Perfect Day

What a fabulous day I had yesterday.  With quilting friends I travelled to York, primarily for an evening with author, Tracy Chevalier, but there were many other highlights.  Being with friends was wonderful, the sun was shining, the car roof was open.  We drove over the Humber Bridge and the river and riversides looked beautiful.  If you don't know the region, this is saying something as the water is often muddy and brown, the area is often draped in grey cloud.  Yesterday it was bright, green, sparkling blue, amazing.  We had a relaxed journey to York, chatting, stopping for coffee, for lunch… and the arrived in York and our first stop was at the Quilt Museum.  Three current exhibitions were all interesting and all different.  Details can be found here:  http://www.quiltmuseum.org.uk  no photography is permitted in the museum.  Then a little shopping in the museum shop (rude not to) and a sit and chat in the beautiful garden in front of St Anthony's Hall.

We then went in search of something to eat and a tapas bar nearby was recommended.  What a great meal and great service.  It turned out we were all "tapas virgins" but we are now "tapas addicts".  The waitress and then the chef even managed to cope with my dietary needs and still produce delicious food.  After our relaxed meal, and a lot more chatting, we took the short walk to Merchant Taylors' Hall and enjoyed canapés and sparkling wine in the sunshine, perfect.

The interior of the hall was also splendid and we looked at the quilts on display and settled into good seats for the lecture.

Tracy Chevalier, spoke to us about her life as an author and as a quilter.  Her recent book, The Last Runaway, lead to her involvement with the quilting world and she has curated an exhibition of quilts, Things We Do In Bed, which is currently on show in Danson House.  She was an interesting and enthusiastic speaker and we learned the similarities between the quilting and writing processes as well as enjoying a slide presentation of various historic quilts, comparing English Paper Piecing style, with Gees Bend and American red and white (and sometimes green) appliqué quilts.

After the lecture we decided a coffee would be a good idea before heading home and went into the Royal Oak, a 17th century inn nearby.  More chat, the coffee was good and then live music started.  A small group, Irish, or at least Irish-style, played in the adjoining bar, lulling us into staying for nearly an hour before deciding we really had to get home!

The final delight of the day, a full, bright moon guided us home.  As we crossed back over the Humber again the moon was reflected in the water, rippling out across the river.  Who would have thought the Humber could look romantic?

Thank you to my lovely friends, to the Quilters' Guild for organising a wonderful evening and to the sunshine.