Tuesday trips - resumed

We got back to our routine yesterday with a visit to ‘Art in the Garden’ at the Hillier Gardens near Romsey. We had been to a small indoor art exhibition there before which had been – how can I put this? – a bit flowery for my taste. But it was a lovely day, so we decided to go. And thoroughly enjoyed it. The art was mostly stunning and mostly beautifully sited.

There were a lot of flowers of course, not all real. This is by ‘Iron Vein' [?].

The gardens are lovely, even if you are not interested in the art, but a bit pricey to get in. There is a good tea shop, which you can get to without going into the gardens.

I took a hundred photos, although we only managed to get half way round before our elderly joints suggested we came home. However the event is on until the autumn, so we will go back at least once to see the rest.

I won’t show you all the photos, but here are some highlights.

As there are occasional references to textiles in this blog, I have to include this one by Susan Bowman, Yes, it is a crochet skirt, set with plaster/polymer.


And a cast glass hat and mittens by Miyuki Kasahara.

These, by Robinson and Wainwright, were perfectly complemented by the wonderful tree they were hanging in.

But my favourites were these by ‘Loco Glass’

and this and her companion by Patricia Volk. I love her contemplative expression.

We couldn't quite afford to buy anything because we had spent up on Sunday, at the Sandown Quilt Show, when Wensleydale bought me my belated birthday present. [You may remember I had a big birthday this year.] The prezzy arrived yesterday.

I used to have a Bernina but the motherboard died and wasn't replaceable. My little Elna is great but I missed the additional bells and whistles of the old Bernie. Well – this one has even more bells and whistles, including the stitch regulator, and I think it is going to take some getting used to. All I managed to d last night was to put the tools away in the tool box, which was a more complex procedure than you might expect as the tool box is like a miniature wardrobe with a place for everything.

I had forgotten how heavy Berninas are – almost as heavy as my third machine – which I don’t think I have shown you before.

This one has no bells or whistles at all – it doesn’t even sew in reverse – but after 100 years + it is still working … which is unlikely to be true of either the Elna or the Bernina!