A castle and some quilting.

When we visited Winchester last week, we not only visited the cathedral, we also found a ruined castle, Wolvesey Castle. Having finished our lunch in the cathedral cafe we followed signs to the castle. The route took us via the cathedral close and this view of the Cathedral..

As we headed towards the castle we passed this house. I love the shape and the timbers. There are a lot of old buildings in Winchester which isn't surprising since it has a long history and during the Anglo-Saxon period it was one of the most important cities in England..

We followed the road to the right and then under Kingsgate. 

Arriving at the castle we could see the curtain wall in the field but there was no entry to this area.

We followed a narrow path between the field where children were enjoying their end of term event and on our left, the school buildings. The castle was the home of Bishop Henry of Blois. He was the younger brother of Stephen, King of England who ruled from 1135 to 1154.

The building before Wolvesey Castle, was constructed around 970 by Æthelwold of Winchester, who was the Bishop of Winchester from 963 to 984, as his official residence or palace. A new hall was added by the next bishop but the castle was mostly built by Bishop Henry in the 12th century. It is now a ruin but the 15th century chapel is now part of Wolvesey Palace, the current home of the Bishop of Winchester. 

In 1141 Winchester came under siege by Empress Matilda who claimed a right to the throne. Winchester held out for three week until relieved by King Stephen's wife Matilda. This period of civil war is known as The Anarchy. As a result of the siege Bishop Henry enlarged and fortified the palace by building a curtain wall which made it look more like a castle than a palace.

It was interesting walking around the ruins. In places they were unsafe and had been fenced off.

Unfortunately some bright spark had spray painted over most of the information boards so it wasn't easy to decipher what some of the different areas were.

It was now getting very close to the end of the time we had paid for our parking and so we headed back. On the way back we Crossed over a couple of waterways. I couldn't see any fish.

As we arrived back at the car it started raining and so it was definitely time to drive home. We had a great day out.

Over the weekend I had some time for sewing as John was leading a walk for some friends. I took the dogs out for a good run in the park. When we got back I wanted to quilt the Trip around the world quilt so first I had make the quilt sandwich. That done I set my sewing machine up on the dining table and once I'd checked the tension I was ready to play. I started by stitching diagonal lines in each direction 3 inches apart and then I did zigzags between the squares. I managed to get it all done on Saturday. This is how it looks from the front.

and from the back it looks like this.

I could have gone wider with the stitching either side of the middle line but when I practiced this I decided narrower was what I wanted for this quilt. I will be using this quilt design again but will try it with the bigger curves as it then makes a nice circle as a secondary pattern.

On Monday I did some quilting on the dinosaur quilt. I now have 1 dinosaur left to quilt and the borders. I'll take photos when I'm finished. This quilt is very large and heavy and it has been quite tiring to quilt. 

Today I need to decide on the binding for the Trip around the world quilt, I have two or three potential choices but need to check that I have enough fabric before I make the final choice. I'm also working on several other projects. I like to be able to decide what I work on based on my mood and what I feel like doing. It's not everyone's way of working but it suits me.

Tomorrow I have to attend graduation as I have students graduating. It should be my none working day and John and I had planned an overnight trip. That will happen but we won't be leaving London until a little later than planed. I'll tell you more next week.

Take care

Lyndsey