You have to buy tickets to go inside the Sagrada Familia. Entries are timed to control the crowd. I am Catholic so I did wonder if, or how often, mass is said. Pretty often as it turns out.
The space is massive and filled with colored light. You find yourself looking up, a lot.
This space is about light and color. The shapes feel organic and alive, and amazingly modern.
We also went up into one of the spires. That’s for tomorrow.
Well, I swam with little tiny fishes :-). But first, we walked a bit along the coastal paths near Sa Tuna.
The Mediterranean Ocean is amazingly clear and blue. Actually, it is many shades of blue depending on the sunlight, the depth of the water, etc. The color changed all day long.
There are a lot of ups and downs on this walk but it’s not all uphill. You do get to go downhill as well.
And there is so much to look at that will make you smile!
There were a lot of topless ladies of all ages and sizes on the beach. So many that really, who cares. There were lots of men in speedos… not a look I love but, again, who cares. These folks appear to embrace the bodies they have. I like that.
The beach at Sa Tuna is wider than you see here, but that little tiny bit of sand (really, it was smooth gravel) next to the rock in the lower right is where Steve and I sat in the shade. The kids sat more in the sun.
We got there early, while parking was easy and the beach was empty. By the time we left at 1:30, the beach was full!
We have one more full day of vacation and we are going to another beach. I have so many photos to show you once I get back home. The vacation will live on :-).
After our food tour, we went to the Palau De la Musica Catalana. It is a beautiful space where choirs sing. Not just any choirs… magnificent choirs. And not just classical music, but all kinds of amazing music.
I wish I knew more about music, but I don’t. We are here because it is a famous, wonderful space. I want to come back to hear choirs sing right here.
Side note: Since I’ve been in Spain, when I google something, it is in Spanish. I don’t want to link to a site you may not be able to read so, if you want to know more, google Palau De la Musica Catalana. You’ll be glad you did.
Mosaics are everywhere. This space was designed by a contemporary of Gaudi, Lluís Domènech i Montaner,
There are muses that surround the stage, to inspire the musicians. Honestly, doesn’t that sound wonderful? To be surrounded by muses?
And then there is the stained glass, on the outside of the building…
But the best piece is inside, above the stage. It is not flat, but dips down in the center. The space if lit by lovely, colored light…
After this, we went to see the inside of the Sagrada Familia. That visit deserves its very own post!
I don’t wear a Fitbit or Apple watch anymore, and data is turned off on my phone, so I have no idea how far we walked this morning, but I suspect it was 5-6 miles. Maybe it’s the sea air, but at 4 in the afternoon, I am tired!
My photo challenge this week is sky/clouds, so I pointed my camera up a lot.
There were a couple of these huge3 ‘pencils’ tossed about on the rocks. It is concrete and many feet long, and it is tall enough that it could serve as a bench. Catherine had no idea what they were for or where they had come from.
We stopped for a leisurely coffee on the way home. I’m not sure when I have relaxed so much on a vacation!
We shopped this afternoon and I bought a skirt. Simple design, made locally. Yes, I could sew it but, no, I don’t want to. It was so much nicer to know that I am supporting an Australian sewer and that I look forward to wearing that skirt for a very long time!
Laurie Schierer took my Pick-Up Sticks class at the Hands All Around Quilt Guild a couple of weeks ago in Normal, IL. Not only is her quilt amazing, it is also quilted and bound! Way to go, Laurie! (The Pick-Up Sticks pattern is in my book, The Quilter’s Practical Guide to Color.)
During the design part of this class, we put together student blocks in a variety of sets. It occurred to me that you could add triangles to the blocks to form a center (wonky) square. Laurie ran with that idea and I’m so glad she did!
Here are just a few of the other settings, combining student blocks, that we played with:
My good friend, Amy, offered share more about her embroidery art. Yay!
Do you spend a lot of time commuting? passenger in a car? on an airplane? I do! And I am fidgety, always needing something in my hands to keep me busy. Well last April I started embroidering when I travel and I am hooked. I have done two famous paintings, The Scream and Starry Night. My favorite part of both of these is the sky done in a big chain stitch.
I am fairly new to embroidery and I like it when my work looks a bit rough (I am a recovering perfectionist) and not precise. I really enjoyed trying to figure out what colors to use where and how to make certain sections stand out. I made different choices than the artists just for fun and I am really happy with the results. My Starry Night hangs next door at my neighbors house (a Christmas present) and I am not sure yet what to do with The Scream. I may keep it…
A few good things to note. To transfer the pattern I used C&T Publishing’s Wash-Away Stitch Stabilizer, a great surface that you can run through an ink jet printer and adhere to your fabric while you are stitching, and when you are done you swish it in water and it melts away!
I got some great needles from Becky (this is a good set) and used a variety of perle cottons (lots of choices here) for much of the designs. I love how the perle cotton sits on top of the fabric. Also, I did not stick with one weight of Perle Cotton, I used three different weights, my goal was to create a lot of texture and I think it worked.
I am a self taught stitcher using Judith Baker Montano’s Embroidery & Crazy Quilt Stitch Tool and I work very quickly with the goal of done is better than perfect. What am I working on now? I sketched a world encircled by houses, trees and a book. I started freehand stitching and it is coming along beautifully! If Becky let’s me guest post again I will show you my latest project. Until then, needles up!
Amy
PS from Becky: Amy, you can guest post any time!
Piece O Cake Blog 