Monday miscellany

Overlooked delights - lazy breakfast for one

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Medieval London Bridge (via)

London's worst disaster (as reported in The Londonist): "In 1212, thousands of people rushed from the City onto London Bridge to watch a blaze in Southwark. Unfortunately, wind blew embers across the water, setting fire to buildings at the north end of the bridge. Many were trapped between the two conflagrations. According to chroniclers, as many as 3,000 people died either from the effects of the fire or after jumping into the river (the number may be unreliable, but if it was even a quarter of that, it would rank as the capital’s worst accident). We covered this story in more detail in our ‘forgotten disasters’ series."

If 3000 deaths - or even 750 - seems a lot in the context of a much smaller city, consider the population figures (as given in wikipedia): "In 1100 London's population was little more than 15,000. By 1300 it had grown to roughly 80,000."

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This week's SAQA "Art Quilt News" had several interesting quilts - for instance, this modern take on the traditional "wedding ring" pattern by Victoria Findlay Wolfe -

She has created a series of 12 double wedding ring quilts, each employing a new interpretation of that traditional pattern. They are showing at the Wisconsin Museum of Quilts and Fiber Arts, Cedarburg, Wisconsin, June 25 - October 24, 2014.

It was more than the glowing yellow colour that drew me to Heather Dubreuil's "Camden Town #2" quilt, or the fact that Camden Town is just down the road from my home -

Heather's urban architecture studies are intensely satisfying, whether you're familiar with the location or not - their rhythm and colour placement keeps the eye moving among the harmonious shapes. These are showing at Arbor Gallery, Vankleek Hill, Ontario, Canada, June 18 - August 17, 2014.

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Bone cockerel (via)

Looking forward to ... the folk art exhibition at Tate Britain (till 31 August) - " a show that challenges pre-conceived notions of what is art and offers up some quirky alternatives".

The new London Bridge opened in 1973 (photo by Barry Lewis via)

And to the Bridge exhibition at Museum of Docklands, which runs till November. It looks at "how London’s bridges allow people to move around and experience the city from new angles. As curator Francis Marshall says: “Most of the time we are in a maze of streets and the city reveals itself in fragments. On a bridge, however, the full iconic panorama is laid out.”"

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York Watergate and the Adelphi from the River (1872) by John O'Connor (via)

"Its borders comprise some of London’s most famous streets, its peripheries are trodden by millions and its name is hardly ever spoken. Between Strand and Embankment, Waterloo Bridge and Charing Cross Station lies Adelphi, an architectural gem sifted from medieval mansions and river mud."

Read its history here.