Post 630 Feels like an Auspicous number!

Although this was largely written before today, and I rarely provide much information about my family -or indeed any other people - for privacy reasons, today's announcement by the Minister for the Arts and then by the National Library, is too public, important, and indeed personal, to me not to put up front. It pushes everything else into the background. Here's today's announcement. The four of our family who met for dinner last night raised a glass in anticipation.  I'm so grateful to have lived to see this day. It feels so right - and such an achievement. 

Back in the world of last  Wednesday morning, I found my way to St Andrew’s Church at Walkerville, about 10km away, to hear Susan Kay-Williams talk about Igniting the Rainbow: The Dramatic Developments in Colour in Textiles in the 19th Century for Arts National. I hadn’t been to either the church, or an Arts National event before. Parking was a bit tricky and there was a fair bit of confusion checking in. There was an issue about the cost of guest entry, helpers insisting it was $15 more than the price listed on their website. I paid up, but expressed concern that Guild members I’d invited might not accept this. It was also difficult to avoid buying 2 raffle tickets, so I complied. The lecture was excellent- grounded in research and well presented. 

At the end, the raffle was drawn - and I won!  The prize turned out to be a copy of the new edition of The Secret Lives of Colour, which covers a lot of the ground of the lecture. Morning tea followed. I caught up with the 3 other  Guild members who attended (who, I think were only charged the advertised entry!). 

Several people came to examine the book I won. One photographed it and one told me she really wanted it! When I  said I would offer it to the Guild library, she said she’d join and be the first to borrow it! It retails in Australia at $67.50 (cheaper than Guild membership!). It’s arguable that it cost me $20 ( the cost of raffle tickets and the $15 overcharge). After winning the raffle, I could hardly query the overcharge! The book is a bargain if the Guild accepts it. A most interesting morning.

I had worn the Nancy Bird dress I bought last Christmas. It has tiny buttons all down the front which pop open annoyingly. It is also a bit low in the front. It does, however, look good and, apart from the buttons, is very comfortable. A number of people asked me about it. As soon as I got home I threaded the sewing machine with black thread and stitched the front closed, Very easy, stitching in the ditch of the facing. It slips on easily without undoing the buttons, so it's much better. I also found a Robyn Gordon brooch which covers the cleavage.Much more wearable!

In between Pilates, and shopping, on Thursday and Friday I mainly stitched my small Easter gifts. They are coming along very well. I’ve been improvising a bit. With Easter on my mind, I had on my list the ingredients for the chocolate crackle nests I always make for Easter, in honour of my mother. When I took the Rice Bubble packet off the supermarket shelf, it boldly declared itself to be gluten free (new marketing? haven't they always been glutin-free?). When I checked the chocolate crackle recipe on the back, it was new! Melt sugar-free chocolate, add rice bubbles, spoon into patty pans, refrigerate! No copha, no icing sugar. I had some 95% cocoa chocolate languishing in the fridge, so I crossed copha off the list. Worth a try.

Saturday was election day. I’d already voted, and I had the ingredients for Monday’s dinner, so I stitched for a while, read a bit more about the British Army in Salonica in WWI (my grandfather was there) and then made the chocolate crackles, adjusting the recipe to fit the quantity of chocolate I had. It was certainly quick. A decent consistency. The taste was awful: unremittingly bitter.  I almost never throw food away, but these went in the bin (saved the eggs!).

Late in the afternoon I drove to Haigh’s chocolates, discussed it with an assistant, and bought some of their couverture to give it another try. On the way I went past my local polling booth to see how things were going. There were still a few helpers, loads of posters and the queue was out the door, but not down the street. I think the barbecue might have packed up.

Anthony's barbecue, however, was in full swing that evening, as Fionn and a busload of his friends returned from a winery tour and consumed piles of salad and Anthony's version of democracy sausages in the backyard. The elders (including Brigid) retired to the lounge to watch the election count on TV. It progressed more slowly than usual, presumably due to either a shortage of Electoral Commission supervising staff, or computer connections working too slowly. Although the trend was clear from the start, it was only around 9.30 when around 35% of votes were being reported as counted, that I called it a night and went home.  

