A Few Days Off

This time of year it is almost impossible to escape getting some horrid cold or other winter bug and - alas! - it was my turn to get sick at the end of last week. Nothing too horrid, thankfully, but definitely requiring a few days off to rest and get well.

I thought "great! I can put my feet up and get some relaxing crafting done!" but actually in the end there was a lot more time spent snoozing, and staring into space and watching comforting DVDs than there was spent working on crafty projects. I did make a little bit of progress with my current cross stitch and knitting projects, but not much!

I haven't managed to fit a Nice Day Out into my schedule for a couple of weeks thanks to a deadline and the aforementioned germs, but luckily felt much more chipper in time to have a lovely day in London yesterday. I'm obviously still feeling a little foggy-brained, though, as I forgot to take my camera! Oops.

I zipped around a few museums and galleries with an old friend, whom I last saw a couple of years ago so we had lots to catch up on in between chatting about the art, etc.

Among other places, we visited Tate Britain which was my favourite gallery to visit as a teenager. I was really looking forward to seeing the new staircase (which is pretty gorgeous), and the new chronological galleries where you walk through 500 years of British art. I really liked the mix of work on display - lots of my old faves mixed in with some really interesting pieces I'd not seen before - but I have to admit to feeling rather frustrated by the curatorial choice not to include the usual paragraph or two of info about each piece.

Overall it felt a bit like trying to read Shakespeare with no footnotes - it was interesting but baffling and I felt like there was a lot of information I was missing out on which would have helped me understand / appreciate / engage with some of the pieces a lot more fully. I do get the idea of letting people just look at a work of art without being "told" what it's "about" but I definitely prefer the usual approach of having a bit of info to read if you want to! Ah well.

In other news: I'm working on some Christmas tutorials which I'm hoping to have ready to share with you guys soon... please keep your fingers crossed for some nice sunny weather so I can get all the step-by-step photos taken :)