Blue and Red Pretties

Out on a Date

It's not often these days that Husband and I get to go out on a Date like we used to in the good, old days. When we started going out over three years ago, Husband was living in North London and I was staying back at home in Cranners, so I used to get the train up to London from Guildford, pulling into Waterloo to find Husband-to-Be waiting for me under the clock by Paperchase. We'd walk out of the station and along the South Bank to enjoy the sights and hold hands in a disgustingly mushy way. One day, we went into La Pain Quotidien to have a croissant and a hot chocolate that was served in a bowl instead of mug, which just seemed really cool. And, until this weekend, we haven't been back since.

I'd been wanting to go up to Lahhnndahhn for ages, but having been a bit cream crackered due to illness recently, it was only this weekend that I felt up to it. So, we left home at 10am, got into Waterloo at 11.30am and immediately went to La Pain Quotidien for the most carb-heavy breakfast ever. Check out this gorgeous bread basket served with 5 or 6 different types of jams and spreads:





Not only that, but I also had a cheese & ham croissant, Husband had scrambled eggs with mushrooms and we both had two rounds of tea/coffee. Suffice to say, I was quite full. We stayed for ages, chatting about random things and taking in the very cool interior of the bakery, which is underneath the railway arches and has awesome little booths around the walls with old-school luggage racks above.

We then headed for the South Bank itself to check out all the celebrations commemorating the Festival of Britain in 1951. The river bank itself is bedecked in lovely bunting and is sporting a collection of beach huts and a beautiful old ice cream van, typically none of which I took a photo of, but you can see them here. Inside the Festival Hall is a fab exhibition called The Museum of 51, showing many of the promotional items that were created for the Festival sixty years ago, along with models of the whole site, and, my favourite, a 50s living room:














I want an armchair like this for my living room SO BAD. Gawjus.





Excuse the wobbly photos; I was taking them on my phone and the lighting wasn't great.

There was a fab food market out around the back of the Hall with some FANTASTIC looking ice cream, but we were still too full of bread to take advantage, dagnammit.

The outside of the Hayward Gallery has been dressed up with lots of "typically English" countryside paraphernalia, like sections of dry stone walling and piped bird song, I think as part of their "The Lands" exhibits. My fave part of this was the ENORMOUS straw fox sitting by Waterloo Bridge:

This lovely photo is by Smudgetikka. Go to their blog to check out their review of the whole Festival of Britain celebrations and to see lots more gorgeous photos.

It all runs until 4th September, so if you can get up there, do.

By 3pm we were both a bit knackered, and I thought it was best to get home before I fell into a big, weepy heap of tiredness, so back home on the train we went. So nice to get out of Brighton for a bit, as much as I love it, and very nice indeedy to spend that time with my favourite dude*.

*Mush is now over, normal service resumes.

Patchwork Cush

This is the patchwork/sewing/birthday project I was on about a few posts ago. It was for Eldest Sister's birthday, which was this Monday so I can finally share it.













It's the first "proper" quilting project I've done, which is to say I used a walking foot on my machine (LOVE it, going to use it for every project whether patchwork or not), and batting, and actually quilted all three layers together instead of tying it as I did with the only other quilting project I've attempted. I'm pretty chuffed with the outcome. Next on my patchwork list is a larger quilt for our bed/watching TV on the sofa. Just got to find the time to do it!

Thursday on Thursday

A great animation by Matthias Hoegg, a fellow Kingston Uni Illustration graduate, although he began just as I left. Beautiful stuff.


Thursday from Matthias Hoegg on Vimeo.

Stocks

I bought these three lovely bunches of Stocks from Aldi, of all places, on Sunday; I definitely needed something to combat the dismal weather. I've never bought Stocks before, I just went for them because I liked their lovely, elegantly tall stems and fab colours. Their scent is kind of sweet and spicy at the same time, a bit like a cinnamon cookie, and is currently wafting lusciously around the flat.

First Sketch on an iPad

Self Awarding

I have discovered that the illusive "KC" is Karen Collingwood, who had her work in a very nice open house in Hove over the May weekends. Alas, she has no website, but to walk into the room and be surrounded by her lovely acrylic brooches was almost too much for me to take. She was offering THREE of her regular brooches, like the apple and pear I already have, for £20, but I restrained myself and bought just this special one. The mirrored acrylic is just fab (Shiny! Shiny!), and, of course, will go with anything. Gotta think of these things.

It's June Already!

JUNE, people! Where have the last few months gone?! May was an odd month for me. I expected to be really busy on the next section of The Job, but, actually, that section only turned out to have one piece of work in it - the apron I've been nattering on about. So, I've had quite a bit of free time, but didn't actually realise I was going to have it. I expected to be emailed at any moment and be asked to draw the next thing, so I didn't really plan anything else to do. Doofus. So to stop me feeling bored until the comments come in, I've been sewing up a few things in the last week or so. One is a birthday present for the end of the month so I can't show it yet, another is an iPad case (yup, got offered one of those on a good deal so obviously took it up. Am trying very hard not to play with it all the time. It's a business expense, right?!) and another is this guy:



Lovely Sam bought him as a kit for me for Christmas and so naturally I've only just got around to sewing it up. He has chick peas in the base to keep him upright and hold open the door, and plain, old stuffing in the rest of the body. He's by local Brighton artist/printmaker Sarah Young, whose work I like very much and who prints at the same print studio as me.

I've also been having a few health problems this month, which hasn't been fun. My Crohn's is playing up a bit and I've hurt my legs somehow. I've been to a couple of appointments with an Osteopath who reckons I've knocked my pelvis all out of whack - probably by lifting boxes while moving house - which has put undue pressure on my knees and ankles which have been compensating for it. Hopefully it's going to improve soon; not being able to bend my knees properly is making stairs rather an issue!

On the plus side, a nice chunk of money for The Job has come in, so I've been able to pay off the bills and get a few luxuries in, including a GAWJUS bike, which I must take a photo of. Of course, with the knee issues I've barely ridden it, but I hope a few gentle laps round The Level will help stretch my muscles. It's so nice not to have to worry so much about money right now. The comments on the last lot of roughs I did came in today, so on Monday it'll be back to work. But right now I'm going to wait for Husband to get home, scoff down steak followed by strawberry ice cream, maybe watch a film, and enjoy hanging out with him all weekend in the sun. Have a good one, y'all.