The Whitworth and the Snow

It's been a busy weekend. Unusually for us, we've been out both days and then, of course, there has been the added excitement of snow! But more of that later.

On Saturday, we headed into Manchester to meet up with some friends. We arrived to blue skies, sunshine and bright splashes of red from Chinese lanterns, all ready for Chinese New Year on 8 February.

Terminal by Bernard Schottlander

There was more red at the Whitworth Art Gallery where we were having lunch. It underwent a major renovation project in 2014/15 which included building a lovely new cafe/restaurant with floor to ceiling windows overlooking the park. Needless to say it's very busy and we had to queue a little while, particularly as there were 9 of us.

Well worth it though as the food was delicious. Here's my pastrami sandwich, taken with the 'food' mode on my camera. No, I'm not sure what it does either but I did think the detail and colour came out really well.

Then it was time for a walk around the Art_Textiles exhibition. There were works by some famous names like Tracey Emin and Grayson Perry but I preferred some of the other exhibits. These are a few highlights. Mind you, I had to be selective as some of them weren't suitable for family viewing!

I loved these 2 quilts by Risham Syed and particularly the one on the right because of all the little characters - you would never tire of looking at all the details.

Ghada Amer - Sunset with words

Lyn Malcolm - Why have we so few great women artists?

 This was one of Chickpea's favourites. She liked the way the name of the work was carried through the different objects.

Mary Sibande - Sophie-Velucia/Madame CJ Walker

And we all thought this was one of the most thought-provoking and interesting of the exhibits. If I remember rightly, the Sophie of the title represents the artist's mother. The woman in the portrait is Sarah Breedlove who was a self-made millionaire and the first in her family to break from domestic servitude: her fortune was made from hair care products. There's an article about Mary Sibande and her 'Sophie' works here.

Lastly, nothing to do with textiles but I really liked this 'mobile' and the lovely colours and patterns it reflected on the wall. I'd definitely recommend a visit to the Whitworth if you're in the area.

After arriving in those blue skies, it was a surprise to get off the train at home to find the car covered in snow! What is it about snow that's so thrilling? Chickpea couldn't stop breaking out in excited giggles as we drove home.

This morning it was still there. Hurrah! We were going out again but I couldn't resist a quick walk beforehand, so I pulled on my boots and headed out around the lake.

Cute!

I hope these aren't the last of the snowy scenes this winter :)

I couldn't stay out long though as we were going to the cinema to see Room. I loved the book and have to say that the film didn't disappoint. The child actor was amazing. Highly recommended.

And that was my weekend. I also have my kirigami update to show you but will save that for another post. We have another busy weekend next week as it's my annual Burns Night supper.

Hope you enjoyed your weekend in the snow or otherwise. Have a lovely week. x

Kirigami & other news: week 1

Well, here's the first of my kirigami updates, showing the patterns from 5-10 January. I'm enjoying those few minute each evening spent in quiet concentration and, even though there's an illustration of each pattern, it's still a thrill to unfurl the paper to see what appears.

In the case of the one above from 5 January, it's not quite the same as the illustration. If you look closely, you can see that the centre doesn't match - I think I hadn't been accurate enough folding along the lines. I really like my version though and it's one of the most interesting patterns so far. It was also the first to use the starburst folding technique.

6 January: Another to use the starburst fold. It reminds me of cogs or something mechanical.

7 January: a more intricate design and my favourite so far. It was more difficult to cut out because of the wibbly bits around each 'spike' and the layers of paper but worth it. Chickpea says it reminds her of a holly wreath.

8 January: Another new fold pattern to learn - the spider! Looks like the 4th July, said Chickpea.

9/10 January: A boring one to end the week :( The most exciting part was the Hints box on the instructions saying that I'd soon be needing scissors with a fancy cutting edge and a hole punch! I've peeked ahead and there are pop-ups and all kinds of fancy patterns - can't wait!

In other news:

It was the first meeting of 2016 of my quilt group. We had a demo of string quilts from Jean who brought along endless quilts, samples and patterns to share - so much inspiration.

There was also discussion around our exhibition and a reluctant decision to postpone it until May 2017. Quite a few members have decided to leave and there was concern we might not have enough large quilts to show. Disappointing but it's given me more breathing space to finish mine.

I had a walk around the lake in the brief interlude between rain yesterday. I've never seen the water level so close to the path. No cause for concern though as the lake is in a hollow and the level would have to rise considerably before it overflowed.

This weekend also saw the first pick for 2016's cookery challenge. Each week I'll be picking a book or magazine out of a hat (well, a jar) and have to make at least one recipe. Nigella's Kitchen was first out and I made poached chicken with lardons and lentils. You can see the recipe and the lady herself making it on Martha Stewart's site. I admit Nigella's looks more appetising than mine which, in all fairness, looks like brown sludge. My version uses chicken thighs rather than breast (which I prefer as they have more flavour) and I broke the pieces up rather than having them draped decoratively. Very tasty.

Tonight we're having pasta with gorgonzola, spinach and pine nuts. It should have been feta but I had gorgonzola in the fridge which needed eating up. We've had this combination before so I know it will taste good. You can see what I made from Kitchen in the 2014 challenge here.

