Last week hubby and I were lucky enough to get tickets for Janice Joplin; Full Tilt at the Theatre Royal in Stratford.

It is a bit of a trek, going on the Piccadilly line to Holborn and then joining the hell that is the Central line in rush hour on a Friday night to Stratford. Years ago, and not many at that, I would never have been able to even contemplate such a journey, but now I grab hubby, yell at him because he’s forgotten to wear his hearing aids that we are getting on the next train whatever happens and push him on board. And then we stand, so tight that you can’t even move your feet trying not to topple over with the stops and starts of the tube and shuffling, forever shuffling tighter and tighter together.

The pressure builds, Chancery Lane, St.Pauls, Bank, Liverpool Street, clickety-clack, clickety-clack, clickety-clack, Mile End, whoosh, ‘Mind the Gap, Mind the Gap’ and the pressure eases. Hubby and I look at each other, ‘one more stop’ is passed telepathically with the aid of a small nod and flash of a smile.

We cross wide busy roads well controlled with the aid of pedestrian crossings and tootle through a busy indoor shopping centre and then out again to find the Theatre Royal. As one pushes through the very old and heavily painted red doors the smells and sounds of a warm and inviting theatre meet your senses. The bar is busy with people eating and drinking and there is a friendly atmosphere all around. Hubby and I look at each other, a twinkle of pleasure pass between us, we are pleased we have trekked so far, the strain of the journey cast aside and forgotten.

We take our seats and wait for the curtain to lift. When they do we are hit with the one woman powerhouse that is Angie Darcy in her role as Janice Joplin.  The play, stroke, musical, stroke, live gig was spectacular, with deep dark moments of sadness intertwined with the madness that was and probably still is the record industry and the magnificent voice of Angie Darcy with an amazing backing group performing Joplin’s songs. It was a powerful edit of Joplin’s life without being too sentimental.

We bopped both in and out of our seats, ‘swing that raggedy ass baby’, we loved it.

The second stalk on the white Amaryllis is in full bloom and the red one has three spikes and five flowers on the first spike, which is wonderful.  Exciting times in the Mandycharlie household!

When February’s block of the month from the Sugar Block Club dropped into my email I knew I would have to get a wriggle on as hubby was just about to retire and my time would no longer be my own.  But then domesticity and days out got in the way and there I was cutting and sewing two hours before his arrival.  Thankfully it was an easy block to put together and not the treacherous triangles of the previous month and I was able to complete the block and tidy up before he arrived.

All cut out ready to sew.  I lengthened the longest white strips by 1/8th of an inch as there had been some comments about them being a tad too short, they were only just long enough even then, perhaps I need to practise my 1/4″ seams.

Four corners done and dusted.

One modern take of a Log Cabin block, finished.

Arty shot, just because.

And next to January’s block, they look quite cute together.

Last Sunday hubby and I trotted into Chinatown to welcome in the Chinese New Year of the Monkey.   It was lovely to see the new Chinese gate, the largest of its kind in the UK. It was made in Bejing by architects and artisans and is in the style from the Ching Dynasty with three tiers and two pillars. The gate is made from oak and red pine, white jade and glazed yellow tiles for the roof and embellished with gold leaf.

The parade was just lovely, loud and very colourful, exactly what we had hoped for. After watching the parade we walked to Trafalgar Square but couldn’t get anywhere near the dancers, it was rammed, maybe next year we will go early and watch that.  Here are just a few of the photos of the day.

When hubby and I saw Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds advertised as a musical with Jeff Wayne conducting, our faces lit up.  I have loved War of the Worlds since 1978 when I was 12 and its wonderful music came drifting out of my older brothers bedroom almost constantly for the next 2 years. I adored hearing it on a Sunday morning as I was snuggled up under my duvet, bright sunshine streaming through the curtains listening to the wonder that is War of the Worlds, almost indefinable, never once heard forgotten.

