A stroll around London….

On our last day in England, Michael had finished all of his work and it was time for us to visit London together.

We were both really tired from our week of activity and exercise, but decided to take a leisurely stroll around the parliament house area.

This part of London is rife with history….

On one corner you have the Palace of Westimster best known as the meeting place of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, while Westminster Abbey is across the street. Big Ben towers over all and it is only a short walk to St. James Park and the Royal Palace.

When you see these places on TV, it seems that they are far apart, but in reality very close together!!

Our first destination was Big Ben……

….complete with a red double-decker bus in front!!

We then followed along the edge of Parliament House, enjoying the amazing architecture…..

….and the gorgeous gardens!! I loved this bush…..

Michael and I visited the Rodin museum in Paris many years ago and fell in love with his work. We have seen this sculpture in many different cities and it is a favorite….

When I was in Copenhagen back in October, I spent a lot of time looking at the hand of one of the figures…..

Rodin was certainly a master!!

I also spent a lot of time with my camera pointed to Westminster Abbey. We didn’t go inside, but the outside architecture is mesmerizing….

This side corridor is one of my favorite scenes…..

We checked out Number 10 Downing Street but it was a bit of a disappointment….

Our last stop of the day was to a Fortnum and Mason’s store, to pick up a crock of Stilton Blue cheese and some English Breakfast tea bags!! GOOD STUFF…..

Finally, as I have mentioned before, I purchased the Cherrywood fabrics for this year’s “Poppy” challenge…..

….so I was drawn to several war memorials that I passed…..

As I looked further at these wreaths…..

….I am fairly convinced that my challenge will have something to do with Remembrance!!

Michael and I finally pooped out and caught the train back to Tring. After all, we had to pack and get ready to fly home the next day.

It was a fast trip but a wonderful break during tax season!!

As of today, I only have 8 “taxing” days left and then it will be time for some FUN!!!

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One of my favorite things about quilting is motivating others and helping them in their quilting journey. As part of this endeavor, I LOVE to present programs and workshops to groups and guilds around the world. All of my programs work well with Zoom meetings, and I would love to speak to your group.

You can find out more at this link…..

Fun at Tate Modern

Last weekend I talked about my trip to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. As I finished up there, I had a few more hours before catching the train back to Tring, so I headed to the Tate Modern.

A LITTLE BIT OF EDITORIAL (please don’t be frustrated if you don’t agree)……In 2007, I loved this museum which was filed with abstract art and interesting visual displays. While there was some of that this year, I found that many of the exhibits were political in nature and many were just plain weird or gross. Sadly, I think that it reflects where our culture has headed in the last 17 years…..

But…enough of that…..

Of course, I spent most of my time looking for shapes and ideas that inspired me to make quilts and there were plenty of those…..

Can’t you see using this as inspiration for a 60-degree diamond quilt…..

“Untitled” by Rogelio Polesello

I can imagine placing LOTS of diamonds in each of those triangles and using the shade of the fabrics to create the dimension!

There were several paintings that used a cubist design…..

“NY, NY No X” by Hedda Sterne

She paints abstracts architectural elements into a mass of lines and planes…..How cool!!

I could see something like this next one being done with fabrics, again emphasizing the values of the fabrics…..

“From Line” by Lee Ufan

His technique for this painting was to trace long lines until he used up the paint on his brush!!

I completely fell in love with these two pieces by the same artist…..

“The Tiled Room” by Maria Helena Vieria da Silva

“The Corridor” by Maria Helena Vieira da Silva

My mind would never THINK that way, but I really like these “rooms”.

And, finally in the “shapes” category, I loved this red and white….

“Untitled Abstraction V” by Josef Albers

I saw several quilts at QuiltCon that use these inset circles. I found it interesting to look at the ones where the circles weren’t completed and some of the points are sticking out.

I was excited to see a group of canvases asking the question of “How do artists use Colour?”.

Good question!!

“Triptych” by Sonia Delaunay

Her quote was…..

