10 things

Bulrushes in Dulwich Park

• I met up with a friend in Dulwich.  We went to the Dulwich Picture Gallery to see the Whistler exhibition.  I loved the pictures in the exhibition - the detailed prints and etchings of life alongside the river were my favourites.  It is only on for a few more days, but well worth a visit if you are in the area.
• I had never been to Dulwich before.  It is a very pretty part of London, with a delightful park to wander around.
• Yesterday, I went up to Cambridge to see my sister and her small daughter, who is nearly two.  I spent a wonderful morning reading books, building duplo, sorting Postman Pat's letters and cooking play food.  My sister, who is due to give birth to her second child any day now, had a chance to put her feet up and do a little bit of cooking.  When she thanked me, as I left, for coming to visit I was instantly transported back eleven years when I had two small children and my sister, who was only about twenty at the time, would come to see me and spend hours just sitting on the floor with Cam and Olivia, building train tracks, playing, cuddling and reading books.  I had forgotten what a wonderful thing that was: adult company for me, and an adored entertainer for the children.  It's a good feeling to be able to return the favour for her.

  

  Small niece, looking at books

• In between visits to Dulwich and Cambridge, I have been studying pharmacology for an exam I have coming up later this term.  I find pharmacology really interesting but incredibly difficult to learn.
• Olivia was back at school for less than three days and she already had two birthday parties and a sleepover lined up for this weekend.
• I have had a great many turnips in my veg box the past few weeks.  I am rather enjoying them, although it can be a struggle to find many recipes for them as they are seen as quite an unusual vegetable these days.  I ate one raw and discovered that it tastes very like a radish.  Who knew?
• I baked an apple and almond loaf cake - it looks plain but tastes delicious.  I rather like cakes that do that - they seem quite classy and sophisticated.



A very pleasing new biscuit tin

• I have a self imposed tradition of acquiring a new biscuit tin each Christmas, which then becomes a new cake tin once all the biscuits have been eaten.  M and S is usually the best source for beautiful tins at Christmas, and this year's did not disappoint.
• I have read a run of really good books lately: The Butterfly Isles by Patrick Barkham, The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith (aka JK Rowling) were both gobbled up in a few days and I am now on The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion, which is another excellent read. 
• The cowl I knitted from leftover sock yarn has proved to be very disappointing.  It looks pretty but rolls up into a fat sausage whenever I wear it.  I think I probably should have used a thicker yarn, used a different stitch, and made it longer.  I shall go back to my default setting of knitting socks and shawls.

My newly finished cowl...

In its default setting - rolled up...

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     I was very kindly awarded a Versatile Blogger award by Phoebe at The Stylish Baker. Thank you, Phoebe!  Having blogged for nearly seven years there can't be that many more interesting things left to find out about me, so I have gone with my usual ten current things instead.  If you haven't come across Phoebe's blog already, do go and have a look.  Her Twelve Days of Christmas Baking had my mouth watering all December, and I made the 30 Minute Soft Pretzels as soon as I read the recipe - they were utterly delicious.

10 things

• The running continues to improve - I like it more each time I go, and my 5K time is now down to 31 minutes and 4 seconds.  The sub-30 5K run is heading my way, I feel sure.  My brother-in-law asked me last night "what's changed for you with running?" and I had no insight for him beyond that I didn't used to enjoy it, but now I do.
• Our Race for Life is in Cambridge next weekend.  A massive thank you to all the blog readers who have contributed so generously to our Just Giving page - some of whom I haven't even met before.  I don't have an email address for everyone who has donated, so I haven't been able to thank everyone in person - have a public, and sincere Thank You here instead!  We shall, of course, report back here after the race with photos....
• We have both bought bright pink t-shirts to wear for the race, even though neither of us likes bright pink.  Olivia pointed out that if we didn't wear bright pink for the race we might feel like a couple of sparrows in a flock of flamingos.
• I just found out about the Walk for Women event happening across the UK this summer - I hope I'll be able to go along to at least one of the walks.  They are happening all over the UK to celebrate 100 years since 50,000 suffragists marched across the UK, ending at a rally at Hyde Park to raise awareness of their cause.
• When women get together, they can really make things happen!
• The most famous suffragette, Emmeline Pankhurst believed she was born on 14th July - Bastille Day - although her birth certificate states that in fact she was born on the 15th.  Nobody has really got to the bottom of why this discrepancy came about.  My own Grandmother was definitely born on Bastille Day, however, and was given a French name by her parents as a result - she is 90 today.  Happy Birthday, Grandma!
• I have booked tickets to go and see the Pompeii exhibition at the British Museum, which has been extended until the end of September because it has been so madly popular.  If you want to go, book soon - there are only a few slots left for September.
• The other exhibition I am determined to go to this summer is The Laura Knight Portraits at the National Portrait Gallery.
• I have learnt more about my daughter's interests and plans since she set herself up with a Pinterest account, than any amount of chatting over supper, on runs or long car journeys has ever revealed.  She dreams of travelling to Poland and China and likes foxgloves, trilby hats and lavender.  Who knew?
• In the bustle and busyness of full time work, running, summer plans and end of term, I found myself with an unexpected half hour to myself one afternoon last week.  I was close to one of my favourite places in the whole of London - St Paul's churchyard - so I lay in the dappled shade, reading my kindle and reflecting on how even in the middle of a hot, crowded city like London, there are places of sanctuary and calm.

