Days off

I was chatting the other day to Mel of feltmeupdesigns about the necessity of days out doing something nice when you are on your own working from home much of the time.  And I thought about how bad I am at taking my own advice... there is always so much around the house that I think I ought to be doing but I would much rather be doing something creative so I end up procrastinating and not doing either.  And certainly not going out anywhere nice for the day because of all the other stuff I should be doing.  Hmmm.

Well, last week I had actually planned a day out so I have awarded myself a pat on the back!  I took a trip over to Manchester to the Special Collections space in the MMU library to see the current exhibition which is by Kirsteen Aubrey, one of the MMU glass lecturers, entitled The Glass Journey.  The exhibition was small but beautiful and she had all her process and workings up on the wall too like a giant sketchbook - absolutely fascinating.  The exhibition is on until 16th December and well worth a visit if you are in the area.

I managed to to choose the only nice day we've had for weeks for my day out - bonus!  So after I had seen the exhibition I wandered into the centre of Manchester (without getting too lost - it's not a city I know all that well) and had a look around the lovely craft shop at the Royal Exchange Theatre - mostly looking at the glass pieces and how much they were selling for - important research don't you know!

After that, a bit more wandering around the centre and I managed - quite by chance because I had totally forgotten where it was - to find Paperchase.  The top floor of the Manchester Paperchase is a wonderful place - all those lovely papers.  I didn't spend too much...

A couple of sheets of gorgeous handmade paper which may end up as book covers and some lovely square pieces of Khadi cotton rag paper for printing on.  And some paper string I couldn't resist, maybe for weaving, maybe for collagraphs.

All in all a lovely day out, very inspiring.  I must do it more often!