Saturday 17 March 2012

Catching Up!

Yesterday we had the pleasure of a brilliant talk by Jane Brocket at Cambridge Quliters. COLOURFUL and SCRUMPTIOUS!! She has written several wonderful books including one called The Gentle Art of Quilting

I have missed being here, jotting down all the excitement in my life and finally, I have decided to write a few words before I'm off out tonight for supper!
So much has happened, but Mum's 90th birthday gave me the perfect excuse for a party or two and to get my family together for the first time in nine years. Imagine my surprise when my cousin Ena in Vancouver finally said YES and booked into a hotel in London for a few days before coming up to Cambridge. I went to join her for two days and we had such fun

We went to the V&A together and spent the afternoon in the study room poring over wonderful books depicting prints of birds, finely made from wooden blocks. It was great being allowed to take photos. Here are a couple of the pictures

Just look at the detail in the background. Sensational!

We had a superb lunch there too....far more food that we had planned but it all looked so good. The stuffed salmon was incredibly good
The following morning, we queued up at the Royal Academy in the hope of getting into the Hockney exhibition (I didn't think we had ANY hope!) but we were third in line so we drank coffee and chatted to the others in the queue for a hour.

It was brilliant being there for the opening at 10am as it was quiet for the first half and hour and we had great views of all David's amazing pictures. I thought the ipad pictures were really interesting.....I'm SURE ipad sales will increase as a result of his work! The half hour film show was totally mesmerising and a welcome break to sit and rest your feet. The exhibition goes on and on. Amazing value, totaly inspiring and a great way to spend a morning. I love the pure simplicity of his work and those vibrsant colours. My sort of art.

Note to self....go to London more often! It is uplifting to go to exhibitions and museums. There is so much to see. Oh...and what happened to the ghastly pollution that used to get into your clothes and up your nose? GONE!
We saw the incredible cape made using golden spider threads.....
There was a superb video shown describing how the thread is harvested and how strong it is. The end redsult was spectacular.


Ena came back to Cambridge on Friday, another cousin arrived on Saturday, then Helen and her family arrived for the Sunday along with the rest of the family. Mum had a blast! She loved all the attention and looked twenty years younger than 90. She has worked hard at keeping fit and eating well....and it has paid off. She is back on her bike now her wrist is better....waiting 20 minutes for buses to get to the middle of our village didn't suit her at all!
When the party was over, we four cousins played and stitched and walked and talked and drank way too much! We made a barmy army print...even mum joined in and she espcially enjoyed rollering red paint onto on my arm!
Carol really enjoyed learning to free machine stitch and made two brilliant pictures of birds. The blue lines are water soluble pen.
 She painted the birds with watercolours and they looked superb.
I'm looking forward to seeing them on her wall when we go and visist her in Scotland sometime this year I hope.



Ena stitched a weird animal too and even Hope, aged 9 has started to learn to free machine stitch.
Spending time in the studio together was wonderful!

Now, I really must get some new card designs done so that is what I'm up to. No more excuses. My creativity has returned, my trip to London and spending time with my cousins has energised me...I just need to get on with it!
Ena, Helen, Carol and Me. Together for the first time ever as adults! Bliss

6 comments:

Gina said...

What a lovely time you've had. Your Mum sounds amazing!

jacqueline said...

Hello there sweet Moira, i miss you!! So glad to see a new blog post and such a HAPPY one too! I am so so happy to know you had such a great time with your family and your mama's part was a blast! Such a wonderful merry happy family gathering! It made me smile and warms my heart just reading this. Have a wonderful merry happy week sweet friend! Love to you!

jacqueline said...

Hello there sweet Moira, i miss you!! So glad to see a new blog post and such a HAPPY one too! I am so so happy to know you had such a great time with your family and your mama's part was a blast! Such a wonderful merry happy family gathering! It made me smile and warms my heart just reading this. Have a wonderful merry happy week sweet friend! Love to you!

Sandra Rowney said...

What a great idea to rope the family into making all those creative ideas. I liked the colours of Hockney but was disappointed to see the rough and ready application of paint. I wouldn't let him decorate my sitting room!!!

jacqueline said...

Dearest sweet Moira, happy april and have a beautiful week! Love to you!

Unknown said...

I think you are an amazing woman - talented, enerous and kind, with an amazing amount of energy who is part of a lovely lovely family. You are an inspiration.