London Olympics 2012

No, we're not in them but we did have a coach trip to visit some of the locations the weekend before Easter.    Our visit was split between two days and we had a guided tour of the perimetre of the Olympic site (security precautions prevent direct access to the site at the moment), a visit to Royal Greenwich and a visit to the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich which will be the venue for the Shooting events. 

The main arena above has been made in part from recycled drainage pipes and can be altered to suit its new purpose after the Olympic Games.  Because the Olympic site was due to be built on industrial ground tonnes of toxic soil had to be removed, hence all public access will be at the level of the walkway with the purple buildings.  A surprising fact is that the site is bordered by the Victorian Sewage system devised by Joseph Bazalgette which forms a huge bank now called the Greenway from which we had our view of the site.

 

This wonderful tower is Anish Kapoor's ' Orbit', a sculpture specially designed for the Olympic location.  From our viewpoint we could see workmen hanging from the piped structure.  I think they were painting, a bit like the Forth Road Bridge.

'Visitors will be able to take a trip up the statuesque structure in a huge lift and will have the option of walking down the spiralling staircase.'  As the sculpture is higher than the Statue of Liberty the view should be tremendous.  If you follow the link for Anish Kapoor you will find further links and more information about this unique artwork.

Had we felt energetic we could all have had the experience of crossing the finishing line through this wonderful (drift)wood sculpture on the Greenway.  The organisers are keen to include the Arts in this special event and I was delighted to see an exhibition of mosaics by members of the BAMM

 Above - work by Ann Bowles

 Tom Green Flower Trail

  

 Norma Vondee Singing Bird

Jan Waddington Flower Basket - Moody Blues

I liked the sculpture above but sadly didn't gather any information about it.

From this location we were taken to the Royal Arsenal by way of the Woolwich Ferry. 

This is one of the temporary buildings that will be home to the shooting events.

The trip across on the ferry was interesting!  I'm glad our coach had good brakes!

An unexpected bonus of visiting the Royal Arsenal was this sculpture at the end of an open plaza.

The sculptor is Peter Burke and it was very eerie walking among the figures.

Is it solid? Is it shadow?

I think I've exhausted Blogger and you so I'll end with this great slogan I saw in the bar at the Royal Arsenal.  The two heads at the bottom of the photo are playing Monopoly using a digital card machine as the bank.  Who would have thought?

To be continued.....

11 April Post amended to add links to London 2012 site.

Fenland Textile Studio

Yesterday Wendy and I travelled to Spalding to visit Angela at her newly opened studio at Unique Cottage Studios.  Angela has been teaching for a long time and is responsible for getting me into dyeing and even quilting itself as hers were the first classes I attended when I started on this journey that I'm on.  Although Angela is based at Unique she is offering her own classes and groups and has some exciting plans coming up.

Wendy and I arrived about 11 o'clock to find the place buzzing with lots of chat and plenty to look at.  My photos were taken at the end of the day when things had calmed down and we were sitting round having a chat and Angela was finally able to eat something!

 Trudi, who blogs as Quilting Prolifically was there all day giving demonstrations of her mid-arm quilter and Tina, who is masked in this photo, had brought along samples of her hand quilting which is always beautiful.  Angela is seated on the right concentrating on Wendy talking out of shot.

Looking the other way you can see tea and cakes (yummy too) and the area showing work from Carol who is sharing the studio with Angela. 

If you go to Angela's blog you can see more photos of the studio here.  You can also click on a link to register for Angela's newsletter and keep up with the classes on offer.  Angela is a very calm and generous teacher and I owe her a lot.  I am looking forward to doing a 'Stitching for Texture' workshop with her later in the year.  I saw the sample book the workshop produces yesterday and it will be a great reference tool.

Last weekend DH and I went on a coach trip to see Olympic London which he has already blogged about so I will tell you about it and bring you my photos next time.

It's a bit late but I hope you have all had a relaxed and Happy Easter weekend with families or chilling out or doing whatever warms your heart.  We have spent the day with Mum who was on good form and enjoyed watching 'The King and I' on TV.  Weren't the costumes fabulous in that film?  See you soon!

Catching Up Again continued

Sewing For Pleasure show continued

This piece by Christine Hudson was part of the Madeira Embroidery competition stand on a theme of Best of Blighty.  Christine's notes explain her inspiration.  I'm only sad I didn't read them properly as she invited you to explore the pieces and I would have loved to have turned the pieces over and handled them. 

