http://www.lareslinens.com en-gb lareslinens.com 2010-6-30T00:00:00Z lareslinens.com http://www.lareslinens.com/page7.htm#68976 Can you tell what it is yet I was lucky enough recently to work backstage at The Scottish Operas touring production of La Boheme starring Celine Byrne. While I am vaguely predisposed to opera I dont really know a huge amount about it so I wont embarrass myself by attempting a review. Plus as a dresser even if I had been able to hear all of it I couldnt really see the stage from where I was standing backstage. What I did hear and see was beautiful yknow and kudos all round but the best bit about my week was definitely the commute a 30 min walk culminating in Daniel Libeskinds beautiful Grand Canal Theatre. Walking from Portobello Bridge to Grand Canal Square along the Grand Canal you move from a smallscale world which is old and bucolic and lush through to this great opening out of sky and water. The theatre is jagged and complicated like an origami crane. It is deeply assertive deeply dynam... 2010-6-27T00:00:00Z http://www.lareslinens.com/page7.htm#65662 Duvet Days Blog Duvet Days 7th May 2010 Rajah Quilt Made by convicts on board HMS Rajah 1841 National Gallery of Australia Canberra While trapped in London during Aprils volcanic ash Travel Chaos I went to see the VampAs fantastic Quilts exhibition. The place was jammed with ladies of a certain age all giving the impression they were rocking twinset and pearls even if they werent doing so literally. I wonder did the VampA make a deal with Britains Womens Institutes What struck me about the quilts on show was how valuable they ought to be as pieces of social history and what a shame it is womens crafts have been assigned only an emotional value. Yet the stories attached to each quilt reflected family connections social aspirations and political affiliations as well as more typical rites of passage such as marriages births and deaths. It is the intertwining of the personal and the political that makes the exhibition so intriguing. Take for... 2010-5-19T00:00:00Z