“Everything is feeling. Everything is real. Colour brings me joy.
Sonia Delaunay

This piece explored how the colors can soothe…..

“To a Summer’s Day 2” by Bridget Riley

Her quote about colour was….

“Colour inevitably leads you to the outside world”
Bridget Riley

There was a video that I saw and loved in 2007 and was excited that it was still available. It shows close up videos of ants carrying color confetti pieces…..

It is a cool video and I have searched for an online source but haven’t found one. You will just have to visit the Tate Modern for yourself!!

Then there was this piece that worked with the ABSENCE of color…..

“R69-26” by Jan Schoonhoven

Wouldn’t it be fun to make a minimalist quilt and recreate those “shadows in fabric rather than in paper and wood….

There was one piece of installation art that I truly enjoyed. Although it looks like a Dalak (for you Dr. Who) fans……

“Babel” by Cildo Meireles

….it was actually made up of radios playing at once. Here is the artist’s statement…..

As you might imagine, there were lots more galleries to visit but my time was short and I needed to head back to the train station.

As I walked across the “Millennium” bridge….

….I enjoyed the London Skyline…..

…and seeing St. Pauls Church looming closer…..

Come back tomorrow and we will spend another few hours checking out the architecture and history around the British Houses of Parliament.

Michael and I love to travel and see new parts of the world and then I love to take those memories and turn them into quilts!!! I hope that you enjoy traveling along with us!!

Be sure to subscribe to the blog so you don’t miss a single trip!!

Visiting the V&A

Yesterday I told you of my train journey from Tring to London.

Today we are going to visit the Victoria & Albert Museum!! The Museum (abbreviated V&A) is the world’s largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen Victoria and Prince Albert….

When we were living in Oxford for two months back in 2007, I visited the V&A twice. On the first visit, I only had a few minutes to visit the needlework section so made a plan to go back another day. On the return day, some of the museum workers were on strike so certain exhibits were not open. You guessed it…..the needlework area was closed!!!

So, my first thought on returning to London was to explore that exhibit, looking forward to opening these cases one after the other and taking in all of the wonderful handwork…..

Photo from 2007

After walking through numerous galleries, I finally found an information desk and asked the all important question….”Where is the needlework gallery”. The helper sensed my concern and carefully told me that parts of the V&A collection were being moved to another building and that the exhibit was currently packed up and in transit. But, she said “it will be open to the public in 2025”!! Okay…so maybe I am NOT supposed to see it!!

However, after my disappointment, I still enjoyed scouring the various galleries. Here are a few of the treasures that I found.

It was fun to see that some of the pieces that I adored in 2007 were still in place, like this sculpture called “Breathless”…..

And of course, I had to take a photo of the amazing Chihuly sculpture in the entryway…..

I appreciated the movement in this stone carving….

“Bow Wave” by Halima Cassell

I also enjoyed the shapes of these funky teapots from the 1870’s….

Then there was this piano from 1896….

“The Manxman Piano”

While I am a pianist, I was particularly interested in the designs of the inlays…..

I played with both of these as quilting designs and can see some possibilities there!!

I loved this statue of George Frederic Handel, carved in 1738…..

As usual, my eyes roamed freely for geometric designs, including these tiles from the 1850’s….

Produced by Rafael Gonzalez Valls

There were many more that had the same Islamic feel….

There were several ROOMS dedicated to pottery…..

….and I could have spent DAYS taking photos!!

Since I am currently designing quilted Mandalas (check out my YouTube playlist here…..), I was drawn to various designs that I thought might be appropriate, such as…..

…..the designs on this vase….

…or this plate…..

I have no idea why this next piece appealed to me but I certainly appreciated the modern nature of this smallish sculpture…..

“Form-Series 1” by Guac Roh-Hoon

Here is the information on it…..

Since many of the items found in the V&A are useful AND decorative, it made me appreciate this quote….

Even the view out of the window was inspiring. Don’t you love those geometrics….

And I spent an inordinate amount of time studying this floor grate….

Do you have any idea why????