So as you can imagine, to see War of the Worlds musical with Jeff Wayne conducting, well that was a once in a lifetime opportunity and we were both giddy with excitement.

We trotted off to the Dominion Theatre, handily placed directly opposite Tottenham Court Road underground.

And took our seats.

We absolutely adored the show.  The show starts with Jeff Wayne conducting an impressive and beautifully positioned orchestra at the back of the stage, his passion and energy truly evident, sending a shiver of excitement and delight through me. It certainly set the scene for a highly enjoyable evening. There were powerful visual scenes, notably with a walking twelve foot high martian, dynamic pyrotechnics, highly skilled musicians all brought to life with dancers (the red weed was extremely good) and wonderful singing. There are a few tiny flaws, occasionally it was difficult to hear the narration, but that didn’t take away from the raw splendor of the evening. Hubby and I absolutely adored it and think it is the best musical we have ever seen. The standing ovation at the end when Jeff Wayne came forward for his bow just illustrated that we were not the only ones to think like this. It was magnificent.

On at the Dominion Theatre until 30th April.

Play it loud.

I came across the Sugar Block Club whilst reading Space for the Butterflies, Carie and I being old friends who when given half a chance love to knit and quilt together. Carie had found this new adventure and I am ashamed to admit that I jumped straight in.  I did try to resist but the lure was far too strong.  Carie’s photography and tale telling skills is one of the reasons why I have a Lizard ridge blanket in my home, but I have got my own back at times, she posses a Christmas tree skirt after my emailing to see if she fancied learning how to make one and I am really not sure who led who to do the block a month at the Quilters Den in Warwick.  Carie finished hers,  mine’s still in bits, somewhere.

So when she put her lovely photography up, I was like, Oooooohhhhh.  (does this translate to the written word?) And in the blink of an eye I just happened to be visiting John Lewis, just to look over the last of the fabric, quilting cottons, winter sales…  Just a little peek.    

And there was just one corner, a little corner, which just happened to have all these fabrics at half price, and they were all in my colour palette.  I took it as a sign…

I must say I don’t know anything about Stitchery Dickory Dock but it is a delightful site, the instructions are crystal clear and it is a real pleasure to find a block of the month quilt that is FREE.  I find that just wonderful.

Onto the block, I put a new blade into  my rotary cutter and blew the dust off my 1/4” foot, set up my ironing board and iron and set to work.

And soon I had this.

And then with careful sewing and much pressing I had these pieces,

which were then sewn into this. 

Don’t look too carefully, my corners are so well out.  I haven’t done fine piece quilting like this for a long time, its going to take a while to learn the techniques again.  But I did so enjoy it.  I learn’t a new way to make flying geese which was very amusing and made me giggle out loud when I saw how it went together. When I finished and gave the piece its final press, I was in my happy, happy place and all was well with my world.  And I can’t ask for more than that.

I thought I would give this a go and it turned out really well.

First I lightly browned the chicken on both sides in the instant pot using the saute function, added two medium glasses of water, carrots, then I sprinkled salt, freshly cracked pepper and oregano on the chicken.  Next I clamped on the lid, made sure it wasn’t venting, hit the poultry button and adjusted it to 35 minutes., making sure it was on high and walked away.

Ta Daaa…  I let it naturally vent for 15 minutes before manually venting, it apparently keeps the meat more tender if you do this.

One chicken, no fuss and the meat was falling off the bone and was soft tender and juicy.

Next, I allowed the chicken to cool off so that I could strip the meat off the bones, then put the bones back in the Instant Pot, and added lots more water and set it manually on pressure cooking, high for an hour and a half.  It made absolutely fantastic stock without the hassle of steaming up the kitchen and it also meant I got two jobs done in one and I only had to wash up the Instant Pot once.  I went to bed, the chicken was stripped ready for use in the fridge, the stock was in the freezer and jobs that normally take two days were done. Brilliant.