Globe theatre, Grayson Perry and Flamingos

I've had the chance to go into London a couple of times recently.  

My first trip was to catch the Grayson Perry 'Who are you?" exhibition before it finished.  My goodness that man is talented.  I watched the TV shows about the making of his exhibition at the end of last year and thought I must go and boy am I glad I did.  His work is just fantastic and knowing the story behind the work just added to the experience.

One of his vases

Part of a huge tapestry

more tapestry

Map of Days - Self portrait

Another trip with a friend from Yorkshire who came to stay, saw us visiting a roof garden in Kensington with great views over London and flamingos and ducks on the roof

How do they get that cow to stay so still?

View over the rooftops

there's a stream on the roof

and Flamingos 

The sun was shining and it was a lovely place to chill and admire the views.

We also had a tour of the Globe theatre which I have been meaning to do for years.  We had a fab guide who was funny and informative, probably an aspiring actor.

The stage

The standing area 

The exhibition before the tour about how Sam Wanamaker got the Globe re-building project off the ground was fascinating too along with costumes and costume designers talking about their quest for the truth in re-creating authentic costumes of the time.  I love the passion and talent some people have .  That seemed to be a theme for the week  as my friend had stopped off to see the coffin of Richard III before he was re-interned and the story of how his remains were re-discovered and the passion of Phillippa Handley, one of the driving forces behind that project, was fascinating too. 

It's been lovely to get out and about and do some different things

xx

Granny stripe blanket

It's been a while.  Just haven't been able to find any words for a post.  

I have been busy crocheting a granny stripe blanket though, as I felt the need to work with lots of colour during the winter.

random colours

on a single bed

the edging

Lots of inspiration and practical help from Lucy's blog at Attic24 - thank you Lucy!

I wanted it to be a couch sized, snuggle blanket for my daughter to take to uni later this year, but I also wanted it to look good on a single bed to brighten up her uni room.

The stats for those of you interested:

54 stripes (2 rows per stripe).  

Starting chain - can't remember. I think I just hung the chain over a single bed with a bit hanging down each side, but as the blanket works best vertically on a single bed this follows no logic at all!

Random colours from my stash

Edging adapted from Lucy's - I had a few false starts - all down to my inability to read Lucy's edging pattern properly.  In the end I just made the two treble rows, half treble rows so it wasn't so deep, but the rest worked fine when I followed the instructions!

Mr NMDS wanted to know why I was making another blanket when we are awash with them already - for a while I told him I was making another one for Alf (our cat) just to annoy him.  He just doesn't get the need to crochet. . . 

xx

Well, that was 2014 . . . .

I made some stuff

And swapped some stuff for other stuff (thanks Carol)

Went to some places

Munich, River Thames, Derbyshire, Yorkshire, Cornwall, Wales, London

and loved (and lost) my cats

Annie in her last weeks and in full health with Daisy our previous cat

many faces of Alfie who is still with us

Nothing like a new year to put you in a reflective mood.

Here's to 2015 and all it brings . . . .

xx