magnificent mosaics

and here I should acknowledge the images are courtesy of Keith,

who is a professional photographer and has a really good camera!

you might like to check out his website under Photographic 

Pictures, in a day or two when he should have downloaded

his images of Istanbul

Byzantine mosaics were designed to be seen in lamp or candle light, to show off  the
workmanship to it's best advantage.  Flickering light reflected in the pieces of glass 
and gold.   Now we have to rely on natural light and imagine the effect which, must have
been fabulous.     They are set high up, a neck craning experience.

the Virgin Mary

Emperor Constantine IX

Empress Zoe

Empress Irene

painted mural of an angel

one of four on each corner

just under the main dome

Wandering around Sultanamet

the Egyptian Obelisk, The Hippodrome

sixteenth century BC

taken at night it looks like a lollipop

an owl on the obelisk, taken in the morning

owls are busy during the night

carpet cushions

details of a carpet - possibly not Turkish

it reminds me of wedding blankets from Mesopotamia

Istanbul

Home again to rain and cold.  Having said that it seems to have been a very 
sunny weekend in Dorset! 


In Istanbul cloudy skies in the morning gave way to sunny afternoons .  Outside in the
evening eating meze, accompanied by a bread called 'poof', think a very large pitta 
blown up like a balloon(!)   Watching the world go by.


One of my favourite sites is Aya Sofya, once a Byzantine church; ransacked in 1204
during the 4th Crusade;  in 1453 Mehmet the Conqueror had the idolatrous images
covered over, and 'he said his first prayer there on the following Friday'.  But a tiny
potted history! 


It continued as a mosque until 1932.  It is now a museum.   From the outside it looks
as though dodgy builders have been at work.  So many extensions.  Inside, under the
domed basilica, there are marble and mosaics, paintings and blue tiles from Iznik.
It's interesting to see the layers of history, and amazing that they have survived at all.

looking up to the first gallery

the second gallery and part of the dome

blue marble panel

blue tiles from Izmit

images from a calligraphy exhibition

with unintended reflections

detail of red stylized tulip

feeling thirsty?

marble niche with basin,

copper jug and tap

the Hand of Fatima is in

control of the water flow

The Grand Escape

with one just one click, we are off to Istanbul for a long weekend

I love the excitement of that city, so colourful, fabulous 
food, amazing architecture and history.   A boat trip on the 
Bosphorous,maybe stopping off on the European and/or the 
the Asian shore, and it will be warm!


I'm not very good with grey, elephants are the exception


There are block printed fabrics in the Bazaar.   Some from a
family run business in a small village, and other gathered on
travels in Rajasthan.    Towards the end of next week the
Indigo Store will be added to as well.

The past week has mainly been spent dodging showers and pottering in the garden.

The columbines are a beautiful splash of colour,

new additions and they were in flower as

we planted them

Clematis Montana has spread through hedges and

flows through a birch tree.

As for the rest of the plants, like me, they are in suspended

animation.   All are green and lush, ready to explode.

What we really need is for the white cloud to lift, the sun 

to shine,and the temperature to rise at least 4 degrees.

Not much to ask surely, given this is May.

Only two indigo seedling from first planting

at the beginning of April.   They are thriving, slowly.

The packet of indigo seeds I ordered was a bit

sparse in the content department.   Fortunately

I saved some and made another sowing two

weeks ago.   At last, little signs of life.

a little intermission for a day or two

it was very busy at the Fiesta

I met up with old friends 

the Indian Emporium 

made an appearance

time to tidy up my room,  catch up with

with gardening and enjoy the prospect

 of warmer days and less rain

(please)

a later planting of indigo seeds is at

last producing little seedlings

The Circle quilt is finished.   The deadline was yesterday, and I made it.  I'll post a 
picture early next week.  As ever, it is the stitching of the binding and label that 
takes time, plus losing the odd thread or two.  I enjoyed the process in a strange
sort of way, and I might just follow on the circle theme,  listening to Indian
music along the way.


It will form part of a display of quilts by Infinity, on the theme of Kandinsky, at the Brockenhurst Textile Fiesta, held in Brockenhurst in the centre of the New Forest,
Hampshire over this weekend.


So, today I find that the publicity blurb has me down as 'quiting', minus a 't', and not quilting'.   That's not good.   Spent most of the morning trying to understand why this 
should happen.  The organisers were very apologetic, which is nice, and are trying to 
make amends.    Still so many unanswered questions.


Tomorrow, whilst I would rather relax after a hectic few weeks, will find me as a 
trader, fighting my corner and convincing all that I am definitely not quitting.  


In the meantime, I'm gathering all my Indian goodies for my sales table.   Dyeing up a 
new batch of threads etc.


The good news is that already I have a commission for two smaller versions of the 
Circle.  I'm happy about that, since I really didn't want to do it in the first place!


End of rant.   That feels better.  If you have got to the end of the post, thank you!