I am immersing myself in London culture at the moment, which for me means running around like a headless chicken trying to catch up with a few exhibitions before they disappear, this week it was time to visit the Tates. For some reason I find the Tates a little bit difficult to get to, it may just be that I haven’t quite got the route set into my brain.  I was at Oxford Circus already as I’d said hello to the knitting group in John Lewis and found that I could take the 88 bus in Regent Street south (opposite Apple, just a bit down) to Tate Britain, I nearly jumped for joy, that sounded much easier than what I had planned. And sure enough it dropped me just around the corner and even told me exactly which stop to get off, that would be the Tate Britain stop then.

I really enjoyed seeing Barbara Hepworth’s work but I was in deep happiness to study Ben Nicholson’s paintings, I just loved them.  I’d not come across his work before, you must have a peek if you see it, its just gorgeous.

I then decided to take the river boat to get across to the Tate Modern, it seemed like it would be much easier and after trying it, I’ll always do it that way, it certainly takes the strain off and it was a very enjoyable part of my day out.

At Tate Modern I caught up with The World Goes Pop, which was interesting, I am not a great lover of Pop Art, some of the really good stuff I find interesting, quite a lot of it gives me no emotional response.

But then I trotted over to see Agnes Martin’s work and that I loved. I think I walked around that gallery three times, and some pictures I spent along time over.  Mainly in them I saw quilts, or the idea for a quilt, but sometimes and it was very strange, just looking at simple blocks of colour turned into seeing in my minds eye children laughing on a sandy beach in bright blue sunshine with ice creams and a sea breeze.  I really think I ‘got’ her work.  Just being able to see your minds eye and its emotional response to blocks of pastel colour was most interesting.

I then caught the river bus back to the Embankment tube station to jump back into the underground system and homewards bound I went.

I’ll leave you with a few piccies of my river trip. Enjoy.

Bless him. I watched him being led in, skittish as a skittish thing he was, bless.

Luckily for him,

he had someone showing him the ropes.

Banqueting House has been on my to do list for quite a while and for some reason kept being put to one side. Today I managed to get to it and it wasn’t a disappointment, the work of Rubens, well there are no words, just pop in if you can, you won’t be disappointed.

Your provided with an audio tape and lots of seating including bean bags to sprawl on to enable the viewer to linger, reclined and stretched out gazing upwards to what must be the most beautiful ceiling in the world.

I really enjoyed it, it was the most serene way to spend an hour.

I was tootling along to Banqueting House today (it was closed) to see the Rubens ceiling when I dived off the Piccadilly Line and nipped into Covent Garden to see the balloons.

Aren’t they magnificent.

100,000 white balloons installed by the artist Charles Pétillon to form a giant cloud.

There were eerily magical and made me catch my breath when I first saw them.

And then I stared, for ages, in awe.

Whilst we were in Wales I saw this very pretty fabric, Road Well Traveled by Marcus Fabrics and just had to have it.  My hand was reaching for it before my conscious brain had kicked in – my subconscious brain had already worked out it was exactly my colours and that I was going to make a skirt.  

Knowing that I have a skirt pattern that I developed from my own measurements to use 1.5 metres of fabric (If I use a different fabric for a facing) if the fabric is 44″ wide,  so I promptly asked for just that.   It gives me exactly the right length for a just below the knee look that I like. 

I love it, its the perfect mix of autumnal tones that you all know I love and adore. 

And just because its always fun to see the hidden bits and pieces.  Here is my perfectly executed invisible zip, I do so enjoy an invisible zip, and the fabric I chose for fun to use for the skirts facings.  You’ll never see it but every time I put that skirt on I’ll see its flash of green fun fabric and smile a happy smile.

And a quick snap of it just as it was finished, where you can see the waistline more clearly.

I think one of my very favourite places in London has to be Hampton Court, from North London it takes quite a while to get to, but on a sunny day such as Saturday’s it was the place that I wanted to be, not least to show its special charms to my lovely hubby.  After all the recent rain it looked lush and verdant, everything you want a garden to be, we enjoyed it all so much we spent hours pottering and didn’t bother with the Royal apartments, which are definitely worth seeing, but not on a day as glorious as this was. Afterwards we headed into Soho for a lovely meal, not least because we had fed much of our lunch to the birds!

