Travels and Challenges

I've been off on my travels, with camera in hand, for a couple of weeks of exploring, walking and quite a bit of eating (not all of it healthy, I'm afraid). Sam and I went back to Oxford, where we stayed in Wadham College, and had hearty breakfasts in the imposing dining hall. In between solving our murder mystery and visiting Blackwell’s book shop, we nipped into the Museum of the History of Science to have a look at their collection of beautiful astrolabes.

 

The spherical astrolabe - an old friend

The following week, I joined Deb and Kev at Leamington Spa and we followed the canal to Birmingham, developing previously undiscovered arm muscles on the flights of locks. The weather wasn’t great, but Kev kept us busy with his drawing challenges, which, of course, got trickier as the week went on. 

Crossed Keys, the easiest of the drawing challenges.

In Birmingham I was impressed by the striking modern architecture of the library and 'The Cube', but we also glimpsed the industrial past, with walks along the canal towpaths and a lively tour of the museum in the Jewellery Quarter. Birmingham Museum was full of treasures, including the Staffordshire Hoard and some beautiful William de Morgan tiles. Sitting proudly among them was a home-made teddy from the war years, looking a bit loved around the edges, as all bears should.

However, the icing on the cake was our visit to the Festival of Quilts at the NEC. Along with about a million other quilters (that's what it seemed like in the queue to get in!), we were amazed and inspired by the beautiful work on show.  We may have spent a bit of money too, but it’s in a good cause, because Deb has set a holiday challenge!

It was impossible to resist these beautiful batiks.

The challenge is to design and make a piece of needlework based on something that inspired us on the journey. We agreed that the piece should be no bigger than 12 inches square, and, as an added twist, it has to include something we bought at the show. Good job there was plenty of beautiful fabric to choose from. I also treated myself to a cross stitch kit from the Michael Powell collection, a bit of an indulgence because his designs are so appealing.

New glasses might be required before I attempt this.

Now I'm back on dry land, the photos are downloaded, the sketchbook is open and design work is about to begin. And so is the diet!