On Sunday I cooked the lemon chicken, a slightly messy process which I enjoyed immensely. While it was simmering I made another batch of chocolate crackle nests using the Haigh’s couverture and adding a little coconut, again a half batch. With the chicken cooling and the nests in the fridge, I ventured out to the Ukrainian Easter Festival, advertised through the Guild..

I hadn’t been there before and had a little trouble finding it. It turns out that, like the Guild, the Museum is in a house, and the event was in the very ordinary size backyard, which was set up with tressles absolutely packed with people, eating and listening to live music. I reckon between 100 and 150 people. There was one market stall to which I quickly headed.  I snaffled  some lovely jewellery as gifts, and some Ukrainian Easter eggs.

There was nothing more for me to do, so I came home, admired my purchases, and, with trepidation, tried the now set nests mark2. Success! They taste great! It was all I could do to stop myself from having a second. But stop I did! I can now confidently make a full batch. With ingredients in hand, this is best done  nearer the Easter weekend. 

I have finished my Easter felts,  all but one stowed away.  One is winging it's way to Canberra. 

I had a fasting blood test at 8.15 on Monday morning, ready for my annual renal specialist appointment on Thursday. No queue. 

Today I missed swimming because when the cleaners left I packed a quite complicated parcel to send to Canberra and the swimming window disappeared. I  hope the parcel arrives safely tomorrow. 

By mutual agreement, the lunch  in the Adelaide Hills I had pencilled in for tomorrow has been cancelled due to concerns about the diesel fuel my friend needs to get there. We are not panicking, but our meeting, while desirable, is not necessary to our wellbeing. So I will go swimming tomorrow.

Despite that cancellation, it's been an astonishingly good week. 

.Post 629 Mostly about Presentations.

Unusually, I am putting this together almost from scratch on Tuesday night. It has been a week of preoccupation with getting things done. 

WES Group met on Wednesday to hear a talk on The Development of Church Vestments. Vikki  did a lot of research, and took the trouble to find, amongst many other sources “Church Vestments their Origin and Development” by Herbert Norris, published by J.M. Dent & Sons, which is now out of copyright. It has many beautiful plates that show very clearly the changes in vestments over 2000 years. The photo here is a very early vestment. It is  Mazimiam of Ravenna, in mosaic at St Vitalis Ravenna Basilica. He died in 556. My take on it is that over the centuries vestments got very  complicated, then, in this century, seem to have returned to something close to this early version.

Much of my week has been spent  thinking and reading for a lecture I promised to give to a tour group in Adelaide in August on  The Emergence and Growth of English Embroidery in the Early Medieval Period. I finalised the title and details with the organisers on Thursday. Vikki’s WES  presentation inspired me to search for out-of-print sources I could use for illustrations. 

I found a few but not enough. I then decided I could sketch some of the designs I wanted to show. I spent a day with a variety of circle shapes, a ruler and my own freehand, making sketches of symbols like the triquetra

or the Gosford Stone Cross in Cumbria, and a pattern that appears to emerge from a. cloth remnants in archeological digs. 

I won’t win any prizes for drawing, but the drawing might help me explain. I now have  a fair idea of the story I want to tell, and a very jumbled and patchy PowerPoint. 

I’ve decided I need to write it as a prose account, with links to referenced material, then construct the presentation from that, with visuals for the audience and prompts for me. It’s a long time since I’ve worked like this, but I think it’s called for. Slow, but a better result. 

The effort was enough to send me to the Queen St Cafe after Pilates for a late lunch of scrambled eggs, haloumi and asparagus (of course, with a lime milkshake). On Friday morning I visited the dressmaker again, this time taking the orange silk, the habitue lining and the previous dress she made for me. She hopes to have the new dress ready for me in a fortnight, based on the existing one, with the addition of pockets.

'On the weekend, as well as spending hours in the Early Middle Ages (which included more of the RSN History of English Embroidery) I went shopping at Frewville for Monday night- roast pork, potatoes and stir-fried veg. They had some very. decent oysters, so I had a dozen of them for a late  lunch, along with zero alcohol Prosecco and fresh Turkish bread. Delicious , and reasonably healthy.

Yesterday it rained heavily. This didn't help my indoor plants, some of which were looking deprived. They picked up quickly with water. Then, around 10pm, the drip in my ceiling returned. I timed it for an hour, and reported it to the Strata rep, who has lodged a work order.  I suspect this means it's time for a large drip tray in my ceiling.

