Listening to:

The Atlantic 50 best podcasts of 2017  #49 The Bill Simmons podcast.  Another podcast I normally wouldn't consider as it's a sports podcast but this was quite political.  It is an interview with The Atlantic writer Ta-Nehisi Coates.  Lots of sporting references that I had no idea about but the talked about Colin Kaepernick (started the kneeling protest at American football games as a protest about the treatment of black men by the Police), Obama and The Wire.  It flowed really well but I really wasn't interested in listening to his other podcasts.

Watching on TV:

George Clarkes Amazing Spaces (Channel 4).  I've been mourning leaving my big house and wild back garden for a tiny flat and not being able to build my cob house or geodesic dome (hadn't done that in the previous 2 years though....).  Suddenly realised that I am in my own Tiny House now.  What a numpty!

Found on the Internet:

News reports of the new portraits of President Obama and Michelle Obama.  I really like the portrait of Michelle Obama (ok, it looks more like a singer than the First Lady) but I loved her dress especially when I found out it was based on a Gee's Bend quilt.

This set me off on another Internet time-destroyer, looking for pixelated quilts - soon lost interest.  Not pixels then but circles or balls.  I started falling off Vimeo and the Gee's Bend quilts and landing on YouTube and finding Jessika Jacob and her amazing artwork of just different sized painted dots. 

You can see her technique here.  So now all I have to do is find out how to do this in fabric!

This lead onto searching for 'textile art' on www.thisiscolossal.com and found Multi-coloured Orbs by Serena Garcia Dalla Venezia

From there I found Fav Blog this Week: 

The Jealous Curator.  This blog showcases contemporary artists and podcasrs of interviews with them.  Check out the Gallery and Podcast pages - they are amazing!
Also, spent a lot of time on the the Metropolitan Museum of Art and it's online collections, with images  free to use as you wish.

Sewing:  Those damn, damn, damn cushion covers for the Cricket Club.  Note to self: stop offering to do stuff I don't want to do.

Cooking without a cooker:

Used my bread machine to bake a loaf.  Dear oh dear oh dear - it was so scrummy! 

400mls warm water and

1 tbsp oil put into the machine.

Dump in 650g bread flour, 7g fast acting yeast, tsp sugar, tsp salt.  Set to 2lb loaf and it cooked for 3 hours.  It was trying to escaped and baked to the lid but was sooooo tasty.

Listening to:

Working my way through The Atlantic's 50 best podcasts of 2017 starting with #50 - Alone by Michelle Parise here.  Almost skipped this one as it's a love story (yuk) but it's really good.  The author is a Canadian (oh, Canada...!) journalist and the story is not sappy.  Love stories are something I avoid like the plague normally but I am glad I stuck with this one. Love podcasts whilst I'm sewing (or sprawling....)
Radio 4:  Nicola Sturgeon on 'A Good Read' talking about how important reading fiction is to understand other people lives and recommending books she has particularly enjoyed on her Twitter feed.

Watching on TV:

Silent Witness on BBC1.  I've not watched this before but am really enjoying it.  Stories are in 2 parts but both parts are in the same week so there's some chance of not forgetting the plot.

Spiral on BBC2. French detective drama.  Main character is female and in charge but she's a bit sappy.  Still hooked on Scandi noir but giving others a chance.

Watching on Netflix:

How to Get away with Murder, series 3.  All really far fetched but better escapism than other wallpaper tv like Eastenders or Coronation Street, both of which are becoming more and more unbelievable.  If I'm going to suspend belief, I'd rather it be for a better story!

Watching on QNNtv:
Took me ages to find this again and subscribe.  It's now owned by The Quilting Company (quiltingcompany.com) and takes a real bit of work to find QNNtv videos but I watched Thomas Knauer Design Studio - Palimpsest (no, I don't know what it means either!).  This video shows how to use print to quilt your project and I shall use these ideas on my quilt challenge for my local quilt group Mimram Quilters which I shall start sewing next week after finishing (finally) all the Cricket Club cushions.

Watching on YouTube:
Needle threading witchery!  I tried but can't do it!


Sewing:
Still can't find my little sewing tins with all my equipment in from moving, so recovering some cushions for local Cricket Club - yawn, yawn, yawn........