I'd forgotten how hard it is photographing food under electric lights, then, lo and behold, I found out today that the camera has a 'food' setting! The mind boggles!

And that's been my week. Well, the bloggable bits anyway. Hope you had a good one and enjoy the rest of your Sunday. I'm off to make the pasta. x

Kirigami

New year, new craft. I hadn't planned to have a go at something new but I came across this Kirigami calendar at half-price in a garden centre. Kirigami is the Japanese art of cutting and folding paper. I'm sure you'll all have made snowflakes and paper chains when you were little. As you can see from the cover, these are bit more intricate - if you do an image search on the internet you can see some truly awe-inspiring creations.

As well as trying a new craft, I liked the idea of crafting every day, even if only for a few minutes. It fits really nicely with the ethos of mindfulness which I'm keen to try again after attending the short course last summer.

Each day you're given a different design and you use the sheet from the previous day to cut it out. The sheet has an outline printed on it to cut out, folding lines and a list of equipment. There's also a set of cards to show you the different folding patterns: snowflake, spider, starburst and so on.

This snowflake design is from 1 January.

And this is from 2/3 January. I'm planning to post the results each weekend. I've struggled to get back into the blogging habit lately and I think having a regular schedule will help.

So, as well as the Kirigami, I thought I'd tell you some of my other plans for 2016. They're not resolutions as such but I do like to have something to aim for.

Quilting has to be a priority. It's my quilt group's exhibition in June and, at the moment, I have very little to enter except 7 out of 12 journal quilts and a few mini-projects (like the bird quilts from the Elizabeth Wall workshops I attended). The double quilt above has been languishing in a drawer for probably a year. I adore patchwork but not the quilting and finishing. I know it will be 'quilt-as-you-go' but had been struggling to decide on a pattern for the machine quilting. Jackie from my quilt group has come to the rescue and suggested large circles which she showed me on one of her quilts. Now I just have to get on with it.

I'm aiming to read more in 2016. Mostly I seem to be aimlessly flitting between magazines and blogs so it's time to tackle my ever-growing pile of books. I'm teetering on the edge of signing up to The Year in Books after hearing about it on Louise's blog. You have to read at least one book a month. That doesn't sound like a tall order does it? Maybe I'll see how I get on this month with my first pick which I found in a charity shop - Us by David Nicholls.

Having spent 2014 on my Cookery Book Challenge, I really missed it last year and found that I quickly reverted to cooking the same old things. So, for 2016 I'm resurrecting it but with a slight twist: I've included issues of my Good Food magazines for added variety. Not sure yet if I'll blog about it - maybe just the highs and lows. You can read all the installments from the 2014 Challenge by clicking on the tag on the right.

I'm also going to continue getting out and about, if this rain ever lets up. More specifically, we'll definitely be exploring more of the Irwell Sculpture Trail which has been a great discovery and taken us to lots of places we wouldn't have visited otherwise.

There you go, some very modest but achievable aims. And there's no time like the present so I'd better sign off and start with the reading.

Happy new year to you all and enjoy the rest of your weekend. xx

By the sea

Hello! It's been a while but I wanted to drop by to mark the end of 2015 and to wish you all a Happy New Year!

On the last day of the month I'd usually be sharing Scavenger Hunt photos. However, as I've not managed to collect them all this time, I thought I'd share some photos from a walk earlier this week instead.

We had a lovely, quiet Christmas with family and friends and, thankfully, survived all the gales and rain with only some minor flooding at the bottom of the garden. My heart goes out to all those who were so badly affected.

With blue skies forecast for once, I headed out to Lytham to meet up with an old friend. It's a pretty, genteel little town at the mouth of the river Ribble, only a few miles south of the bright, brash lights of Blackpool.

Streets of lovely (and pricey) houses.

And lots of places to wine and dine. We lunched at Ego to gather our energies for a walk north along the coast to St Anne's.

First a stroll through Lowther Gardens to see the Shrimper, dressed in traditional 19th century costume.

Plus the ubiquitous wicker statue - there seems to be one in every public space these days.

Then, back to the shoreline, following the curve of the estuary to where it opens out into the Irish Sea.

There were lots of wading birds along the shoreline.

My identification of waders has always been a bit ropey but I think these are Turnstones. I could hear lots of piping out on the mud flats and will definitely be taking my binoculars next time.

This is looking across the mouth of the estuary towards the coast leading down to Southport.

On the other side, a glimpse of the White Church, otherwise known as the Fairhaven United Reform Church. It opened in 1912 and its Byzantine style was the result of a competition to design a 'distinctive architectural feature'.

Less striking but still interesting, is Station Cafe Bar which is in an old railway carriage. A coffee and mince pie to warm ourselves before the walk back to Lytham.

Journeys end. The light fades so quickly this time of year and the windmill was already lit up by the time we returned. There's a free museum in the windmill which is open during the summer months: Chickpea and I will definitely back to explore. Lytham is a lovely little town and made even better by the chance to catch up with an old friend.

Well, that's it for another year. I'll be back, probably at the weekend, with a crafting project.

A very, very happy New Year to you all. xxx