Blois and the castles of the Loire Valley

We arrived in Blois yesterday and wish we could stay and stay! A picturesque French town (city? population 47,000) and a 16th century Auberge on the banks of the Loire River, and as Gill says, no gypsies harassing us! Today we perused  2 of the beautiful chateaux in the area- Blois Castle and Chateau Chambord.  We took so many photos!  Blois is just as we had hoped, a quaint French town with old stone buildings and cobbled streets, meandering lanes, ivy walls, moss covered roofs.  A horse and carriage passes our hotel periodically.  The cathedral bells are singing to us.  There are poppies growing in the long grass along the river bank.

Above are some photos of beautiful London.  Can you tell how happy we are and what a good time we are having?

Sacre Coeur

What a beautiful landmark!

Photo taken from Musee d'Orsay, looking out toward the Louvre

At the Louvre

Relaxing at Tuileries Garden and Fountain

Oh Ya, what filling will our crepe hold today??

 And those pics were snippets from Paris.  xx Bye for now.

Degas et le Nu

Paris...we loved it but not every minute. It felt a little daunting, sometimes scary, and we were always on our guard. We had a good time though! What a spectacular city- c'est magnifique! Highlights: the Eiffle Tower and it's summit and a city ablaze with lights; Musee d'Orsay and room after room of Impressionist, neo and post-impressionist paintings-a sight for sore eyes!; fresh chocolate filled crepes in Montmartre while listening to French folk music; time out relaxing by the fountain at Jardin des Tuileries; riding the metro after midnight; the view from Sacre Coeur and Montmartre. Half the time I felt like I was flying by the seat of my pants not knowing enough of the language. I suppose a good example of this is my purchase of tickets for the Degas et le Nu exhibition. I promised Gill she would see some of Degas' ballerinas. No ballerinas! Lots of other lovely ladies though! (It was still an amazing exhibition, just a bit unexpected- silly me)

London

We did our best to ignore the unseasonably cold temps and persistent rain on offer in London while we were there. What a beautiful city! My first experience as a mature traveller using a youth hostel was great! I was surprised to find many families and oldies using the facility. Clean, comfortable, set in the heart of the Oxford Circus shopping district-  YHA London Central possibly spoiled us-(I write this from Paris where we are not as happy, but more on that later, maybe). Our dinner at Jamie Oliver's Barbecoa was delicious! Anna and Gill have been living off Tesco's one pound egg and cress sandwiches so they were ready for a hearty meal. We did a wonderful walking tour of the city and although we were drowned rats it was really fun and informative. Les Mis at Queen's Theatre was outstanding. We had seats that were so close to the stage. What a memorable evening! Another highlight was attending Evensong at Westminster Abbey. Portobello Market in Notting Hill was such a feel good place. I loved the pastel coloured row homes witH their window boxes overflowing with roses and English country garden flowers, and the eclectic shops with their interesting and creative window displays. And speaking of shopping-Oxford St! That was fun too! Thankfully I have no interest in adding to the weight of my pack so window shopping sufficed. And I cannot forget to mention our time at the Victoria & Albert Museum. I could spend hours upon hours there! The fashion and ball gown exhibits, the V&A gift shop (sigh!)- I have a wish list for certain! So our first destination was a huge success. Anna and I are full of cold/flu but we are soldiering on-thank you Rob for insisting I pack your cold and flu meds. As it turns out, blogger won't let me upload photos from my iPad. So I am sorry, this will be quite boring without pics, but I can post some to my Facebook wall. Wifi is very intermittent so I will be in touch when I can!

London Bound

I am en route to London Euston station as I write. Rob and I enjoyed our time in Singapore. It was sad to say goodbye at the airport-Rob went his way back to Jakarta and I boarded my plane to Munich. I thought the trip had potential for disaster when the "gentleman" in the seat next to me greeted me with "IS THIS YOU DARLIN'? He was completely loaded from his flight from Perth to Singapore and he bombarded me with all kinds of unwelcome colourful and suggestive conversation. Early on he warned me that he was going to get more drunk than he already was and this time he wouldn't stand for the flight attendants "cutting him off, because they have no right!" I asked him if there was any fear that he might throw up next to me-he assured me that would not happen-and I hoped for the best. Blessedly, it didn't take him long to pass out and apart from his arm hanging over my armrest for 14 hours and his thumping music coming through his earplugs, we both survived. By contrast, I am now travelling quite comfortably in a Quiet Zone, First Class train car and my travel companions are very civilised. Another couple of hours and I meet Annie

Happy Travels

Well, tomorrow is the big day!  My Europe trip with Anna is now just hours away!  I fly on the 8th as far as Singapore and meet up with Rob for 24 hours.  This will be a whirlwind of shopping, beautiful meals in unique cafes and being spoiled with a gorgeous hotel stay! 