I’ve also advanced the shawl. I’ve been weighing the wool after each row to calculated how many more rows I can finish. I  estimate about 75. It’s very relaxed knitting. 

I am, however, being distracted by some Easter kits that arrived yesterday. Today I postponed a hairdressing appointment, went swimming around midday, covering 750 metres in half an hour then got to work on the Easter projects,  They are fun to make and I've nearly finished two.  I'll wait till Easter to show them.

Post 628 Challenges and Plenty to do.

I managed to swim on Wednesday - 700 metres in half an hourThis time I made sure I brought my towel AND bathers home with me! As I hung them on the line at home, the shadows cast by the vergola  matched my stripey towel. 

I was in time to meet up with friends for an afternoon cup of tea and a very early dinner at the local pub. A lovely day. 

As I went to bed I noticed the vase of daisies I bought on Monday were beginning to droop.

I changed the water but by Thursday it was clear more was needed. Only a few survived on their stems, so they ended in a small, long-necked vase. The rest looked great for several days in a couple of shallow vases designed for floating blooms. I haven't used these for ages, so I'm pleased.

Before Pilates I headed further west to Spotlight with the orange silk from last week's post in hand, hoping silk habitue I found on their website, would serve as lining. It is lovely, and will, I'm sure, work. It is expensive, but wide. I bought 2, rather than 3, metres, hoping it can be used widthwise. If not, it will be a little short, but I don't think that will really matter. I now have an appointment with the dressmaking on Friday.

From Spotlight I went on to The Yarn Trader to pick up the skeins for the  Chapter and Skein project. They were ready for me in a sealed box, which I got them to open in the shop: I didn't want to wait until after Pilates to peek.

I have so far resisted the temptation to get out the swift and wind them into balls. I'm still knitting my birthday wool!

On Friday I had my 11th Covid vaccine - 6 months and one day from the 10th. As a precaution I spent the rest of the day at home, finishing #3 in The Antique Detective series before settling into a couple more sessions of the RSN's History of Embroidery  course.  I'm enjoying it, and trying not to rush it.  I'm making notes and thinking about the talks I've agreed to give in August.

I had cooked two duck legs - a l’orange ( a Luv a Duck pack)- on Thursday evening, so had the second leg cold with salad on Friday. While my vaccination arm was a little sore, by the evening I was knitting with no ill effect while watching Professor T and Brokenwood. I’ve also found a Margarita with the alcohol removed, so low sugar, and have been enjoying one each evening in one of the glasses the girls gave us as a wedding anniversary gift - probably in 2000.

Monday was Adelaide Cup Day, so it was a long weekend in Adelaide, with suburban supermarkets closed on Monday. When I headed out for supplies on Saturday, I found an intimidating note on my windscreen wipers, accusing me of speeding with my lights off in the carpark and threatening to send phone footage to the police! I sent a photo of the note to our Strata Rep, who phoned me immediately and instigated a search of carpark cctv. Within 90 minutes the Strata Rep had identified the perpetrator (without, of course, revealing the identity to me). A bit scary, but great support from my family and the Strata rep. 

Yesterday an email went out from the Strata Presiding Officer to remind everyone to keep the speed limit in the carpark, reporting that someone has inappropriately dealt with a perceived breach by a threatening note and outlining the appropriate process. It’s well worded. I don’t believe the offender has been spoken to directly. We wait to see if the threats stop. I am considering installing a dashcam in my car.

I ventured to Frewville for a few more supplies on Sunday before working through more of the RSN Course. It is proving really useful for my Early Medieval Embroidery talks in August. I'm adapting a presentation as I go, checking references and related texts I’ve been gathering. Obsessive as usual. It seems to be coming together.

There were fresh chicken livers at Frewville, so I bought some, along with bacon and mushrooms for a late lunch. I forgot to  buy a bunch of parsley, which normally supplies the vitamin C, so made do with a little fennel. It's a while since I cooked this, and I really enjoyed it.