BUT, my FAVORITE area in the V&A was the metal work exhibit…..

….and I will devote an entire upcoming post to it so STAY TUNED!!

Next weekend we will visit the “Tate Modern” and take a walk around Parliament House.

Michael and I love to travel and see new parts of the world and then I love to take those memories and turn them into quilts!!! I hope that you enjoy traveling along with us!!

Be sure to subscribe to the blog so you don’t miss a single trip!!

London here I come…..

By the third day of our trip, I had finished the photography that I needed to do so it was time to take a day trip to LONDON!!!

Joe had organized my train ticket and dropped me off at the station early on Thursday morning.

I was met with this sign (sorry for the blurry photo)…..

Yes, that blurry word is CANCELLED and London Euston was where I was headed!! Apparently there was an “engineering” emergency that was causing the cancelling of a bunch of lines!! The next train due in the station also stopped in Euston so I decided to take it instead.

So…..we are all standing at platform 5, waiting for the train to Watford. It is about 4 minutes before arrival. A station worker walks down the stairs and says something and immediately everybody starts running. What was I to do but follow!!!

We ran up the stairs, over the bridge and back down to the other side, arriving at Platform 2 just as the train pulled in!!

Okay….that excitement was over!!! I am comfortably seated on my train and looking forward to the 35 minute ride into London.

People watching is one of my favorite hobbies when I am on a train and this trip provided several fun observations.

First of all, a woman boarded the train, sat right across from me and pulled out her cross-stitch.

(I know that it isn’t a great photo, but when you are trying to be surreptitious, you can’t pick your poses!!)

She worked diligently as we swayed along and stitched a 2-inch section during the trip. What a good way to use your time!!

Another woman on the “tube” used her phone as a mirror and proceeded to put her makeup on…..

I meant to take a photo at the end but forgot about it!!

As you can imagine, with so many lines closed down, the train became VERY crowded. There were people standing all along the aisle and the entryway beside the doors was jammed….

There was a service announcement saying that “If you are feeling the effects of being crammed in, please alight and take the next service”. While that is a great idea, I can’t imagine that the next train would be any better!

It was interesting to watch as we pulled into a station and waiting passengers would see that there was no way to board. They would immediately pull out their phone, presumably to either call someone and tell them that they were running late or to find another train!!

We arrived at Euston station. I disembarked and started looking for the Underground (“Tube”) Station. Fortunately, it was next door to the National Railway station and I arrived quickly. Then I spent 8-10 minutes standing in a line for the escalator! I never knew why it was closed but was very happy when it opened up again.

I purchased my Tube Day Pass and headed into the station maze. As I was standing at one of the boards, desperately trying to figure out which train I needed, an older gentleman in a turban approached and asked me for help. As soon as I opened my mouth he knew that he had picked the WRONG white woman to help him!!

My destination was the Victoria and Albert Museum and it didn’t take long to arrive.

My plan was to start the tour of the V&A in this post, but it is already too long, so I will save that for tomorrow.

But before I close out for the day, two other things that I found interesting….

As Joe was driving me to the station, he asked if I needed any cash and I replied that I had 40+ pounds that were left over from a previous trip. He asked if they were bills and I replied that yes, I had two 20 pound notes. He then told me that they had changed all of the money several years ago and that my pounds were no longer valid!!! I possibly could have gone to a bank to change them but didn’t want to spend the time!! As it ended up, I didn’t spend any cash on the trip. Everything was done via credit, but it is sad to think that my cash is useless!

The other item was an announcement that played numerous times while I was in transit. It would remind people that they should report anything unusual or troubling that they saw on the journey. Their slogan was “See it, Say it, Sort it”. You see it and tell them about it and they will sort it out!! Very catchy!!

OKAY….we are at the V&A. Come back tomorrow!!

Michael and I love to travel and see new parts of the world and then I love to take those memories and turn them into quilts!!! I hope that you enjoy traveling along with us!!

Be sure to subscribe to the blog so you don’t miss a single trip!!