The benefit of reading the small print

 So the DH, seen here doing his bit in Trafalgar Square, having received his senior railcard decided we needed to have a day out in London. The plan was to have a nice lunch and spend some time at the Cartoon Museum to see Steve Bell's cartoons and then to perhaps go to the British Museum for a bit of culture before having a nice meal and catching the train home.

But of course, being us, we failed to read the small print and discovered when we arrived at the CM and tried to open the door that it was closed on Mondays!

So we decided to walk down to the Embankment and go to the Watercolour Exhibition at Tate Britain instead. Strangely there were a lot of people around and not all of them English.  London it seems is a popular tourist destination!!!
Walking through Russell Square we helped two very nice young men find their way using our ancient and very tatty AtoZ. We were also accosted by two rather insistent people of uncertain nationality who spoke no English who wanted to change a £20 note for four £5 notes. They ended up almost destroying the DH's peace of mind by grabbing his wallet and checking that, no as we said, we couldn't help before trudging off muttering in some unknown tongue!

 So onwards and Southwards we went, passing some lovely buildings and pausing briefly to look at some of the sights.

This statue is on Whitehall just opposite the Household Cavalry and I don't remember seeing it before. It is extremely moving and although the photo only shows one side of it, I didn't feel like standing in the middle of the road to get photos of the other sides!

And just across the road were two members of the Household Cavalry on duty,  resolutely silent and still despite the throngs of tourists and this one.......


.....is a young woman! Who'd have thought it! I'm not sure how aware most other people were  as most of them were surrounding her male colleague. I didn't know that women were allowed to join, but I'm glad to see that they can and do!

I didn't take any photos of the peace camp in Parliament Square, just because it was difficult to find a spot to get them in where I wasn't likely to get run over, so here's Big Ben instead. They are obviously very well organised and dedicated, but I'm not sure how much notice the tourists were taking.  Good on them and I hope a good few of our politicians learn something about morality and justice from them!






And so to the Tate where after the exhibition we rested in the cafe for tea and cake. No images from the exhibition I'm afraid, but it is well worth a visit. The DH and I fell completely in love with Turner, and although there were other gems, his sketches small paintings had the most impact.

Then outside to get caught in a heavy shower, but fortunately we were able to shelter under this lovely plane tree. I had forgotten how lovely these trees are and there are so many of them!


Despite the rain I managed to get some photos of leaves and bark and the seeds which have a lovely texture.

Very ominous clouds over the London Eye, and very choppy conditions on the river. So we didn't go for a trip on the Duck, but we did see one driving along the Embankment with a lot of very wet people on board. Next time perhaps!
 

A "Duck" on the Thames! Just what you want on a wet day like today!!!

Summer school

I'm feeling a bit flat today after a weekend at CQ summer school at Belstead House in Ipswich. The workshop with Helen Parrott was very enjoyable and relaxing, but above all it was FUN!!!

As I am not renowned for the quality of my hand stitching and find using a thimble nigh impossible, I had visions of a rather bleak weekend. I needn't have worried. Noone, including Helen, produced a thimble and I soon learned the difference between hand stitching and hand quilting!

Our first task on Friday after dinner and introductions was to quilt a traditional pattern onto the fabric sandwich Helen provided. We then moved on to stitching parallel rows of running stitch across the width of the fabric. After a while, the fabric began to ripple, although I was quite slow so didn't get quite as far as I had hoped with mine.



After the class broke up, we decamped to the bar where several of us stayed until quite late. As I am so new to this sort of event, and know so few people, it was really lovely to meet and talk to other members and put faces to names I had seen on the Yahoo messages.

On Saturday Helen put us through various exercises in stitching and design and I had a real eureka moment. Helen had brought lots of photos, postcards, magazine articles etc and we were asked to choose up to 15 images that pleased us. We then had to arrange them on our table in a way we found pleasing and write down what we felt about the images we had chosen in our secret book! Then everyone went around the room and wrote down on little post it notes  what we felt about the images each had chosen . Then there was a general comparison of notes and a discussion of how we all felt about it all. It was interesting to see what other people had written about someone else's choices and amazing when I found that someone else had made a comment about my choices that was exactly the same as my own.  Helen did not tell us why she had asked us to do any of this until afterwards when it became clear that this exercise is a way of getting started on a design process!

My collage of images.

So on came the light bulb when I realised that you don't have to know what you are actually going to do before you start. You can just play with images, found items etc and the ideas will start coming!  Not knowing what the end result was to be is why I have found it so difficult to actually get started on anything, but now I feel energised and full of confidence. So thank you  to Helen for helpimg me realise this.