I think if I was to give one tip, bring lunch, the food and drink is prohibitively expensive, when we were buying coffee’s the lady in front of us only appeared to have two jacket potoatoes and two drinks plus a couple of other bits and bobs on her tray and it came to £26.00 !!!  That’s a jolly good chunk towards a nice dinner, thank you very much.  This year hubby and I are going to perfect the art of becoming Londoners and not tourists, our lunch was 50p each, home made hoummus and pitta breads.  Next time we’ll be bringing a flask of coffee too!

Such a beautiful morning to explore a new area.  The day is warm with a gentle breeze and the air smells sweet.  Fully breakfasted we head out.    
    

The above photographs all taken from the carpark a few steps from the centre of Abergavenny. It was lovely to see raised beds stuffed with a variety of vegetables also growing in the carpark.  

 
    
  There are wool, art and fabric shops which are all well stocked.  The Wool Croft was particularly charming stocking Rowan, Noro, Debbie Bliss, Louisa Harding, Manos Lace and lots of other goodies including new to me Juniper Moon Farm and local wools, it was wonderful. I bought some butter soft baby alpaca from Juniper Moon Farm and some Rowan tweed to play with. 

The art shop looked well stocked and Black Mountain Fabric had only been open a matter of a couple of weeks but already shows great promise as a quilters and sewers little piece of heaven. 

  Pretty shops simply pop up everywhere.

  An indoor market with flying pigs which are made by the local college.  They have new models every year to celebrate the Abervagenny food festival which is in a couple of weeks.  It’s normally top secret as to what will appear but a stall holder told me in a rather conspirital way that this year it would be ‘goats’.  The market is on nearly every day with brick a brac and antique days, it certainly creates a buzz.  
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    

It’s just such a lovely place with its charming streets and well stocked shops. I’ve fallen for it absolutely completely, in love.

   
  One last glimpse of the mountains.  A quick spin through Monmouth.
 And a peaceful evening With a perfect sunset.  

Such a beautiful part of the world.

Next we headed into Cardiff the capital of Wales.  It was interesting to see industrialised buildings combined with new city office tower blocks on one side, sea on the other, fun fair in the middle. It is clear their is a lot of money being pumped in, evidence of new growth is everywhere, it was exciting.  But being a little city weary just at the moment, the call of the sweet country air was too strong and we headed out to find a Premier Inn which we did, had the best fillet steak in the next door Beef Eater and a good solid deep sleep, followed by The Premier Inn breakfast, that sets you up for the day, we then headed off to Abergaveny.   
    
    
    
    
   

Some days ago we travelled to South Wales to say goodbye to my very favourite of uncles.  An uncle that had showed me the ways of the countryside from a very early age and along with my lovely auntie had shared their life on many a Sunday afternoon surrounded by German Shepherds, bunny rabbits (some for the pot, some not), vegetable patches, days old lambs, calves, sheep and cows, fields of wheat taller than us, tractors, shotguns, pidgeon breast alternated with rabbit stews, blackberry picking, paddling pools, home grown tomatoes and wonderful pavlovas (I used to pray for the pavlova) cooked slowly overnight in the cooling log fired aga. They were indeed good times, times I will treasure always.  

The next day we said our sad farewells and decided to head out to explore, to spend a little time together, hubby and I, first stop Barry Island, which was gloriously empty and after stoking up on some freshly fried sugary ring doughnuts, their scent directing us to where they were being cooked, we headed off for a walk, which got much faster as the promise of a heavy downpour came rolling in from the sea.  It was just what we needed, a brisk walk to blow the cobwebs away.  We spent the next two days exploring the area, more to tell another day.  
    
   

Eight months ago hubby and I started the long and often arduous process of becoming foster carers.  To cut a long story very short we went to panel and passed and then less than a week later one small boy arrived.  Without going into any detail he is started to find his feet, he reads avidly, he laughs daily and has put on nearly two pounds in one week!  So you’ll have to excuse me if I’m not around much this summer, there is reading aloud to be enjoyed, cakes to be made and bubbles to be blown, let alone the blackberrying on the almost daily visits to the park.  See you soon, just not quite sure when. X