Post 580 April is a cooler month…🙏🏼

Wednesday was unusually busy at the Guild, with the library team working to make up for a day missed because of the way the April calendar plays out this year. It's been a long time since I’ve overheard cataloguing conversations. The Guild group, comprising, for the most part, trained amateurs working together with guidelines, had more interesting discussion than my memory of professional cataloguers. We also had embroidery discussions. It’s a great group.

I try to give more books to, than I acquire from, the Guild library’s sale of surplus books, but today I was unable to resist a copy of Sheila Paine’s now out of print Embroidered Textiles. It’s a large, heavy, hardback format.  I resisted, but it has considerable information on Evil Eye embroidery not readily accessible elsewhere. I came home with it.

Apart from bringing in the bins from the curb and emptying the internal Guild bins, there was not much call on my time, so I got most of the blanket stitch border done on the Mountmellick pouch and finished it at home. 

 As the Library team was there and the Office Manager had left for the day, I also left early to visit Beacon Lighting with my bed lamp. It suddenly stopped working, and the base holding the globe inside appeared to be broken. It turned out the glass of the globe had completely broken away from the its screw base. The cheerful young assistant manoeuvred the screw out of the fitting, got me a new globe, Voila! I was delighted to admire her skill and laugh at my poor diagnostics.

On  Thursday, apart from time out for Pilates, I worked on the Mountmellick inner border of herringbone and linked chains. By evening I had the piece finished and ready for blocking. As a result my hands were sore. The thickness of Mountmellick fabric requires quite a bit of effort pulling the needle through.

I opted to get out my knitting rather than my Sashiko while watching tv that night- much easier on my hands. I now have in excess of 350 stitches on the needles and continually increasing. At the moment each row takes around 16 minutes - so progress is slow to show..

This year's Shetland Wool Week beanie pattern was released this week. I bought a digital copy but have no plans to work on it as yet. None of the colourways are available here in Adelaide at the moment. However, in a Q&A , the Shetland Guild of Spinners, Knitters, Weavers and Dyers has instructions for converting the pattern to two colours. I might have a go at at that, but I have a lot of higher knitting priorities!

I’m pleased to report the daytime temperature has dropped to low 20Cs (although back to 30s next weekend). Weather Bureau figures released this week indicate the 12 months to 31 March this year was the hottest 12 month period on record in Australia, and March this year was also the hottest on record. I was right to put off repotting plants.

Friday was Fionn’s birthday, and a family dinner for 9 at Sunny’s restaurant in Prospect. The food was good and everyone in good spirits. An uplifting privilege to be part of it.

My audiologist cancelled again, giving me a free day to construct the pouch. Details in my embroidery blog.

Saturday was for sleeping in, changing over my quilts, washing the summer one,  blogging and shopping for Monday dinner. Not enough lamb shanks at the butcher and none at all in the supermarket, so Osso Bucco.  Preparing it took care of much of Sunday morning, along with washing clothes. As I put the clothes in my front-loading washing machine I felt some resistance but didn’t check. I had, of course, forgotten all about hanging out the quilt when I returned from shopping on Saturday! It’s quite light, and had wrapped itself around the drum. It is now very clean, but the resulting large load gave me some drying challenges, solved with the help of my rarely-used clothes horse.

Since I had an extra hour, I turned zucchini,  bought earlier in the week, into muffins, checking a few recipes, then launching into my own version with the ingredients I had; self-raising flour, eggs, butter, honey, yoghurt and cinnamon. I ate three around 11.30 - whatever meal that was, and at 2.45 (really 3.45) put out the rubbish and headed to Prayer for the Wild at Heart for a meal while reading Louise Penny’s A Better Man. 

By sunset at 6.30pm (right)  the kitchen was clean, washing away and I was half way through A Better Man. Finished it at 9.30 - don't think I've ever read through Antiques Roadshow, The News, QI and Vera  before.

I think I got value out of my extra hour!

I slept well and on Monday awoke to Venus (white dot in top left quadrant between cloud and tree) rising ahead of the sunrise. 

Around midday the electrician and apprentice turned up to inspect the exhaust system in my bathrooms. I so admire their scientific method and skill. They were here for well over an hour. It seems the current extraction from bathrooms and laundry channels into the air-conditioning ventilation system. It works but isn’t strong. Since my ceilings are directly under the roof, which has two whirly-bird vents to the exterior, I can have extra exhaust fans installed. Quotes are being prepared. I’ve also asked for a quote to replace my kitchen extraction fan - and for Shaun-the-Geek to check my modem. Very happy.

There were 5 of us on site for the Osso Bucco, and a take-away for Fionn. Another hugely privileged time.

