An odd week

Last week was a bit up and down, some good, some not so good. During the week I had a minor procedure under local anaesthetic following on from my breast reconstruction. I have a follow up appointment tomorrow. John and I went to the theatre on Tuesday to see a stage version of Inspector Morse. I loved the Morse series on TV and John Thaw in the lead role was very good. The stage version was very well done but no one plays Morse like John Thaw. Wednesday we went to a wine tasting which was good but later in the evening I became unwell. I felt really rough all day on Thursday and didn't do very much. On Friday I had to take my car for its annual service which was tiring as I still wasn't fully fit. However on the up side I did manage to sew all the ends in on the crocheted blanket and on Sunday I did a row of crochet all round the edge to finish it off. It is such a bright and cheerful blanket. This blanket is made up of 100 crocheted squares which have been joined together by crocheting.

On Saturday John and I had arranged to go to Lewes with older daughter and grandson. There was an art exhibition that older daughter wanted to see and Saturday was the last day. The drive there was quick and uneventful but driving through the crowded narrow streets of Lewes was an interesting experience. We parked at the railway station much to grandson's delight and he insisted on stopping to watch two trains go through.  The exhibition was Vanessa Bell and was interesting. It is fun to keep a 3 year old happy whilst the adults enjoy the art. Can you find a painting with .... in it, kept him amused for the time we needed and then we went to the children's activity area to do some colouring. 

We passed the Levitating Lady 1973 by Quentin Bell as we made our way upstairs to the gallery. He was fascinated with optical illusions.  My grandson was also fascinated and wanted to know how the lady was being held up so we explained it to him.

I only took a few photos. The Kitchen by Vanessa Bell 1943. This is a painting of the kitchen at Vanessa Bell's house Charleston. It shows Grace Higgins preparing food from scratch for the family in the middle of the 2nd World War. Grace Higgins joined the family as a nursey nurse for Vanessa Bell's daughter and later became housekeeper until she retired in 1970. We have yet to visit Charleston.

The next painting is of Chattie Salaman 1940. She was a friend of Vanessa Bell's daughter, having met at drama school and she was a frequent visitor to Charleston in the early years of WW2.

Bell took photographs of her model for reference.

I also really liked this painting, The garden Room by Vanessa Bell 1951. However there seem to be other paintings called the garden room.

I enjoyed the exhibition but I didn't take many photos. Instead I was spending time finding out what my grandson thought of the paintings. He knew which ones he liked and why and others he wasn't interested in at all. I love getting a child's view as they are very honest. After the exhibition we walked around Lewes and found there was a castle and lots of history as well as Charleston to visit. We made plans to visit again as we had to get back into London as older daughter had an appointment in the late afternoon. However wee stopped and enjoyed a delicious lunch. After all no outing is complete with lunch. Grandson snoozed all the way home and excitedly told his dad about the outing. Having done that he settled down to play with his trains which is what he was doing when we had arrived that morning.

On Sunday morning I set up my sewing machine and completed some more blocks for the Christmas quilt so that now I just need to make one more block. I still need to make some half square triangles for the stars in the sashing but that won't take too long. I hope to have a quilt top by the end of the week.

Although I'm on holiday I have some work I need to get done. I'm spending a little time each day to clear it. Once I've finished this blog post I'm going searching for a quilt pattern. My brother asked me to make him a new quilt. I know I have a pattern that he will love but I've just got to find it! 

Take care

Lyndsey