The daisies lasted long enough to keep me focused on bloom. I discarded them yesterday, as the bloom faded, at the same time clearing out some dead pot plants and planting the last of those I bought 2 weeks ago at the church market. My balcony gardens are looking good. It's 30C today, but I'm hoping the worst of the hot weather is over. I managed to swim laps again today. I shared a lane and managed 700 metres

I also picked up this book at Dymocks on Saturday. It is set in Cornwall around 1628  when witch hunting is rife, and marketed as a prequel to Lorna Doone, a book my father was passionate about and I read several times as a girl. I’ve never regretted that my mother won the battle for my name. Again, this is not my regular fare, but I'm curious, and owe it to my father. I haven't started it yet,  giving myself the comfort of another of Clare Chase's Antique Store Detective Series rather than take on any more challenges.

The feather and fan shawl progressed well over the long weekend,  I now have around 320 stitches on the needle.

 

I weighed the yarn left - 194 gms from an initial 300gms. The next row used 2 grams so I calculate, as the rows are getting longer,  I have around 90 rows to go. 

Should finish it by the end of Easter if the Good Lord is willing and the creeks don’t rise. The full pattern repeat is 35 rows and I’m about to start on the next one.

Post627 Looking Up!

I picked up my lost bathers late on Wednesday morning without hassle, did some shopping (began with a list of 3 things and filled two shopping bags!) and rewarded myself with lunch at A Prayer for the Wild at Heart. I haven’t been for several weeks, but the waiter remembered my order. It was hot and windy, so I sat inside, looking over the Square.

The kingfish was very good but regretfully I didn’t think to photograph it until I had destroyed much of the design artistry.

The early part of the day had been spent checking my  presentation on Mexican Embroidery for the Monday Guild General Meeting - finding notes and source books, reminding myself of facts, and working out how I could present the material if the projection fails.  I ended up working out how to save a set of slide handouts as a pdf (since my printer is now black and white, direct printing won’t work) then sending it to OfficeWorks to be printed in colour. I ordered two copies so, if projection fails, I could work from my iPad mini and pass my laptop, regular iPad and two printed copies around the audience. Crude but just about adequate.

On Thursday morning, after an auspicious sunrise, my printed Blue Bird linen arrived from the Crewel Work Company, so after  Pilates I picked up the colour prints and stopped at the Guild to show the linen to some of those who had helped me find threads. We also tested the projection using my usb with Monday’s PowerPoint loaded. There were significant problems, which we  eventually narrowed down to the inadequacy of Internet connection in the Gallery when the Microsoft Office subscription apparently requires it. We found a solution- use a pdf version which will work directly from a laptop. It began to look as if I wouldn’t need my emergency paper versions. I did, however, have two backup usbs carrying both pdf and PP versions.  It didn’t come to that. After a bit of manipulation yesterday, the projection worked. The talk went off smoothly and there was a lot of positive feedback. Phew!

I don’t usually accept Monday commitments because I’m preparing dinner for family, so I’d made moussaka in advance, had ingredients for a Greek salad ready to assemble, and stopped of at my local IGA for bread on the way home.

They had bunches of white daisies, perfect for my empty ceramic vase. A little celebration. It was good to hear positive accounts of the first teaching week of university from the girls.

The Guild had passed my name, and a list of the presentations I’ve given, to the organisers of an Embroidery Retreat in Adelaide later this year and the organisers rang me on Friday morning to discuss possibilities of a lecture at their retreat. The pleasant, lengthy discussion resulted in my agreeing to roll aspects of Anglo Saxon, Celtic and Viking embroidery into a presentation on Embroidery in the Early Medieval Period.

While this will involve a bit of extra work, it is within my knowledge base and is within the scope of what I have already agreed to do for WES later this year. I’ve begun the work. 

Later in the day I called at Create in Stitch to pick up the remaining 25 skeins of Appleton’s wool needed for the Blue Bird linen. I found 22 of them. The remaining 3 are out of stock, but won’t hold me up. I’m sure I can work for several months before I miss them.

  

Back in January I enrolled in the new RSN Online Course on the History of Embroidery, scheduled to begin in February. The link to begin the course arrived early on Saturday, greeting me when I woke up. I have opened the link and read the introduction. Serendipitously, the first module, designed to take I month, is on The Early Medieval Period! Even the introduction has provided a piece of information that will help shape my August presentation to the tour group! Deo Volente!

