York (again)

Last week I visited York again, to do more research for my quilt and to teach a workshop at York College.
I once again stayed at the Bar Convent which is very handily situated, just down from Micklegate, good value, with an excellent cafe for breakfast, and friendly, accommodating staff. It also has the advantage of allowing you to cook your own food in the kitchen, handy if you're on a budget. 

The Bar Convent dining room

The floor tiles in the chapel were made in Ironbridge, a few miles from where I live!

York College seems like a cool place to study. I was impressed by the dedication of the students - they were really focussed and had done lots of research about living in York and what was important about York to them. They wouldn't even take a break when asked! Some really interesting work was produced and I do hope the students will go on to produce quilts for the Quilters Guild exhibition in September.

Students experimenting with various surface design techniques

I had a few days after the workshop to absorb the atmosphere of York and do "touristy" things like visit the Minster, the Treasurer's House, walk around the walls, visit the museum and various churches (well done on preserving so much medieaval stained glass, York! Much appreciated.) I even fit in a visit to Betty's (purely for research, you understand!)

This piece is the Nine Orders of Angels window in All Saints church, York, dating from 1410. The white glass was often put in to replace damaged or lost original glass when windows were being renovated.

The stained glass in the Minster is systematically being renovated and a lot of the lead (added over the years to repair cracked panes) is being removed to make the window more readable.

The Olympic Torch came through while I was in York. The big build up.....

And then it was gone.....