The Flying Scotsman

Today was a very special day as the restored Flying Scotsman completed its inaugural run from London Kings Cross to the National Railway Museum in York.  Everyone of a certain age must remember the Scotsman with affection as do I.  There's something primaeval about steam trains even if they were rather sooty.  The engine had been out of use for 10 years while all the refurbishments were made.  I have to thank my husband for the photos in this post as I stayed closer to home and walked down to the town to watch her pass but failed to get any photos.  It was fabulous to see her steaming past a few yards away.

 DH and his friend had gone out to their chosen viewpoint early but many many people had got the same idea.

 Here she comes!

 I liked the wind-turbine in the background contrasting with the older steam power.

And there she goes.  As we live along the East Coast mainline we will no doubt have the chance to see her again at some time but today was special.

I enjoyed my walk and snapped a favourite group of trees on the way,

I love these stately Silver Birch trees and they looked spectacular in the sunshine today.

 This should have been my photograph of the Flying Scotsman but she snuck up on me and I missed my chance.  Thank goodness for DH!  By the way, all those 'Low Bridge' signs are no use at all.  Apparently drivers of high vehicles are incapable of reading or understanding the signs and regularly hit the bridge.  Sigh.

PS  Eek!  I've just discovered this is my 900th post!  Who knew I had so much to say? lol

February Already and Nearly Gone

Time has done its usual trick of rushing past way too quickly and now it's nearly the end of February.  Since last checking in here DH and I have fought off two horrible snotty colds each but have still managed to achieve quite a bit for this time of year. 

Weaving has kept me busy both on the new Saori loom and on my little SampleIt rigid heddle.  I've done about 2 and a half metres on the Saori but the light is too poor to photograph it today being as it's 5.00pm and getting dark.  I have made a scarf on the rigid heddle though and forced it onto my stepson's partner.  Happily she liked it, enthusiastically!

On the quilting front I have made two smallish quilts since Christmas.  One for our impendng grandchild and one for the dog!  Sadly the only photograph I have is of the dog's quilt in progress.

In fact I only used the left section of 4x5 squares and have 16 remaining to make a Linus quilt with.  I did it QAYG with a fleece backing and it turned out really well and was well received.

Returning to Saori, at the beginning of February and despite being full of colds, I dragged DH to Norwich to see the display forming part of Makers Month at Norwich Forum.   The first week of Makers Month focussed on Fibre and as part of that The Saori Shed displayed all the banners people, including me, had made as well as letting the public have a play on Saori looms.

 You can probably see from the photo above how vast The Forum building is.  My skinny banner is up there next to the blue banner.

 The White and Blue banners above were made by the same lady and interpret Air and Water. 

 The red and the brown banners above were made by the same lady as above and picture Fire and Earth.  I particularly like the sectioned parts of Earth.

 Other fibre crafts were featured and there were more through in the auditorium.

 This technique was fascinating.  The banners have remained on display all month and can still be seen up to this weekend. 

Norwich is a beautiful city and we stayed over so we had time to explore.

 Click on the image above to see how lovely this view is of Norwich Cathedral across the field.  It reminded me very much of Salisbury Cathedral from this distance.

 Norwich Cathedral has some beautiful stained glass,

 from modern,

 to mediaeval.  The glass above is mediaeval made from recovered broken pieces.

On our way back to the station we passed some interesting shops, 

 and a beautiful art nouveau arcade which housed the Colmans Mustard Museum.

If you're not fed up yet I'll just mention that we also saw Brian Conley at Norwich Playhouse while we were there (very funny show) and have since been to the Royal Albert Hall in London (on a coach trip) to see Cirque du Soleil in their amazing show Amaluna.  Wow!  What an experience!  I think I might believe in magic!



Do watch the amazing video above, it's worth the time.  Suffice to say, in the atmosphere of the Albert Hall we were mesmerised.



Last but not least, today we've watched The Flying Scotsman on its inaugural journey through our home town on its way to York.  I'll post that separately.