The ordinariness of January

I love January for its ordinariness - its everyday qualities.  After the excitement, busy pace and indulgence of December I relish the plainness of January.

The first daffs are in my glass vase above the fireplace, good meaty things are in the slow cooker, and I write and read as much as I can, immersing myself in imaginary worlds which contrast nicely with the ordinariness of life in January.

Yesterday morning I went to the British Museum to see the Grayson Perry exhibition, The Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman.  Visiting this exhibition is to enter into someone else's madly imaginary world.  Perry has created an exhibition celebrating the life of unknown craftsmen through the ages.  The exhibition has a great deal of Perry's work alongside objects from the British Museum's collection, arranged in themes to do with death and the afterlife such as pilgrimage, worship, magic and relics.  

There was so much humour and thoughtfulness in the way the objects were selected and displayed.  I wandered around with a big grin on my face, chuckling at the captions beside the items and the cartoon-like quality of the big, beautiful ceramic pots that Perry has made.  Everybody else in the exhibition was smiling too.  Have a look at the little 2 minute film on this page to hear from Perry himself about what he was aiming to do with the exhibition.  It exceeded my expectations, which were very high to begin with.

His beautiful pastel-pink custom made motorbike, which is on display just outside the exhibition, is anything but ordinary.  It dazzled the senses against the beautifully plain cream stone and clear glass of the rest of the museum's Great Court.

January - I love your ordinariness, and your calm.  But just a little bit of colour and jazz is very welcome too.

Perspective

I find it is much harder to maintain perspective on annoying days, tough days, delightful days and challenging days, now that I am not working.  My working life got me out of the house, doing something different each day and seeing different things in the shops and the streets where I worked.  Being at home all day, sewing, knitting, writing and spending time with the children, has been much more satisfying and fulfilling than work was for me, but it does leave me with a regrettable tendency to navel-gaze.

The best way to step back, get some perspective on those 'annoyances' that actually barely qualify to be termed 'minor inconveniences', is to spend a day with friends and leave the care of the home and children to your husband for the day.

I had such a good time with my friends that I didn't take any pictures of the Power of Making exhibition at the V&A (I was too busy freaking out about the cake designed to look like a naked newborn baby, and admiring the knitting needles the size of tent poles).  Nor did I take any pictures while we were window-shopping in the Liberty haberdashery department.

We marched with purpose through Soho to Gordon's Wine Bar at Charing Cross and I didn't take any photos there either because I was too busy chatting to everybody, drinking a welcome glass or two of wine, and scoffing delicious cheese.

You might have thought I'd have managed to take some photos at the tapas bar on Goodge Street later that evening, but no.  The patatas bravas needed to be eaten and we were having a wine-fuelled conversation about feminism and motherhood.

I came home barely able to remember the things that had made me so cross at the start of the day.  And this morning, after a cup of tea which put back some of what all that wine took out, I found that G had not just spent the day doing all the household jobs I normally would have done, but he had also bought me flowers.

Flowers from G on my desk

Flowers from G on the mantelpiece

I need to get out more.

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With many thanks to Naomi, Sophie, Noni, Cath, Michelle and Liz for the laughs and for giving me back my perspective.

A quietly satisfying Sunday

Yesterday O and I went Christmas shopping and then on to meet Auntie Alison at the Diaghilev exhibition at the V&A, which was excellent.  I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in ballet, theatre or early 20th Century music and art.  O enjoyed it too, although it was a HUGE exhibition and she flagged towards the end.