Saturday afternoon gave me an opportunity for a short walk around the lovely grounds before getting back to the stitching. More chat in the bar on Saturday evening before turning in and at last getting some sleep! 

On Sunday there was more stitching, including French knots, and different techniques for distorting the fabric , e.g stitching spirals, knotting and making huge loopy stitches! There is so much variety from just very simple stitches. Why had I not realised this before?  Well, like many others, I've got very absorbed in fancy gizmos and had just forgotten what you can do with a bit of thread, a needle and some plain cotton fabric!

Would I do it again? Well, I'm not keen on being away from home in unfamiliar surroundings, but it was wonderful to have met so many lovely people and to have had the luck to get a place when so many others had been disappointed and I'd love to go again sometime.

I was a bit remiss in not taking photos of the event, but here are a couple of the lovely surroundings to whet your appetite! I hope there will be some more photos to see on the Yahoo group message board.

Now I'm really looking forward to going to the Festival of Quilts to meet up with some of those lovely people again. I hope by then I'll have some wonderful rippled hand quilted work to show off!

Grasses in the meadow

Textures on a wall

Bark on the Scots pine by the front door

Lavender in the garden

There and back again

So, the great Hebridean trip is behind us. We've done our duty and visited the various  relatives in Cornwall. but we still can't settle! After a lovely a trip to the North West Contemporary Weekend Group on Sunday, I really thought I'd be rearing to go on Monday, but it was so hot that the DH and I collapsed in front of the tele and watched the tennis!

Still, I have not been entirely idle. Sandra made some lovely colour themed packs for the NWCWG and mine is a "sea" pack. Here it is!

There are 11 bits of fabric, thread etc and we have to use 6 of them in one item and the instruction is to play! I feel so guilty that I haven't really done any sewing recently, but as I'm off the CQ Summer School on Friday, I'll aim to get started then. I'm doing the Hand quilting course with Helen Parrott. Her work is very contemporary and I'm hoping to learn a lot from her.

While we were in Cornwall, we used one of our free days to visit St Ives. It was beautifully sunny, and as my DH has led such a virtuous life, there is always a parking space in the Island car park. Not today though, and neither was there any room in the car park over the Tate.  We should have parked at the park and ride, but couldn't face going all the way back so we drove down the coast road to Botallack and had lunch in the pub there. On the way we visited the Schoolhouse Gallery at Morvah . Their latest exhibition was really good. Paintings by Cath Ensor and textiles by Wendy Hermelin. All the work was related to the lovely scenery around this part of the Cornish coast, especially Cape Cornwall. Very inspiring!

On the cliffs we met a young man from Bradford who was just overwhelmed by the colour of the sea. As he said it's quite different from the brown stuff you get at Whitby! Exactly!

Here is what he meant!  Although the photo's a bit over exposed, it still looks lovely! I really can't begin to imagine what it must have been like to actually work in those mines!

And  here's a rather windblown Peneller digesting crab and prawn pasta rather nearer to the cliff edge than is truly within her comfort zone! Full report of Summer School next week!

Another day; another beach!

After almost a month away in the Outer Hebrides, getting back to the routine is proving somewhat problematic. For our week on North Uist, the sun shone, the wildlife (except the otters), performed, we discovered Salar smoked salmon and other seafood delights and we had a lovely relaxing time. For the two weeks on Harris and Great Berneray, the weather was not so kind and the wildlife not so prolific. They were probably all inside sheltering from the vicious wind! We tramped through a large number of bogs where we were assured that otters, red necked phalaropes and other rarities would be sure to be found, only to get very wet feet and to discover that they weren't! But, we did see lots of Gannets, Eider Ducks  and all sorts of little waders so we can't really complain. I have also collected yet more shells, driftwood, sand and dried seaweed to be used (or not) in my mixed media art projects and we have over 500 photos on three cameras to delight out friends and family! Here's a taster!

On the way home we discovered the lovely Sleat peninsula on the Isle of Skye where we stayed with Emma and Dave in their B&B at Barabhaig and although it rained, we managed to spend out last day exploring this lovely part of Skye.

The drive home was pretty scary due to gale force winds rain and sleet, but we made it and although our bodies have returned, our minds haven't! So we're just going to have to go again next year.

Now I must get down to getting some of my memories recorded in our journal and I hope to be able to get a quilt underway at last!

A walk in Wharfedale

As the sun was shining, and I was feeling more energetic, we decided to drive up to Grassington and have a walk in the woods and along the river. We didn't bother with jumpers or coats but we did take our cameras and our boots. It was just wonderful to be out in the countryside in the lovely warm sunshine.

