Another day - another city

Thanks for all your lovely comments on my previous post.  Well done those eagle eyed followers who read the labels and noted that it was Exeter we went to!  The photo in my current header is the Lock Keepers Cottage on the Exe canal which I have written about having visited it in July last year and again this summer too.

Yesterday saw me heading off on the train to London where I was to meet up with a fellow blogger I'd never met but had exchanged e-mails with - Molebags whose lovely blog I enjoy  - and our mutual non bloggy friend.

We met at the station and then headed off along the South Bank which was packed with tourists and like struggling along Oxford Street or maybe even Weymouth beach!

 Here is where we were going.

The Garden Museum is housed in a disused church and has a lovely little cafe where you can eat outside in the one time graveyard which is now a lovely quiet garden.

 If you enlarge this photo by clicking on it you will see the tables where we sat with our lunch under the trees on the right - lovely and one could forget that the busy main road was just yards away.

 After lunch we crossed the river - aren't those clouds beautiful?

 Looking back you can see the Garden Museum just where the red bus is and Lambeth Palace just hidden behind the trees alongside.

 This is where we were off to - the Tate Britain - we had tickets for the Folk Art exhibition.
 

Loved this beautiful stairway all done in black and white and shiny chrome - we all wanted to float down the stairs in ballgowns like Hollywood movie stars!

I just loved the patterns it made.

The exhibition was interesting with all kinds of exhibits including paintings, needlework, wooden ships figureheads, shop and pub signs and so on and one of my favourites was this chicken made by a prisoner of war sometime about 1800 using bones from the kitchen for all the feathers - this photo doesn't do it justice you'd have to see it to realise just how clever it was.

And of course I found a piece of crazy patchwork!  This unfinished cushion cover took my eye and made me want to do some more.

I noticed these windows in the entrance hall on our way out, after having had scones and tea and a nice sit-down in the outdoor courtyard, and I thought made a delightful restrained change from stained glass...

... what do you think?

Our walk back to the station took us along the river and past the Houses of Parliament where this sign caught my eye and made me smile!  For more about Black Rod check the link here.  Back at Waterloo I had to dash for the train or wait another hour - just caught it but it was packed and standing room only for the first half hour but eventually I did find a seat and was able to relax and enjoy the journey home especially as the shadows lengthened and the sun slid slowly down in the west painting everything especially the corn fields with a beautiful apricot glow.  Yet another lovely day out - how lucky am I to be able to get out and about and to have so many friends with whom I can visit such places and how lucky to have my home to return to at the end of the day and Mr M waiting at the station to take me there..

Country Living Inspiration

Browsing through this month's CL magazine I loved this article about seasonal inspiration.

I loved the colours - not an orange or a brown in sight so not what you might expect for an autumn source of inspiration at all.

I particularly liked this linocut and thought how lovely it would be as a textile - embroidery or applique or both plus machine embroidery perhaps....? You can see how my mind works!

I noticed how many of the pictures were of umbelliferous plants - I love their shape and form

and how easily they might transform into textile creations.

I was reminded of these wonderful tapestries which I saw a few years ago in France - forgive me if I have shown you these before.

I was, for want of a better word, gobsmacked when I entered the exhibition and saw these amazing creations. The colours were stunning and the sharpness of the designs.....

I was with the patchwork group that I belonged to at that time and many of the ladies didn't like them at all but for me they were wonderful.

See how the designer Dom Robert has also used umbelliferous plants in his designs. Click on the link to see more of his amazing works and for more information about the man himeslf see here although it is in French!

Don't you just love the expressions on the faces of these sheep?!

I leave you with a couple of photos of the last sweepeas. These were picked yesterday when we were able once again to make use of our little table in the garden but only for the main course of our lunch since the clouds came over and the temperature dropped - dessert was taken in the conservatory! Today it's raining.

Pattern in the Park or Alone in London

I was unexpectedly alone in London yesterday - I had arranged to meet up with a friend from Kettering but sadly a relation had died suddenly that morning and she rang me to say she wouldn't be coming. As I was already on my way by coach it was too late for me to change my mind about going.


As my time was my own and the bus back didn't leave till late afternoon I decided, after having lunch in John Lewis and a wander round Marble Arch M&S, to go back to the Albert Hall - the free bus pass is fantastic! - for a walk in the gardens opposite. I was aware of the patterns all around me - aren't these railings amazing? I am glad I don't have to paint them though!


I can see this ball interpreted as ear-rings or a pendant...


The coloured paving perhaps done in crochet or knitted into a fabric....


Even the numerous benches are all beautifully designed......


and the simple railings too make patterns - could be used as an edging perhaps?



I love the colour of these gates don't you? The design is brilliant and...


done in a simpler form on the railings here.



On to Kensington Palace where the railings were stunning - all worked in black and gold....




Imagine having these railings in front of your house - or maybe not as who'd keep them looking so pristine?!




The gardens en route were lovely especially as we had had a heavy shower whilst I was in M&S (I went back inside for a cuppa till it was over)

Although the park grass everywhere else was brown and sad here the greenery was brilliant.

Hard to imagine the roar of the traffic along the busy road just a few yards away when confronted with this.

Came across this bush which was giving off a beautiful perfume - anyone know what it is?

I didn't have a dog with me but if I had he would have had his own lovely drinking fountain!

A sign that autumn is on its way perhaps?

The journey home was good after the obligatory hold ups on the M25 and the countryside as we neared home looked lovely in the evening sunlight. I love London - the contrasts, the different nationalities, the noise and peaceful gardens, the opulent and the downtrodden... but I am glad I live where I do. Just as well eh?!

I hope you enjoyed this "alternative" look at London?