The family calendar is looking rather full for the next few weeks too.  That'll be Christmas.  Between the four of us we have this ballet, this Christmas market, a school Christmas play, visits to grandparents and cousins, meeting up with friends, celebratory meals and this half-marathon all lined up before Christmas Eve.

So today seemed precious.  An ordinary, quiet Sunday with nothing planned beyond a few household chores and some relaxation.

This morning I raked up the last of the leaves from our poor, mangled, snow-sodden lawn, and I cleaned out the eglu.  As is always the way with garden chores, I put them off for far too long, thinking how cold and boring they will be, and then end up thrilled and energised after I've done them.

This morning as I pulled leaves out of the flower-bed I discovered vivid, green bulb shoots amongst the mess and mud, which were certainly worthy of a photo.

The tangle of bare branches, the wintry pale-blue sky, and my favourite yucca trees had me reaching for the camera too.  It feels so good to see blue sky again after the grey and white of the snow days last week.

Back indoors, there were the delights of a simple, warming stew and freshly baked bread. And then suitably warmed and filled, I could pore over a new, very exciting book.

This is such an achingly beautiful book, crammed full of projects I really want to make right now.  Over the last few years I've made several Clothkits dolls and their clothes for O, and the monsters for my nephew, but that's the limit of my toy-making.  Now I have this book I can see myself expanding my horizons.  The fact that all of these dolls only need small pieces of scrap fabric, and can be assembled so quickly is very appealing.  I love the boy doll on the cover best of all, and the little pink mermaid runs a close second.

And as the afternoon drew to a close, there was a sudden blaze of sunset-sunshine on my quilt, folded up on the back of the sofa.

I ran for my camera, and barely ten seconds after I'd taken the picture the sun dropped behind the houses at the end of the street and the sunshine disappeared for another day.

But there's still the sofa, and the Wee Wonderfuls book, and even a little bit of leftover stew.  So my quiet, satisfying Sunday is not quite over yet.

London on a warm, sunny, October afternoon

Seen on the District Line, between Embankment and Mile End this afternoon:

• 4 people, slumped asleep
• 1 tourist consulting an enormous fold-out map
• 1 young man in a vivid yellow polo-shirt, frowning at his laptop
• 2 tired children, reading books
• 2 pairs of suede loafers (one brown, one pale blue)
• 1 young couple munching crunchy apples and grinning at each other
• 3 pairs of sunglasses, perched on heads
• 1 baby, covered in ice cream.

We went to explore the newly renovated Museum of London in the City of London.  It was always one of my favourite museums to visit - curiously unhyped, and with a palpable sense of history to it.  The whole museum has undergone a massive £20m refurbishment over the past couple of years, and it is now fully re-opened.  It is now, without doubt, my absolute favourite museum in London.

We spent four hours there, and felt like we barely scratched the surface of what there was to see.  I loved the amazing River Wall where there is a display of hundreds of prehistoric objects found in the Thames.  Most of them would have been thrown in deliberately as offerings to the gods.  There were so many skulls!

I showed the children the display of suffragette memorabilia, and they were shocked at this part of history they had not encountered before.  The film of Emily Wilding Davison throwing herself under the King's horse on Derby day horrified Cam, who said he couldn't believe the suffragettes' fight was only a hundred years ago.

We ended at the glorious Lord Mayor's Coach, and chatted to the curator about all the preparations that begin next week to get it ready for the Lord Mayor's Show.  I've never been to the show before, but perhaps this will be the year.

When we came out of the museum, blinking in the unseasonable October sunshine, we decided it was too nice to go home so we went for a stroll along the river to the Embankment.  There were even more treats waiting for us.

A beautiful church in the City, with a very cool name - St Botolphs-without-Aldersgate

St Paul's Cathedral - simply stunning in the sunshine

A plaque on a bench in the City - oops!

The Tate Modern and the Millennium Bridge

A great many people crossing the Millennium Bridge

Beautiful dolphin-entwined lamp posts along the Embankment

Sea Container House and the London Eye

The RNLI lifeboat crew, stopping for ice creams alongside the Embankment

The London skyline in the sunshine, including the London Eye and the Houses of Parliament

My almost-eleven year old, and his lovely long eyelashes!