I finished reading St Brigid of Kildare, and moved straight on to The Full Moon Coffee Shop, since the yarn skeins to go with the book are now ready to pick up from The Yarn Trader. Having read the book, I went looking for a pattern and found one that fits - a shawl with stars.   The projects are mounting up.

The Nomad Farm birthday wool is turning into a shawl. When it’s done I will need to decide whether to start the book shawl or the Blue Bird linen. There’s no urgency, since I’ve barely made inroads into the three balls of wool. This is going to be an enveloping shawl!

Today I visited the podiatrist and later picked up the garment the dressmaker has completed for Brigid and I. We are delighted with it. I will post a photo and explanation some time in the future. I discussed a garment for myself, from another of the lengths of silk I bought in the eastern Silk sale. I need to find lining fabric before we progress. It is not my usual colour, but I like it a lot.

I missed swimming today - a combination of tiredness and the timing of the dressmaker. I plan to make it up tomorrow before a late lunch with friends. 

There's been a lot going on this week. And to cap it off, tonight's blood moon is now well underway. 

I have some writing tasks I'd like to get on with, some family history and a tribute to my deceased friend Lorraine but for the moment Early Medieval embroidery takes priority. I'm unlikely to be bored!

Post 626 Out and About

On Wednesday I had lunch with old work friend, covered a lot of Adelaide politics. I also called at Pink Carat and picked up a necklace they were repairing and I had forgotten about, even though it has been a favourite. The cord had broken and I had left it at a popup shop they set up in the Unley Village while their shop was being renovated a couple of months ago. I'm not wearing many necklaces at the moment because of the heat but it's good to have it back.

Thursday after Pilates I called at the Guild to pick up some Appleton’s thread a friend left for me. I’m about halfway to the threads for the Crewelwork Bluebird linen I’ve ordered. It was a good visit, a pleasure to catch up with a few people.

It will be a while before the linen arrives, so I’m working my way through the remaining Kasia Jacquot panels. Olga is finished (left) and I'm starting on Kylie  

Our  group of Ladies Who Lunch met on Friday at Yakisan, at North Adelaide. The food, a shared 6 course, was good and suited us. We talked and laughed nonstop for three hours. Service, and signage to find the place left a bit to be desired. It was a relaxed and enlivening three hours after which I went to Frewville and bought the ingredients for a roast dinner on Monday.The forecast for was a mere 28C and I was expecting only 5 for dinner, so bought a smaller piece of pork than usual, requiring only 2 hours in the oven. I’ve put off roasting for several weeks because having the oven on for 3 hours heats up the apartment. It worked well.

Later in the afternoon I finished off the shrug. I think it will prove useful. Details in my embroidery blog.

I spent the evening winding my birthday wool into balls. It took quite a while. I also went hunting for patterns, ending up with a wavy patterned shawl.  This is the beginning.

Our Book Club met on Sunday. My favourite of the recommended books was The In Crowd by Charlotte Vassell. I added  another 50 books to our database of books reported on by members. 

By far the best book I've read recently is A Divine Calling. I had no idea of the efforts of Roman Catholic women to achieve ordination within their church. It is an extraordinary account. I couldn't put it down. It is very difficult to find in Australia, so my copy will be in demand. 

Today I swam laps again, managing 750 metres in half an hour. There was no competition for a shower and I got home refreshed, to discover I had left my bathers hanging in the shower! I considered driving staight back, but saw sense and rang them. Ingrid, the receptionist, checked, found it. and hung it over a pipe in their storage area to dry. I can pick it up tomorrow. They are the most pleasant, helpful people imaginable. 

I have been looking for a line dancing group for a while now. Some twenty years ago a work friend and I went line dancing once a week and had a great time. She is now back in her home town, Canberra. The most convenient group meets at the same time as my Pilates group. Another possible group meets on Tuesday evenings. I'm looking for a way to swim, do Pilates and line dance on three different days. Haven't solved it yet, but may have a solution for the middle of March. My focus for the next few days is my talk on Mexican Embroidery on Monday's Guild General Meeting.

