London Trip

My partner and I had recently watched the first two seasons of "The Tudors" and wanted to know more about some of the places in London that King Henry knew.

We were most interested in seeing where Thomas More (one of my favourite characters in The Tudors) was held prisoner and to find out a bit more about Anne Boleyn (although we hadn't finished season 2 so we got a few "spoilers").

Visiting the Globe Theatre was a wonderful experience.

We saw a production of Troilus and Cressida (by William Shakespeare) whilst we were there.

The Globe is an Elizabethan Theatre and looks very much like it did originally in Shakespeare's time.

The Globe has an open roof, and as we were standing in the yard in front of the stage and it was raining, we got very wet! But that's all part of the fun!

On our second day in London we visited the Tate Modern. I kind of wish we'd visited Tate Britain instead because I discovered I wasn't that big a fan of modern stuff.

There was some Surrealist stuff I liked- I was pleased I got to see a couple of Max Ernst pieces but a lot of it was walking into dark rooms with videos of naked people covered in blood and screaming- sort of like being subjected to a room where the Texas Chainsaw Massacre is being played on 5 screens out of sync!

The one thing that made it worth it, that I absolutely loved, was the set of giant table and chairs. I loved walking under the table- I felt just like a borrower or like Jill Pole in the Silver Chair!

We didn't have time to go inside St Paul's Cathedral but we got some great pictures of the outside of this very impressive building.

This photo was taken from the Millenium Bridge.

Maybe I will find out what's inside later- or maybe I will just imagine what's inside!

Being fans of The Tudors, we had to go and visit Hampton Court Palace- one of Henry VIII's palaces.

Hampton Court is an enormous sprawling palace, with beautiful gardens, a large maze, heaps of gorgeous tapestries and paintings.

In the image opposite you will find King Henry himself depicted in stained glass.

Essex is so beautiful. I didn't think I'd ever find anywhere as beautiful as Devon, in England. Although Essex looks a lot flatter than Devon which is full of rolling green hills.

The weather was beautiful, the scenery was beautiful and we got to stay in a big house with a huge garden, lots of animals (good for us as we're animal lovers), a swimming pool and a hot tub- who needs to go abroad?!!

Best of all, I got to spend time with my writing partner and Rachel twin!

This is one of the roosters that woke us up early every morning! Isn't he gorgeous? I came home with so many pictures of the roosters and the hens- the hens also have beautiful feathers.

I can feel a chicken-based textiles piece brewing!

Where we stayed we also had the company of ducks, dogs, one pony and more wasps than you can shake a fly swatter at!

There were eggs a-plenty and I was intrigued to discover that you can make egg pie and delicious baked eggs!!

My friend gave me some early birthday presents when I went to stay with her. She knows me well.

She gave me some delicious super bulky yarn (pictured opposite) and a certain movie companion book from a certain film!

I'm not sure what to make with the yarn yet. I adore that orange with the blues and purples.

Below are a couple of patterns I've found that I make with this yarn.

This photo was taken in the five seconds I spent rowing! A few minutes before this photo someone else was rowing the boat and rowed me right into a tree!

We had a lot of fun rowing in Essex. I believe this photo was taken in Dedham, Essex.

Whilst we were away there was a competition on Live Journal to produce some art or craftwork based on Catherynne M Valente's online novel "The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making".

I really didn't want to miss out on making a textiles piece for a story I enjoyed so much. I quickly layered the textiles piece up the day before we went away. I sewed it all down on the sewing machine and then collected some small pieces of fabric, threads and beads.

Whilst in Essex I hand-stitched the rest of this piece until I was happy with it.

In case you can't see- this textiles piece portrays a girl (her hair over her face and one leg up with the shoe missing), sitting on top of a giant leopard.