Out and about

Statue of a ballerina, outside the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden

Central London on a damp September morning:

• Functional sports raincoats on the tube - Altura, Berghaus and Peter Storm.  Just one, rather dashing, belted trench coat.
• An exchange of travel stories in the Primrose Bakery - "darling, there was a spider THIS big and she didn't even blink!"
• A large, tofu-coloured van, delivering tofu to the Royal Opera House.
• Europe's largest bookshop getting ready for an important book signing on Friday. The staff were fretting about whether there were enough sofas on the first floor.
• A policeman on a Piccadilly Line train, standing feet apart, arms folded, staring down the length of the carriage.  I thought to myself, what a great way to people watch.
• Enticing smells coming from the bistros and cafes in Covent Garden.
• Small children from schools all over London visiting the British Museum to look at the Egyptian mummies - "It's GROSS!  They have jars full of BRAINS!".

I'd got cabin fever from sitting in the house sewing for the best part of two weeks, so I treated myself to a morning out today. 

I went to the British Museum (via a mysteriously circuitous route that also incorporated Waterstones in Piccadilly and the Primrose Bakery in Covent Garden) with my iPod, so that I could listen to some of the podcasts of A History of the World in 100 Objects, whilst looking at the objects themselves.

I have been meaning to do this since the podcasts began back in January.  But every time I go to the museum, I seem to have C or O with me, and gazing at a miniature Incan gold llama for fifteen minutes while I listen to a podcast on my headphones is not very interesting for them.  This had to be a solitary pleasure.

I went, I listened, I saw and I had a lovely time.  Sometimes the solitary pleasures really are the best ones.

Reminding myself why I love London

Seen on the tube between South Woodford and Piccadilly Circus:

• 3 people wearing Converse plimsolls
• 5 people listening to iPods
• 4 people reading the Metro
• 4 people reading books
• nobody reading an e-reader
• 1 person asleep
• 2 women wearing black woollen tights (one of them with black Converse plimsolls - very good)
• 3 people texting, emailing or playing games on their smart phones (or maybe reading ebooks actually?)
• 2 men wearing suits and ties
• 1 sleepy-looking teenager carrying a yellow vuvuzela in a matching yellow Selfridges bag

Seen at the Sargent and the Sea exhibition at the Royal Academy:

• sunsets over the mid-Atlantic
• boys playing on a Normandy beach
• Breton oyster sellers carrying unwieldy baskets on their hips
• pencil sketches of rigging and furled sails
• stormy seas
• the grey skies of Whitby
• the saturated heat of a Mediterranean beach
• gondolas in Venice

John Singer Sargent, 'En Route pour la pêche (Setting Out to Fish)', 1878.

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I met my parents at the Royal Academy today, and we went to see the Sargent exhibition together.  Every aspect of my day reminded me why I love living in London so much:

• The entertainment that is to be found by people-watching on the tube.
• The ease with which the tube whizzes us around this enormous city.  Londoners like to moan about the tube, and admittedly commuting endlessly on it is tiring and crowded, but secretly I think it is wonderful.
• The endless exhibitions, shows, plays, sports and other activities that are put on for Londoners and visitors all through the year.  There is no need ever to be bored living in London.

I am starting to put together a list of the things I want to do around London this autumn.  So far my list looks like this:

• Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes Exhibition at the V & A
• trips to Kew Gardens to see autumn colour and smell the damp earth
• The Glasgow Boys exhibition at the Royal Academy
• A late evening visit to the Natural History Museum.  Like almost all of the big London museums, the NHM opens late on a Friday evening and puts on special events, free to the public.  I really like the look of this one next week, and am wondering if the children would be up for an evening trip out
• A series of walks to explore the Lee Valley Regional Park, which runs within walking distance of our house, and about which I know almost nothing.
• A visit to the Olympic Park, which is going up really fast and gives me tingles of excitement every time I see it.
• Another visit to see the Egyptian mummies at the British Museum, because O is studying the Ancient Egyptians at school this term, and I never tire of the British Museum and its amazing roof.

What are your favourite London destinations? Where do you head for first if you are visiting for a day?

10 things

There is a great deal happening around here at the moment.

• I finally finished the remaining clothes for O's boy Clothkits doll (renamed Bob, by O.  Love it!).  He now has this wonderful hat, a man-bag and a very natty pair of bright red, owl-festooned pyjamas to go with his jeans, check shirt and waistcoat.
• Thank you all so much for the good wishes for Cam's and Graham's races last weekend.  They read all your kind comments and were delighted.  They're planning to do another parkrun this Saturday.
• I made a lightweight summer outfit for Livvy (hoping for some seriously hot weather in France and Switzerland this summer) using two favourite Simplicity patterns.

The top is made from Simplicity 2986, using a really luscious (and precious) metre of Amy Butler Belle fabric, and the cropped trousers are based on Simplicity 3669 (modified quite extensively), using linen from IKEA.  Both the top and trousers are hemmed with thick velvet ribbon that my Grandmother gave me.  I fully expect these to get worn and worn all summer long.

