I'm quilting!

The other night Kate and I went out to dinner with two of her online quilting friends. In the course of the conversation, one of them asked Kate why she hadn't gotten me into quilting. She gave her standard answer about the advantages of having a mother who loves fabric, hates sewing and thus gives her daughter all the cool fabric she buys. I gave my standard answer of being afraid of my sewing machine and not needing another addiction (playing with clay is enough). However whenever I am here at Kate's, I am intrigued with the wonderful things she is creating and the photos in the quilting books she has around. This visit, I told her I wanted to do something very simple for the front of a pillow cover - something that was actually quilting. So yesterday we got out the fabric and began. First she sketched some simple (well, simple to her) pattern ideas. My initial idea was just a bunch of squares in different fabric - now that is simple. Anyway I chose a pattern I liked, although somehow we ended up with two, and then we looked through her stash for appropriate fabric. I had brought with me two yards of fabric that I wanted to use for the back and also have on the front in the pattern. One pattern had a square in the middle with rectangles of increasing size bordering it. (log cabin)I actually did all the sewing on this one. Kate did have to do a bit of trimming in order to correct where my seams were not quite even. (I have never been able to sew a straight seam!) This piece ended up larger than I had planned because when we had it 'done', the center block looked out of place, so we added a border of that color. It's a large pillow, that I will stuff with soft filling - very comfy. The other pillow case is about 12 inches square and is a zigzag pattern. (rail fence) I really liked this pattern and will probably do others using the same idea, but arranging the rails in different ways. Kate actually sewed this one, because I am very slow at the stitching and we were both tired and hungry. But I understand how we did it and can do others that way. Kate has photos of these items on her blog and I will put them up here if I can find where on her computer the photos are stashed. TADA!

London Walks

The past two days, I've been going touring with London Walks. They are inexpensive guided walking tours of just about any part of London. Tuesday I went on a tour of the areas near St. James Park and Buckingham Palace and Hyde Park. I've been to these areas many times, so most of it wasn't new to me. However, there were two special things that happened. The first was that we actually saw the Queen! I admit that we were across the street and half a block away, but still, we caught a glimpse of her getting out of her car and walking up the pavement. The occasion was the unveiling of a statue of the late Queen Mother. The other special thing was that we went up into the Wellington Arch. Views of London from there are pretty spectacular, as you can see. I don't have any photos of the Queen, she was too far away.

It was chilly and misting, so not a very nice day to walk. After the tour, I went to Covent Gardens, ate lunch, and wandered around. The vendors were selling new stuff, not antiques that day, so it wasn't very interesting to me. I bought a magnet in the shape of a t-shirt that says 'I Love London'. It was much cheaper than buying the t-shirt and won't take up as much room, either.

Yeserday, I went up to Hampstead for another London Walk. This was a really good walk. Hamstead has many Victorian buildings and a lot of history. It's on a hill from where one could see London, in the old days. Today there are too many buildings in the way, of course. The village was at one time a spa resort, but the mineral wells dried up, so none of the spa buildings remain. There are, however, many interesting old buildings and a cemetery where John Constable is buried. In fact many writers and artists lived in Hampstead over the years - Bram Stoker, H.G.Wells, Ian Fleming, among others. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and friendly. He provided far more information than I could absorb, but then that's always the case.

More photos of these walks can be found on flickr at www.flickr.com/photos/kathydillard.

Portobello Road

Saturday, Kate, Sarah, Olivia and I went to Portobello Road, the largest antique/flea market in London. Alex and Geoff stayed home, which was a good thing. Geoff would have hated the crowds and we would have probably lost Alex many times. We got there about mid-morning and the place was already teeming with people. Although the streets were theoretically open to traffic, there were so many people that they filled the streets as well as the pavements (sidewalks). See first photo. I got Olivia to pose next to a little animated figure of a clock repairman. (2nd photo). We wandered along, popping into interesting stores and stopping at many of the booths that lined the road. I think the flea market stretch is a couple of miles long.



We went into some of the antique markets along the street and actually bought a few items. Most of the good antiques are way beyond my price range, but it's still fun to look. The booth in the third photo above sold old uniforms.

My daughter, who really doesn't like antiques, bought a little tin box with a pretty picture on it and some interesting buttons. She also looked longingly at all the lovely old fabric and oriental rugs. Olivia bought a hat to replace one that was recently lost. I can't remember if Sarah bought anything - I think not. She hangs onto her money. I bought a wonderful piece of pink and yellow art glass (probably from the '50s), a glass giraffe, a necklace with red and black beads, and a set of salt and pepper shakers that are miniature red telephone booths. They will look very good in my kitchen. None of these things are antique, of course, although the art glass is collectible.

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First photo on the left is a store just outside the market. Middle photo is a bakery stall in the market. Photo on right is taken through a shop window. The car is only a half car with pizzas protruding out the windows. Good pizza too, although the bite I had was too spicy hot for me.

All in all, we had a fun day, but I don't think I will ever go back. Camden Market is really better for flea market stuff and since it is open during the week, it is less crowded. Covent Gardens also has antiques and flea market stuff, so perhaps I will drop by there next week. I plan to go into London several times, since Kate will be working.

