who has long been regarded as the fatherof Czech Music, sought inspiration for his work from the old folk songs and dances of his native Bohemia. This is especially true of his The Bartered Bride, which premiered in 1866.
Hailed as one of the greatest of all comic operas, The Bartered Bride is a story of young love and the triumph of true love set to Smetana's hauntingly beautiful old-world melodies that continued to characterize the Czech musical heritage to this day.
The action takes place in a typical 19th century village in the Czech countryside. Act I begins with the villagers gathering in the square, which have been colorfully decorated in celebration of the spring festival and ends as the joyous townspeople, aught up in the festival mood, dance in a lively polka.