Post 625 February is for First Meetings, Family, Friends, Flowers and Food

Wednesday’s sunrise was beautiful. I don’t think it counted as red. I certainly didn’t take it as a warning as I prepared for the first WES Group meeting of the year. It was a good meeting - 13 of us gathered around the table, which was covered with my Sashiko tablecloth, catching up on holiday activity and discussing the ethics of merging cultural designs in embroidery. I thought I had posted the account of this project, but apparently not. I have rectified. 

The temperature is back in the mid to high 30s. It took a while for the Gallery to cool down for our meeting, as we were the first to enter. I met our new Office Manager, who is happy to turn the Aircon on for us in future when she first arrives.

The Crewel Work Company have released the kit and linen for some of the projects from Crewel Work Then and Now,  including the Blue Bird which I loved as soon as I saw it. I have given my copy of the book to the Guild library, which is currently accessioning it. As the Library Team were meeting at the same time as WES, I made a note of the Appleton's wools required for Phillipa’s Then version . and checked my stash. I had 11 of the 51 skeins required. 

On Thursday I called at the Guild again to check if the trading table had any more. I found another 3. Another Guild member offered to search her stash for more - her mother had been into crewel. She found another 8. On the basis that I have almost half the skeins required, and Create in Stitch has a full Appleton's range, I have only ordered the linen. When it arrives I will buy the remaining threads and borrow the book from the Guild Library. If it goes well I’ll have a go at Hazel Blomkamf’s Now version, in cottons.

On Friday Brigid and I had another fitting with the dressmaker, this time the first fitting of the actual garment. It's looking fabulous and should be finished next week. There will be more to come. Back at home I worked on the vegetable bag I've been trying to finish for Brigid's birthday today. I finished it just before midnight on Sunday.  

It folded up as neatly as I hoped, to fit into the Kasia Jacquot bag I had quietly embroidered a few weeks ago for just that purpose.

Now that the vegetable bag is finished I have returned to the Jacquot panels for my craft bags. On Saturday I mounted Olga in a 12" hoop and sorted out the threads I need. The threads were in a bit of a tangle, but are now sorted, and I have enough for this panel. 

I'm still alternating with knitting the shrug. The silk/alpaca  mix is fine for knitting in warm weather. I got a few rows done while we did two more-than-usually-difficult crosswords after dinner on Saturday. 

On Sunday I chickened out of driving to Ukaria for a concert by a group called A Mouthful of Teeth. I’m sure it would have been good, but I just wanted to stay home and read, which I did. It was 35C. Even the bamboo clothes in the load of washing I did dried in 2 hours. I had noticed the publication of the third book by Anthony Horowitz in the Susan Ryeland series, and realised I hadn’t read the second, so downloaded and read it. A little disappointing.

The very large pot of Casula tetragona  on my back balcony ( in the lid of the electric barbecue I bought and abandoned several years ago!) keeps blowing over in any strong wind. The metal base circle on which it is balanced needs to be larger. I keep meaning to go to a nursery to find one. I decided yesterday was the day to do it. Straight after breakfast I assembled the vegetable sausage bake ingredients for dinner. I knew I was missing shallots, and wanted to identify anything else so I could buy them. I went to Frewville for a change - always a pleasure and came home via Barrow and Bench nursery. 

They didn’t have an 

appropriate larger stand. They did, however, have a strange bottomless woven cane circle that I thought might do the job. While it won’t last as long as metal, it works for now and looks good. According to the sales assistant it was intended to go around the base of a Christmas tree!

At the nursery I avoided the plants. No point being tempted when it’s 37C.  I have redeployed the metal stand for the moment for the frangipani.

It is Orientation Week at Adelaide Uni, so all three granddaughters are getting oriented. They seem to be finding their rooms and pathways while avoiding being captured by aggressive club recruitment tactics. Reckon they’ll be rearing to go by next Monday when courses start.

Today I had my annual audiology check up. Very little change in my hearing and my 10 year-old hearing aids are going strong so we have made no changes: a bit astounding, but when on a good thing… 
I drove from the audiologist to the swimming pool - carefully removing my hearing aids to swim 500 metres with no hassles.. 

Brigid’s birthday dinner was at Luigi’s - a fabulous meal that I couldn’t finish. I piked out of birthday cake afterwards - a sugar hit after 9pm is no longer my scene and I didn't think I could resist icecream.

The dinner, however, was special: a privilege to be invited - and to be alive to enjoy it.

Deo gratias.