I was pleased to see some of the costumes from Downton Abbey at the Sewing for Pleasure Show.

I think the costume nearest to you was worn by the character Lady Sybil.  

Isn't the detail beautiful? I love the swirls on the sleeve.

 

These postcards are part of a much larger display of work by West Country Embroiderers.  Hopefully if you click on the image you will be able to see more detail.

After the enjoyment of the Shows at the NEC I had a lovely day out in Lincoln with two blogging friends.  It was a gloriously sunny day last Tuesday and we were sure to make the most of it.  My DH travelled on the bus with me but went off to do his own thing and use the opportunity to gather photographs for his collection.

You may recognise Maggi and Linda from their blogs (image courtesy of DH).  Both these ladies are wonderful company and we had a lot of fun.  Our first port of call was Harding House Gallery on Steep Hill which is run by a cooperative of artists who sell their works and also man the gallery and often work there too.   There is so much beautiful work in the gallery from textiles to pottery, to jewellery, to paintings and upstairs is an exhibition space which this visit housed an exhibiton by Doreen Hallett, an accomplished quilter.  If you click the link you will be able to view her work rather than having to rely on my probably blurry images.  

From the gallery we wandered slowly up Steep Hill, well you have to wander slowly, it's very steep and there are chocolate shops to distract you along the way :-) (of course we succumbed! Well, you have to don't you?)  

So much beautiful colour in the blossom part way up the hill. 

After a relaxed lunch in a pub garden enjoying the sunshine we took a walk to Lincoln's wonderful cathedral and were all inspired by the stunning stonework on the outside of the building which have been cleaned and repaired.

While we were inside the Cathedral visiting the shop the sun set up a beautiful colour show on the columns cast by the stained glass.  A beautiful way to bring our time together to a close.  Sadly I can't show  you the gorgeous chocolate that we bought at the chocolaterie as I've eaten it! lol 

Thank you Linda and Maggi for a great day out.  I really enjoyed myself and I loved the  threads you gave me Maggi.  I will enjoy dyeing them.  My DH had a good day too and is only now uploading his photos as he has been without a computer for two weeks.  He has gone over to the 'other side' and bought a Mac to replace his PC but the learning curve is very steep (a bit like Steep Hill) and we are having many pauses as we toil up it.  DH's son came round last night and gave him a crash course in iPhoto and we are slowly finding our way round that but progress is slow. 

Catching Up Again

The last few weeks have been a mixed bag of busyness and a grotty cold.  We won't dwell on the cold which knocked me for six as I'm much better now, but I will share with you some of the busyness.

Last weekend I recovered enough to go on a coach trip to the Fashion Embroidery and Stitch Show at the NEC.  When I first arrived in the Halls I was delighted to see the guitarist that we had met at the Malvern Show.  David Jaggs played his delightful guitar music of all styles throughout the day and it felt very restful to enjoy a break from the hurly burly having a cup of tea and listening to his guitar drifting in the air.

If you go to David's site you can download sample tracks of his music which is very varied from classical through Spanish to versions of pop classics.  I treated myself to his Recitals CD.

I have to admit that Ididn't take many photos at the show but I will share what I did take.

 On the Madeira stand Michala who blogs as KaylaCoo was demonstrating her beautiful combination of felting and machine embroidery.  When I arrived at the stand she was wrestling a large blanket through the machine in order to add elaborate stitching.  It was interesting to see the amount of effort that was required to achieve a tension under the needle.  Michala's work has a wonderful painterly quality, inherited no doubt from the amount of preparation she undertakes with her paintings and drawings.  It was lovely to meet up with a fellow blogger.

An exhibit that caught my eye was the work of Susan Chapman.

I was particularly attracted to the flowing, drifting nature of her work.  You can read more about her work in the Gallery section of her website and she has some close up views of the work on the stand above on her Flickr pages shown in her sidebar.

Sadly Blogger is now refusing to post any more photos so I will cut short this post and try and continue tomorrow.  I still have to show you work by Christine Hudson, postcards by the West Country Embroiderers and some of the dresses from the series Downton Abbey (I need to write this here or I will forget what else I was going to say).  See you soon.

How Long?

Two weeks since I blogged?  Can't be!  Actually it is and it's not as if I havn't had things to blog about as I've been busy but I've also been exhausted and a bit bleugh about making the effort so I apologise for being a lazy Blogger.