• I'm finally reading The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters - she is one of my most favourite writers.  I love it, and am racing through it far too fast.  Up next will be this one, or maybe this one.
• I have really enjoyed considering all your suggestions for small, portable sewing projects.  Currently on the go are small bits of embroidery, sewing suffolk puffs, and little felty projects,  How could I have forgotten about felt?  And my favourite felt book?  Great fun.
• I've been baking biscuits, using a delicious recipe in Rachel Allen's Bake.  I have written about this book before, but it really is excellent, and I keep going back to it.  The recipe I used was the Basic Cookie recipe, with added orange zest.  A lemon version is on the cards for this weekend.
• I got Debbie Bliss's book Simply Baby out of the library last week, and I am knitting the two tone baby socks, which are just too sweet for words.

• I have such a large stash of Debbie Bliss's Baby Cashmerino yarn that I might have to buy this book and start up sock production for all the babies I know.
• This weekend I am planning on making my own bagels.  I've been meaning to do this for months and it is time to stop promising to do it and have a go.  Any tips?
• The other thing happening this weekend is a return trip to the quilt exhibition at the V&A with my sister.  Very exciting!

School holidays, school dresses

These school holidays have passed in a very satisfactory, full sort of way.  We had a long, lazy Easter weekend, spent some days in Oxford with my parents (and went to the fantastic Black Country Living Museum - do go if you live in the Midlands), saw the Cuban National Ballet on tour in London, had days out with friends geocaching in Epping Forest and learning about cell biology at the University of London Medical School, went running around Kew Gardens with cousins, and even managed to fit in a couple of lazy days at home.

The holiday was rounded off beautifully yesterday, with my nephew Ben's Christening.  He is now my Godson as well as my nephew, and I took full advantage of my special dual status to get as many cuddles as I could with him.

Three generations - my father, me and nephew/Godson Ben

And today I've started to turn my attentions to the new term at school.  I made O the first of several school summer dresses.  The pattern I used is the dress version of the strawberry top I made her last month - Simplicity 2986.

I added a patch pocket, and used some ricrac and ribbon to fancify it a little bit.  The ribbon down the centre of the yoke looks a bit strange - not how I pictured it.  Next time, I'll add buttons instead.

For the facing on the yoke I used some of the Liberty limited edition V&A fabric.  It is very soft cotton so perfect for a lining or a facing, and I rather like the idea of having a very non-uniform fabric hidden away somewhere on the dress.

I bought the gingham fabric from Fabric World - and got metres and metres for £10.  I initially tried Doughtys, but when I opened the parcel of gingham it was a bright turquoise, and the wrong size of check.  I'm all for hiding a bit of secret Liberty fabric on a school dress, but large turquoise check would be pushing the school rules too far I think.

But it was not a disaster getting a parcel of bright turquoise gingham.  I made myself a second summer blouse from Weekend Sewing.  This time it was trimmed with a luscious green Kaffe fabric, last spotted as the backing of my cushion here.

And I love how it turned out again.  Light, floaty, swingy - and in this turquoise gingham rather bright and zingy!

So they have been a really good couple of weeks, and we're all ready for the excitement of the summer term and maybe some cheeky camping weekends if this warm, sunny weather holds. 

I'll leave you with another gratuitous baby photo - this time of Ben with his oldest cousin Cam.  What a gorgeous pair of boys!

The Victoria and Albert cushion

Those strips of unbleached calico with appliqueed circles from my last post, have become a cushion, for me.  I thought they might.  The circles had been inspired by so many things I saw at the V&A quilt exhibition - circles, scrap fabrics, fussy cutting, hand-sewing, small patterns - that the only way to finish them off was to use some of the limited edition Liberty fabric I bought at the exhibition to make a simple border.

This Liberty fabric is so beautiful to sew with.  It isn't their tana lawn, because it was about half the price, but it feels like lawn or voile - very fine, soft and drapey.  I'm very pleased I bought more in some other patterns, to make clothes with.

I finished the top off with more inspiration from the exhibition.  A little bit of embroidered labelling; my initials and the date.  The back is made from more circles, but this time in a glorious, green, Kaffe Fassett fabric I'd forgotten I had (shame on me).

And then when I moved everything off the sofa to take these photographs I realised that I've now made cushions for G, O and me (as well as my nephews and nieces, my mum and a dear friend - I really enjoy making cushions).  So obviously C needs one now.