Some serious time on the internet tonight that led from a newsletter from the 24 Hour Museum (always good for ideas for an AD), to an exhibition of Quaker tapestries (I love this mixture of words and pictures) in Norwich, to thinking about Quakers (and oats – unfortunately nothing to do with Quakers, or even William Penn*, and all to do with Pepsico) and other kinds of tapestries (again, the mixture of words and pictures), to being reminded of a children’s book I once had, to reading about the man who did paintings of the same name, to reading some more about Quakers and ‘about the intersection of religion & politics, conscience & law, history & biography‘, to taking another look at the fabulous idea that is Pepys Diary online (one new entry everyday for hmm… probably the next few years at least!) to finding out about the man who is responsible for this project and then seeing where is 10 minutes from anywhere on the tube!

*Funnily enough the trial of Penn & Meade came up on the project I am working on at the moment about the importance of impartiality, I never knew it was *that* Penn though!

Had a good week of getting out and about in the city last week – it’s all too easy to take all the things going on in London for granted (and so never get around to doing any of them!).

After 2 years of missing it, I went to the Flamenco Festival at Sadler’s Wells – I managed to get the *very last* ticket left for the Saturday performance of the Ballet Nacional de España (so I counted this as a spontaneous Artist Date!) and on Thursday a group of us went to the Lyric to see Nights At The Circus -  a production by the fabulous Kneehigh company…

(Oh and there are some pics online from when me and M and J walked along the river to Rotherhithe)

A whole saturday with nothing to do but spend it with M, walking & exploring London… I like these Saturdays, and it feels like we haven’t done this for ages…

First we stopped by the photographers gallery for some lunch – Jo’s cakes are amazing!. We walked down to Trafalger Sq where there was a demonstration being held against the publications of ‘the cartoons’. Strange to think in this high-tech age such power is still wielded by the drawn line…

We walked along the Strand, stopping in at St Mary Le Strand – it always seems marooned amongst the rush hour traffic during the week, it was beautiful seeing it with gates open and the garden starting to look spring-y and peaceful… I lit a candle for Aunt M and looked through the sea-green stain glass…

Further along we discovered some ‘Roman‘ baths, with an obscure sign saying to ‘turn right down steps’. There it was, behind murky glass and surrounded by builders…!.

Walking accross the Wobbly Bridge, we went into the Tate Modern where I gave in and bought a heap of books I had been after for ages: Penguin By Design (Penguin book covers), All Wrapped Up (designs from 60s wrapping paper), a book of photographs by Brassaï and the infamous book by Paul Arden* – it seemed to fit in with the whole AW project so there you go. Oh and a badge by Sara Fanelli saying ‘Masterpiece’ – I’ll be sure to wear this one with irony

We headed up towards Festival Hall and came accross some stunning and moving photographs of the aftermath of the Tsunami, in an outdoor exhibition by Magnum photographers.

Buskers are always playing on the Southbank, but this particular group – Portico Quartet – were brilliant.. I got goosebumps listening to the double bass, soprano sax and two drums called ‘hangs’ (a bit like gamelans)… Go and see them if you can (they play by the river every saturday between 2 and 6pm)

*He now runs a photograpy gallery in Petworth

City Reliquary! We went past this a few times in Brooklyn and it is fab… I like it even more now I have seen their website (with them wearing sashes, made by by their ‘VP of Seams’!). I love their ideas of ‘community beautification’ (there were tubs and tyres filled with plants and flowers all around the on the pavement) – it is a great idea…

So this week was a bit about wishes and I kept coming accross things that were wish related… dropping pennies into a fountain to hope a wish comes true, wishing on a star, Christmas wishes, blowing out birthday cake candles and making a wish, even wishing when you find an eyelash on your cheek! But the wishing *for* things…? I’ll have to think hard ‘cos, as the saying goes, be careful what you wish for – it might come true! (ha – I just typed that as fish…fishing for wishes….) Well anyway – this man made a list and has acheived 109 of them in the past 60 years!

A nice thing: This lady in Oregon will soon have her crochet patterns stocked at loop – and wrote some very nice things about the website and the shop on her blog! She also loves London… It made me v happy…

This is always a hard one for me…. I usually end up finishing off the stuff I started in the autumn or winter by the time the warmer months arrive and just start on the summer vest / cute cardi  by the time the leaves are turning!. This year I’m going to start summer now! (in a cold, grey Feb!) and have started looking through my old Rowan mags for ideas… so far I have :

From magazine no. 35
Ivy pg 88, Alice pg 93, Agnes pg 102, Prue pg 107, Flora pg 110 & Posy pg 111 all by Kim Hargreaves (her new collection is out too btw – Glint is nice), Florence (different colours though) pg 104 & High Society both by Sarah Dallas pg 112,

From magazine no. 37 –
Martha (eyelet version) by Stella Smith pg. 84, Gemma pg 107 & Elspeth by Laura Long – tried this last year but got thrown by buying
cashsoft dk convinced that calmer was no longer produced – pg 133, Strawberry Stripe sweater by (shock horror!) Kaffe Fassett – normally really don’t like his stuff and this technically could be a winter project – pg 111, Aster (in brighter colours) by Sasha Keegan pg 112 & Jenny (cardi version) by Sarah Dallas pg 134. Looking at these I have to remember a) they are all knitted in thin cotton and b) they all feature a lot of stockinette stich – will I go mad with boredom?

From magazine no. 39 (not as keen on this mag, although the picture index in the back is a good move) –
Bliss by Sarah Hatton pg 96, Crinkle by Martin Story pg 104, Deep by Carol Meldrum – more because I really like Summer Tweed and less cos I like the weird shape – pg 119, Lizzi by Sarah Hatton – but I know this amount of stockinette would be abandoned half way through! – pg 116, Flotsam and Jetsam by Martin Storey – with out the dangly bits pg 112 & Jewel by Brandon Mabley pg 114

Oh yes and Posy on pg 62 Classic Garden

Umm… so which do I choose??