After a catch up with the Move It On Project, we're back to the second half of the initial stages of this year's holiday journal.
Thursday: Lanhydrock. This is a lovely Victorian country house, rebuilt in the late 1880s after a fire, but retaining the most amazing Jacobean plasterwork ceiling in the Long Gallery, which is covered in a riot of animals, birds, plants, heraldic beasts and big panels of biblical scenes. Unbeknown to me when we arrived, it is currently undergoing cleaning and restoration and we were able to go onto the scaffolding the conservators are using and get literally nose to nose with the ceiling. Almost 500 years old and just stunning. The panel at the end you can just see part of is David slaying Goliath.
But I loved the plants and animals. Even the borders round each section were full of interest.
And humour. I loved the derpy cat...
...and also the pooing cat!
It was a once in a lifetime experience and one of the highlights of the holiday. So I wanted to do something in the quilting or trapunto quilting line to represent the day. Only I'd not brought any wadding or my erasable pen. I made a start by choosing a flower and drawing it onto the backing fabric and choosing a piece of natural wool for the front.
Friday: Newquay Aquarium. Living close to The Deep in Hull, we are quite spoilt when it comes to aquariums and the Blue Reef Aquarium in Newquay is a similarly set out but very much smaller version. In spite of that, it didn't disappoint. The tanks were interesting and varied and the animals all looked really well cared for. For me, the star of the visit was Athena, the common octopus who was full of personality, playing up to the audience and keeping the aquarist on her toes. I find that it's difficult to get good photographs in aquariums so I used some images from the internet to give me the details I wanted for a close up of one of her legs. Again, very much in the planning stages.
Saturday: Harlyn Bay. One of our favourite beaches. Masses of parking, reasonable toilets, beach cafes and a huge wide, safe, shelving sandy beach with rockpooling along one side. It sounds busy and in your face, but it's all tucked away on one side and the beach feels quite unspoilt. I spent a lot of time in the sea and so no photos, but I loved the effect of the light on the sand ripples through the shallows. Again, I'm using internet images as inspiration which I'll stitch over this piece of sewn shibori I made during lockdown which is perfect for the sand ripples.
And on Sunday we sadly came home, via The Union Inn in Moretonhampstead which does a delicious Sunday lunch carvery. I have a bit of a thing for windows, especially inside looking out and I loved the way the rippled glass in the windows of the pub turned the plants outside into abstract patches of colour.
So something inspired by this will be my final piece, but it's got no further. I hope I can find the time to get them all moved on sooner rather then later.
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