But then after a long haul flight to Manchester and a train ride to London, reality will strike when Anna, Gill and I check into the YHA London Central:

I don't know, it looks clean and that mattress looks comfie enough!  Regardless, it will be the start of many nights in hostels all over Western Europe.  My backpack is standing tall (and possibly too heavy), all packed and ready.  I hope and pray this pack and I are going to have a great relationship!!

I arrive just in time to celebrate my birthday with Anna and Gill at Jamie Oliver's London restaurant Barbecoa.  http://www.barbecoa.com/  It looks like it will be a beautiful treat.  I look forward to dining on a delicious dish while feasting my eyes on my daughter whom I have not seen for weeks - and the view outside this window of St Paul's Cathedral will be amazing as well!

The girls will have been in London for a couple of days already so they are in charge of putting together an itinerary for us.  We have tickets for  Les Miserables at Queens Theatre in London's West End, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZvM2xK85fw, and I would like to visit the Victoria and Albert Museum.  Check this out;  http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/exhibitions/ballgowns/ Ball Gowns, British Glamour since 1950's.  I will be sure to let you know just what we get up to!!

Stay tuned... 

Finished!!....

...well almost finished!!
I have always been pleased that my daughter, Anna, takes an interest in my patchwork.  Quite a while ago (sigh) she asked if I would be interested in making the pastel version of Kaffe Fassett's "Jane's Diamonds", from his book Quilts In The Sun, of course I was happy to oblige!  She loved the colours and prints in the original so we hunted to try to find these prints, many of which are now rare and not available.  (Now comes the fun bit of substituting fabrics - I love fabric auditioning and finding lovely prints that will work just as well or even better!).

The above picture may not look like much, but poor Anna had to wait months and months to see even this little token of her lovely quilt.  We undertook a home renovation project in 2011 and playing with fabric was sadly back-burnered.  I hadn't forgotten though, and when her 18th birthday was 3 months off, I began with gusto.  I almost immediately lost the wind from my sails though when I discovered that I had no experience in butting up seams and matching perfect points on diamonds! 

It was slow and painstaking, but with the patient advice and tutorials from Jacqui and Jody at Patchwork at Homespun, I began to make progress.

It was a joy to work with these happy colours and luscious prints.  They were a beautiful sight strewn around my sewing area!

Yummy Kaffe prints!

This quilt is entirely symmetrical!  Something perhaps that isn't noticeable at first, but Anna loved this aspect of the quilt and so I challenged myself to keep everything where it should be. 

At some sad point I decided that I didn't like a bright coral coloured silouette rose print and so I began the task of removing all of these diamonds.  Reverse sewing when a deadline is looming is not the happiest of tasks, but one that i felt was necessary.

goodbye Silouette Rose

"Reverse Sewing"

Anyway, progress continued, borders were added, it was all carefully pressed,

Donna Lawrence, from Calico Quilters, quilted it beautifully!

Finally her 18th birthday arrived and I was able to present my labour of love to dear Anna.  Although I had closeted myself away during much of the piecing process, Anna did suspect I was sewing for her, and she had caught some glimpses along the way.  I must confess, it was presented without the binding (shameful!) and without a label, which is why, way way back in this long post I had titled it "Finished... well almost finished!".  I sign off with 2 final photos of anna opening her lovely new Kaffe quilt.  xox to Anna!!

My Girls

 It has been my happy privilege to host my lovely niece Gillian Sarah Joy for the past 3 months!!  True to her name, Gill brought the Bird family lots of joy.  She is good natured, hard working, easy going, sensible, fun to be with, thoughtful.... Great character qualities that make living with her extra easy.  I must say, I have thought of her as one of my girls these past weeks, and am so thankful that she was able to travel all the way from Canada to be with us.  She and Anna and Leah became great friends.  Gill and Anna travel now to the UK to Capernwray Bible College in Carnforth, Lancashire County until June.  Come back to Perth soon Gillian!  I miss you!

Gill, Annie and Leah at Secret Harbour Beach

Leah, Anna, Gill, at Villa San, Ubud, Bali

Another beach pic, this time Smith's Beach, Yallingup