First of all, I should say that with all the stuff flying about on the net about Pinterest, I have decided to leave until it all gets sorted out.  I have finally read the Terms and I feel it is a copyright minefield and I don't want to be the one who may get sued, and I also object to the fact that they can apparently sell your boards.  So, goodbye Pinterest!  Oops!  Should have bookmarked my favourites first!

So what's been happening in my neck of the woods?  Last week saw DH and I on a coach trip to the Creative Crafts Show at Malvern.  I've not been to this Show before and although it was a small affair we did enjoy our day.  It was a real mix of papercrafts, stitch, knitting and strangely people selling knife sharpeners!  What was that all about?  

 I did succumb to a little shopping.  The LOVE symbol is so Mum and I can hopefully indulge in a little collaging.  I won't call it decopatch as I didn't buy the papers but I'm hoping to interest Mum in sticking some St Ives-y coloured papers onto it.  And what about that fabulous yarn?!  It is the most sumptuous of sea colours and it just leapt into my hands!  What can I say?  The yarn came from the stall of ehdknits run by the very friendly Erica and if you visit the site prepare to be very tempted.  So many gorgeous yarns and threads, especially the sequined silk yarn!

Food played a lively part in the day and you can see DH enjoyed the Danish we shared. (Well I have to get my own back for a pic of me he's put on his blog!)

The Show didn't keep us busy all day so we set off for a walk round the grounds looking for inspiration.  The photos above, showing a very misty day, were taken through a metal gate and while they're not wonderfully inspiring and not the best photos they have a certain something.  Walking a bit further we found textures to inspire us.

An old notice board should give lots of opportunites to play and I couldn't resist the oak leaf in the tarmac below.

Mossy paving could be useful

and I love Silver Birch trees.

So what else?  Remember my excursion into Roman Stripes?  Well, I put the squares I had made in a safe place and, you've guessed it, they disappeared on a block vacation.  Having turned out every drawer and fabiric box over the last couple of weeks I finally decided I would have to bottom my sewing room if I was ever to find them.  Long story short, I started to straighten up my bookshelves and peeking out from under some sketchbooks, the blocks popped out.  Shrieking didn't come into it! lol  I am now busy making up the throw in a completely different arrangement from the ones I was considering before and I'll show you it when I've got it together.

I don't usually like to make any comment on current affairs in this blog but I feel I have to express my terrible sadness at the loss of six young lives in Afghanistan this week. R.I.P

Effie Galletly

Today was the Area day for Region 10 of the Quilters Guild which covers Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Rutland and after an enjoyable morning of catching up with friends, quilters' bingo and a very tasty lunch we were treated to a talk and slideshow by Effie Galletly.

I had seen Effie's work a couple of years ago at Quiltfest in Llangollen so it was good to see her inspirational sources and to hear a little of how she constructs her quilts.  (For my sins, I didn't realise that Effie had been instrumental in setting up the Contemporary Quilt Group of the Quilters Guild).

It was very interesting to see the types of photographs that Effie uses when she is looking to make her quilts and after a short while I began to see the shapes that could be translated into fabric. 

Interestingly some of the skies were formed by long running stitch rather than actual piecing of fabrics but equally some were pieced to express the changes in light and the movement across the sky.  While Effie uses some of her own dyed and painted fabrics she also makes full use of commercial fabrics and batiks if they give her the tones and textures that she wants.

The quilts in this presentation reflected the scenery of the Outer Hebrides and other islands off the west coast of Scotland and as we are going to Arran and Mull later in the year I enjoyed seeing her photos and seeing it through her eyes, especially with the idea of making interpretations in cloth.  I shall be reviewing my photos of landscapes with new eyes.

I have been a fan of Effie's and of Susan Denton who Effie had learnt from previously for some time and just need to find the time, yet again, to explore the avenues their work opens up.  Sadly Susan Denton does not have a strong internet presence so I have not been able to include a link.  I can, however, include a photo or two from the 2010 Festival Of Quilts.

 Susan uses a lot of recycled material in her work and also makes use of surface stitching to add to the texture.  If the chance arose I would love to take a workshop with her.  Talking of workshops, the Festival of Quilts workshop programme is now available if you haven't already heard.  Nip over to the Twisted Thread site and see if you can be tempted.  Bookings for members open at midday on 1 March and for non-members at midday on 8 March.  Decisions, decisions!