Travel days are SO fun!

Many of our travels have started out with weird first days…..

On one trip, our boat captain sank our dinghy (with the four of us in it) in the middle of the Florida Keys.
On another trip, our plane ended up in gridlock in the DC airport meaning that flights were delayed by HOURS AND HOURS.
On one trip to China, we were delayed leaving the US, meaning that we missed flights in Shanghai and ended up spending the night there.
On a short weekend trip while we were in China, we ended up in a city WITHOUT a hotel (reservation had been given away) and were about ready to find a dry (of course it was raining) building doorway to sleep in. Fortunately a bellboy took pity on us and showed us to a small hotel where we could spend the night.

But I digress…..

Our trip to Prince George, BC started out well enough. We had first class tickets (thanks to my husband finding them CHEAPER than our normal seats) which meant easy flying into Seattle and then on to Vancouver.

I loved watching the scenery as we moved into the volcanic area in the Northwest…..

These mountains were gorgeous….

We arrived in the Vancouver airport and it was then that things started to fall apart a bit!!

Michael travels with some equipment that has to be declared in customs when we enter a new country. That worked out okay, although we did go to the wrong office first and it did take quite a while to get it taken care of.

We left the office and grabbed an elevator to go up one floor so we could sign-in for our next flight, but realized that we had gotten onto an “employee only” elevator that opened onto an office area!! Fortunately, one man took one look at us with our bulging duffels and other baggage and let us out through an employee door into the terminal.

We immediately saw a “West-Jet” check in station but were told that it was for International Flights. We needed to go to the Domestic terminal.

As we started walking….again with 2 backpacks and 4 bags between us…. we started at check-in #199. We had to walk to Check-in #SIX! My arms were burning before we got there!

We got checked in for our flight and our two duffels were sent down the luggage chute. As we arrived at the Oversize check-in for the last bag, they told us that all of our checked bags had to stay together….but we had already sent two thru???

So, as Michael worked on the paperwork for the oversize piece, I found the baggage claim where they were sending the bags once they were intercepted. As I pulled both of them to the floor, I realized that I was going to have to get two 50-pound duffels UP AN ESCALATOR!! As I was standing at the base of the escalator trying to figure out how to do it, I heard Michael call my name and ask if I needed help. Hallelujah….he was at the top of the escalator!!

So, we got all of the bags checked thru and headed to Passport control and the security check. To put a bit more emphasis on our situation, we had about 25 minutes before the plane boarded!

There were no signs telling what we needed to pull out of our bags, so we put them on the check line like we do in Atlanta. ALL THREE BAGS WERE PULLED!

Apparently, we were supposed to pull out all of our electronics, and our carry-on suitcase was FILLED with cameras, microphones, binoculars and more!!

As the woman helping me started pulling everything out of the bags, the man helping Michael found one of his liquid medicines and told him that it was over the limit for liquids so he couldn’t take it. Incidentally, without this one…..he dies!! Finally he asked the lady who was helping me and she assured him that we could INDEED take medicines, regardless of how many ounces!!

We FINALLY got all of our equipment checked and repacked and headed for the gate which, of course, was at the END of the terminal! We arrived there about 5 minutes before they started boarding.

OKAY….we are on board. As the plane is taxiing to the runway, Michael gets a message asking which hotel we were staying at in Prince George……HOTEL…..aren’t you picking us up at the airport???

The exact schedule had never been shared so we didn’t know that we couldn’t get to the camp that same night so we needed a hotel……SIGH!!!

The flight from Vancouver to Prince George was fast and the scenery was once again beautiful!!

When we landed, Michael had a text giving us the name of a hotel where we had a reservation….the BonVoyage Inn!!

We had a wonderful taxi driver from India and we enjoyed talking to him about life there.

We were both starving and saw a restaurant next door to the hotel…..

It didn’t look all that fancy and we expected to have basic food but we were pleasantly surprised….

IT SPECIALIZED IN GREEK FOOD!!

After looking at the menu….and understanding virtually none of it….. we decided to order the “Combo For Two”…..

It started out with Greek Salad and Pita Bread…..

…..followed by this ENORMOUS PLATTER…..

How can this POSSIBLY be food for TWO…..six maybe!!

We fell into bed pooped, having walked over 3-miles while INSIDE airports, and filled with amazing food!!

I guess that if you end up where you were headed to, it is a GOOD DAY OF TRAVEL!!

Okay….day one of our trip is in the books!! Thanks for indulging my endless saga!!

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!!

On the road again…

Today we are heading out on another adventure, flying to Prince George, British Columbia and then out into the Canadian Rockies.

I hope to be able to post some from there but will see how the internet works!!

I do have 2 weeks of posts loaded up and ready to go so you won’t miss anything!! If you come to this blog from Facebook shares, you may not see these upcoming posts, so consider subscribing.

This is a poem that I tried to post last year and the video didn’t come thru, so I am trying it again here……

Why don’t you come along on the journey with me…….

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!!

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!!