The longevity of quilts and shoes

Last week whilst taking our youngest son back to University, we had a day free to wander around London. We headed for the Victoria and Albert Museum, as the current exhibition, Hollywood Costumes, had had great reviews. We didn't realise though that entrance to the exhibition was by timed ticket and, although we arrived at the museum mid-morning, as we had already arranged to meet our eldest son for lunch, the tickets available on the day would have given us about 15 minutes to spend in the exhibition.

So we skipped the exhibition and just wandered around the museum flitting in and out of the permanent exhibitions instead.

First up was the fashion gallery where I was looking for inspiration for this months Star of Africa Bee block as the theme is shoes!

 

These took my eye, maybe because I suspect I wore something similar (but not as expensive!) many moons ago! I have decided though that recreating the zig-zag pattern is beyond me.

 

Maybe these would be easier to recreate but not really my style.  

 

Now these were lovely and would be straightforward to recreate (I think!) but alas not really local as they were made for Dior, and we are supposed to represent our local culture in our blocks. So back to the drawing board :(

We finished our visit in the Renaissance Gallery, where we came across this quilt.

 

The quilt was made in the 1300's as a wedding gift and as you can see the quilting was amazing. It is also pretty amazing that the quilt has lasted so long intact and in such incredible condition. It did make me think that perhaps I should pay more attention to getting seams and joins right if any quilt of mine is going to last for even one quarter of that time! I would hate to think that quilters might be tutting over the mismatched corners in my quilts for decades :)

The V & A is definitely worth a visit, and next time I will check out the conditions of any exhibitions and book up beforehand as I would have loved to have seen the Hollywood Costumes. Apparently Daniel Craig is not as tall as you might think!

In complete contrast and perhaps going from the sublime to the ridiculous I shall leave you with a view of London's newest building, the Shard. If you want to see what the view from the top is like click here

 

Now that would be straightforward to recreate in a quilt block!

Linking up to Really Random Thursday at Live a Colorful Life and