Stopover in London

En route to South Africa last summer (more about that in subsequent posts) we stopped for two nights in London, using the time to acclimate to a new time zone and to wander around London, stopping as we came upon places that interested us (and weren't too crowded). 

One stop was Sir John Soane's Museum on the north side of Lincoln's Inn Fields, London's largest public square. Sir John Soane (1753-1837) was a renowned neo-classical architect and collector, amassing a trove of sculptures, paintings, architectural remnants, and more, which he artfully arranged and cleverly stored in his home, itself a collection of three residences. Today's visitors see the home largely as it looked upon Sir John's death. Just about every surface is covered, every nook and cranny stuffed with treasures. Here is just a small sample. 

Outside of the museum, we strolled through Lincoln's Inns Fields, stopped at the Seven Stars for lunch,

 

and explored the weekend-quiet streets, including Serle Street, adjacent to the Royal Courts of Justice. 

Coming out on Chancery Lane, 

we eventually made our way south to the Strand and crossed the Thames to the Southbank boardwalk. Seeing St. Paul's Cathedral (dating from the 17th century), modern financial district towers, and construction cranes in a single frame reminds me of London's long-standing vibrance and continued renewal.  

We also took in Big Ben, newly and brilliantly emerged from a renovation that kept it encased in scaffolding for five years.

The Houses of Parliament were equally brilliant.

While we walked most places, we did use the tube to get to and from Heathrow Airport, as well as around town. I love the older stations for their beautiful tile work and fun graphics.

One of our stops was the Old Brompton Road in South Kensington, home of Shaukat Fabrics, an amazing fabric store that carries an enormous selection of wools, silks and cottons, and notably, a wider collection of Liberty fabrics than Liberty of London just a few miles away. 

Their prices are quite competitive, and they ship so I picked up several yards of tana lawn, 

including one version of the Betsy print so that I could incorporate it into my Sew.be sew along Betsy nine-patch quilt. As you can see, I used other prints for some, actually most, of the blocks because I just didn't have enough different Betsy fabrics in my stash. Out of 144 blocks, I think I have four Betsy prints, so maybe I should name the finished quilt "Betsy Comes for a Visit." Anyway, I have completed all 144 blocks and assembled them into a top, so it is now in the queue to be quilted and bound. 

I have a small but precious stash of Liberty tana lawn and I credit this project with forcing me to actually cut into it. Thank you to Bec Brennan for getting me over that hurdle! I'm already planning my next quilt using Liberty fabric!