Morris melancholy

Well I have finally hit the wall......did a silly thing yesterday and hurt my back. This morning I woke up and had a 10 minute sob.....homesickness does hit us all at some stage while travelling!! So today Larry and I are chilling out in the hotel while our wonderful fellow travellers enjoy this...........

After Red House our friends will be travelling to Oxford and visiting Exeter College where Morris studied.

The chapel is beautiful......

and the Burne Jones tapestry is a grand feature......but we have one in the Art Gallery of South Australia at home (which everyone has heard about several times!!).......

 And then tonight the grand finale.......

Sorry we are not there but we are lucky and get to do it all again next year...join us here!

Inspiration overload

Today has been a lovely "day off" sharing stitches and jokes (!!).  Yesterday we were on the move once again - a day in London visiting Kelmscott House and the Emery Walker house, and the afternoon in the Victoria and Albert Museum....so an absolute packet of inspiration. First of all some inspiring work from the genius himself at Kelmscott House......Here is Helen Elletson the curator ....she is a wealth of information and knows all things Morris inside out. Here she shares some of his drawings

and original textiles against the master drawing.......

Helen also showed us a very rare piece of Morris linoleum.......

It was also a treat to see some of May Morris's embroidery.......

 If you are at all inclined it is well worth joining the William Morris UK society. The newsletters are full of information and always include academic journals and also copies from the US society.

After the visit to Emery Walker's house we spent almost 3 hours at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Our guide was very knowledgeable and inspiring - I will leave you with a few images that will certainly find their way into my sketchpad (one day!).......

Above and below are from a book cover made in 980 - 1000!

The following images are from a carpet made in Iran - about 1600-1700 and it belonged to William Morris. It is recorded that this is where Morris sourced a lot of his own designs.........

And some more for my sketchpad.......

Another day of treats in store for us tomorrow....so meanwhile thanks once again for visiting and leaving your encouraging comments - glad we can share it to you all this way.