Doing things with kids

Yesterday we all (except my dear son-in-law who was at work) went to the Museum of London in - London, of course. A friend on Kate's and her daughter (people I also know) went with us. This being a school holiday week, the museum was teeming with kids. The noise level was astonishing! Luckily for me, I had been there twice before, so I could just browse through, reading information when I was especially interested and skipping the parts I didn't care about. The only photos I took were of interesting pieces of old pottery, but I won't show them because I realize that not everyone has my fixation on pottery! We ate a picnic lunch at the museum (inside, as it was nippy outside) and came home for tea. Bought fish and chips from the local fish shop for dinner. I love fish and chips and always have to have it once when I'm in England.

This morning, Kate and I and the kids went to a place in Guilford that was a combination of an ice skating rink and a huge area devoted to water fun. There were three big water slides, a wave pool, two regular swimming pools, a diving pool, several areas with shallow water and fountains and suchlike for little kids and two hot tubs with spouts of bubbles. After sitting in those hot tubs and standing under some other water spouts, I felt almost as good as if I'd had a massage! I even went down one of the water slides - on a huge yellow tube. This is a real first for me, as I am not comfortable with heights and NEVER go down water slides. It was fun, actually, although I did not go for a second time.

Now we are at home. Kate is sewing, the kids are watching Igor on a DVD and I'm on the computer. I guess I'll go read the Washington Post online now. I like to stay in touch, more or less, with news from the US. And I enjoy the comics and the crossword puzzle!

Pictures after all

My brilliant daughter has figured out how to put my photos on her computer - using the memory card from my camera. (This would not work on her old computer or on mine, but does on her new one.) So here are a few photos from my excursion on Friday. I took a number of photos of just the heads of the statues in the sculpture hall because faces are what I am interested in. I make ceramic 'masks' or faces and many of my ideas come from pictures. It was amusing to note that the heroic men were carrying swords, shields and sometimes helmets, but were otherwise stark naked! Pretty risky battle behavior, I think. So here (on the left) is a lovely lady, who is actually dressed.


This group of figures(to the right) is interesting to me because there is a mask in the grouping.

On the left is a glass vase that I admired.


Some other glass pieces that I particularly liked are below
As you can see, I like glass pieces that resemble pottery. I guess that's because I'm a potter.







I loved this bull, isn't he gorgeous? And next to the bull is an actual piece of pottery from the Islamic display section of the museum.

As you can tell, I'm still having trouble putting my photos where I want them on the blog. Kate has figured out what some of my problems are, but you will just have to put up with too much blank space in places.

Out and about

I went into London as planned to the V&A museum. Unfortunately, they STILL don't have the pottery exhibit open. The people at the info desk said it's been closed about 10 years, but would reopen in Sept. 09. I guess I'll have to wait a while before I see that wonderful exhibit - darn! However, I still enjoyed the museum. I saw all the beautiful glass - I especially like the modern things. There was a special exhibit of coronation clothing from several of the Russian Tsars. Amazing what decorated clothing those men wore! Even their guardsmen and servants wore beautiful things for the coronations. The V&A also has clothing of several centuries on exhibit. Lots of lovely dresses, but the underwear women wore looks pretty uncomfortable. I'll stick to modern casual clothes, thank you!

I also looked at sculpture, of which they have a great deal. The corridor with sculpture is one that leads to many other areas of the museum. I had lots of opportunity to look at the pieces, as I must have walked thru that hall 4 or 5 times. Finally I went through the jewelry exhibit. Again, I prefer the modern pieces, but it's all very impressive. Unfortunately, I have no photos that I can put up now because I forgot the bring the cord that connects my camera to a computer. Kate's cord is different, so I can't use it. When I get home, I'll try to remember to put up some of the highlights of the trip, or perhaps I'll just put them into my flickr pages and direct folks to look there. For the time being, you'll just have to use your imagination.

This week we will be going to another museum in London - the Museum of London. I've been there before. It has a great section on the fire of London and lots of other history connected to the city. I don't know what else we are doing this week (the kids are off school), except a shopping trip to buy them Christmas presents from me. This afternoon, the kids have dental checkups and I will be poking around in the charity shops in Wimbledon. Should be fun for me.

In Merrie Olde England

I was a lot less tired than usual on this trip, which was very nice. I never get much sleep on the plane coming over because (a) they serve dinner at 10 pm and don't turn the lights down until almost 11 and (b) airplane seats are not the most comfortable beds in the world and (c) there is often a crying baby or a coughing person or some other distraction that keeps me awake. This time I had 2 seats to myself, so I could spread out a bit, but there was a woman a couple of rows back who coughed and coughed and coughed. I kept thinking, 'I sure hope I don't catch her cold!'. Anyway, I felt pretty good Wednesday morning when Kate came to pick me up and I actually stayed up until bedtime that night. I've been getting in a lot of walking - accompanying the kids to school and back and yesterday, I walked from school over the the high street in Worcester Park and poked around in all the charity shops and other interesting stores. There is a shop called 'Broadway Bargains' which is like an old-fashioned version of a dollar store. It had a little bit of just about everything - buttons, fabric, toys, kitchen stuff, pencils, pens, paper, used paperback book, etc. Not like anything I've ever seen in the US.

Today I'm heading into London to visit my favorite museum - the Victoria and Albert. I will see wonderful pottery and glass, and musical instruments and clothing from several centuries, and much more. I love the place! It isn't overwhelming like the British Museum, but has as much as I can see in one day.

It's cold here and there were a few snowflakes last night, but today is just dreary looking. However, Wednesday and yesterday we had sunny all morning and so I can't complain. Of course, it was in the 60s when I left Maryland, so it is quite a change!