After our walk, we drove to Appletreewick and had a sandwich at The Craven Arms, something we haven't done for a long time. The sun was a bit strong, but we sat outside and I don't seem to have suffered much sunburn.  Not a lot of quilting has been done, and I'm not sure whether any will be before we go on our holiday,but I'm enjoying the sunshine.     If anyone knows how to get the text to look right, please put me out of my misery! Off to make crab cakes for tea. Yum!                                                                                                                           

And another!

Last week was a busy one. There was Alwoodley Quilter's AGM on Tuesday,(will the committee heed our pleas for some inspirational workshops/speakers!).
Wednesday I had my first session of accupunture at the Jade centre with Louise. I wasn't sure what to expect, but was very impressed and returned home very relaxed and a bit less itchy!
Thursday Sandra, Chris and Val came round and we spent a very happy few hours talking about the process of designing from a source. Inspirational photos were very abundant as was the lovely food they had brought with them. My DH made us some of his excellent curried parsnip soup with cheesy croutons. Always a treat! After lunch we all set to with paper, scissors, coloured pencils and paint and had a throroughly happy hour or two before they departed.
I am enjoying these sessions with our little informal group, but ideally Sandra and I would like to set up a larger group and include members of the Contemporary Quilt group. This is a hot topic around the country at present with lots of local groups starting up and was raised at the Contemporary Quilt Group AGM in London which Sandra, Julie and I attended yesterday.

The meeting was held at the American Church in Tottenham Court Road and after the business was finished and we had had lunch and mingled a bit, Jo Budd gave us an inspiration talk about her work and how it has developed. It was wonderful to renew my aquaintance with friends I hadn't seen for a while and to meet new people. There was a lovely buzz around the room and some lovely work on display which gave us plenty to talk about.

Here are Sandra and Julie squinting against the bright sunshine waiting to go into the meeting. We were in the shadow of the GPO tower and I couldn't resist taking a snap. What memories this brought back!

Although the meeting itself was very enjoyable, the venue had it's problems. There were a lot of other activities going on and so there was some noise from outside. The room was also quite hot and stuffy which did detract a bit from the enjoyment of Jo's powerpoint presentation.

I don't think I will venture down the same path as Jo, but her work is stunning with some smaller pieces as well a some very large ones. I have to confess to not having been too impressed with her exhibits at the Quilt Exhibition at the V&A last year, but I think now that this may have been partly due to the fact that they were not very prominently displayed. In fact I think we almost walked past the side gallery where they were hung without realising they were there. Having heard Jo talk about them I would now like to see them again. I feel priviledged to have had the opportunity of seeing her work, hearing her talk about it and be able to admit that perhaps I was wrong about it!

Life has some hard lessons to teach us!

I was also priviledged to meet Helen Parrott especially since I was lucky enough to get a place on her workshop at the CQ summerschool.
All in all a truly grand day out and a good journey home as we found that more CQ friends were travelling in our compartment. I'm not sure what the other passengers thought of our conversation, but we enjoyed ourselves!

A grand day out

Although I've been a member of the Quilter's Guild for some time, apart from a few visits to the Museum in York, I haven't done much in the way of Guild activities. So, with some feelings of trepidation, I decided to go to our Regional Day on Saturday. I have admired Ineke Berlyn's work for some time and she was the speaker for the day and I didn't want to miss the opportunity of seeing her and hearing about her work.

The meeting was held in a church hall in Kirkheaton near Huddersfield which isn't a part of the country I know very well, but the directions were good and we found it with out difficulty. Parking was a bit iffy because there weren'y many spaces left and the overflow car park was a very muddy field that noone really wanted to venture into. So we bunched up and parked where we could!

Everyone was very friendly and there was a lovely buzz about the day. Ineke's talk was so inspiring and she is very generous and happy to talk about her work and share her methods. This lovely quilt is made with transparent fabrics printed with ammonites. Ineke also brought her sketch books and these were truly wonderful. She works in her sketch books a lot before deciding on a final design for her quilts. I must say that I don't do anywhere near enough work of this kind and so I've started to address that. It's a good way of using up all those old magazines, photos etc.

After lunch we set about hand stitching some little blocks that will form part of a group quilt next year. We had been asked to take some blue fabrics in dark and medium shades. Even with all my stash, I was a bit doubtful that my fabrics were suitable, but as usual, they were and I needn't have worried. In fact, everyone had taken lots more fabric than I had, so there would have been plenty to go round! I didn't get mine finished on the day, but here are some that were!

So, a truly grand day out and I came home with Lutradur, a new book and lovely memories!