Early this afternoon I headed out to fill the car with petrol, pick up some graph paper, some Haigh's Chocolates and a copy of the Mountmellick Bible from Create in Stitch.  As I hoped, this has a good history, as well as very clear instructions for the stitches and several projects.  I am very pleased that the pouch I made did not include the fringing that was traditional for Mountmellick. It would not have appealed. I might try another pouch using a pattern from one of this book's projects. One day.

Right now I'm playing with knitting patterns, using the graph book I bought today. If anything comes of it I'll report back.

Post579 Beginning to enjoy cooler weather

I ticked off health boxes this week, grateful that I am able to do so, As I suspected, the endodontist visit on Wednesday resulted in more scans and X-rays. The verdict is an ache related to jaw clenching (already under treatment), a molar with 3 root canal fillings but a fourth canal now in the early stages of infection and a canine in need of monitoring. I have an appointment in May to undertake the root canal work on the molar. On the whole I’m happy. We’ve caught this before it becomes painful. The endodontist was  in the cbd, but moving this week. I caught the city loop bus there and back, stopping at the Museum to check out their supply of National Geographic merchandise. Later I  delivered a book and enrolled in a class at the Guild . 

After Pilates on Thursday I had an appointment with a hearing clinic to have a wax extraction treatment. It took a while but went very well. I haven’t been to this clinic before. They were professional, helpful and efficient. They will remind me in a year’s time. In the meantime I have an oil spray to use weekly.

Today it was the podiatrist. I also made appointments for my flu vaccine (early May) and Covid booster (September).

There have been some impressive sunsets this week. This one was taken from inside, without leaving my lounge.

 

In between these activities I’ve been reading, and working on Veronka, which I finished stitching on Friday and constructed on Saturday. I was delighted when Veronica claimed it yesterday.

It took patience to prepare a Mountmellick sachet ( 'Meadowsong'  by Deborah Love, Inspirations 122 ) for stitching.

It finishes up 19cmx21cm, embroidered on one end and all around the edges.  I had planned to use an iron-on tracing pen, but it didn't work. Maybe they deteriorate with time. I ended up transferring the pattern by pencil because the white jeans fabric was hard to see through even with a light table. The pencil worked but it makes the white thread grubby. It will wash out, but I’m trying to be patient and wait until I finish. 

Before starting it, I spent an evening finishing the 8th sashiko panel for my tablecloth.  Only two more panels to go!

It was the last Saturday of the month, so I headed off to St Margaret’s market to stock up on plants. The heat hasn’t gone, but is easing, so worth a try. I did well enough to have to bring my car to the church hall door to load them and I shuffled them in and out of the lift at the apartment. They are now distributed across my balconies.  I bought another large-leafed ficus on Sunday because the others are thriving. I still have quite a few pots empty on the front balcony. 

I made myself busy on Sunday - supermarket shopping for moussaka ingredients, calling at Dymocks for a book, then home to cook and await Will, who is preparing a quote to replace my bathroom cupboard fronts, which have swollen, apparently with splashing over time, since the damage is now evident in cupboard doors in both bathrooms. I discovered another apartment owner has a similar problem. I will, however, organise for an electrician to check that the exhaust fans are working properly.

When Will left I paused the cooking to visit the Art Images Gallery and buy a Violet Cooper vase I’ve been admiring. I worked out it can sit on my coffee table, replacing the bonsai plant I’ve finally killed. This is the gallery image. I can pick it up after Easter when the current exhibition finishes.

Today began with the podiatrist, a stop at the PO to pick up a package of  alpaca/cotton yarn from the Crafty Frog, then coffee with Panayoula at Dulwich, followed by a trip to Unley with Jennifer, who is down from Queensland for a visit. More coffee, lime milkshakes and a bargain or two at Taking Shape. 

An easy dinner of the remaining moussaka tonight, before working on the border of the Meadowsong sachet, which has to be done in hand. I've made a good start, and it will occupy any spare moments I have as desk hostess at the Guild tomorrow.

Post 578 Getting sorted

On Wednesday, I had  coffee and lunch with Panayoula, while her husband was being operated on. She left for the hospital when he emerged from surgery. She is, as ever, quite a woman, and a really good friend. I bought grapes on the way home, then settled in to finish the Guild's Diamond Anniversary challenge. My effort, a lipstick container, is at least creative. Details in my embroidery blog. 

While looking for double-sided tape to help in its construction. I found the missing Evil Eye! It was in one of my drawers of embroidery tools. I had had a bit of a tidy-up in my sitting room, putting away various items from completed projects, amongst them, the circular  template and colour wheel I used to draw circles on the recent Sashiko bag. The mandala was the same size and I had  unwittingly picked it up hidden underneath them and put it away in a tools drawer. It could have been weeks, even months, before I went there again! In the end I didn’t use the double-sided tape but I’m glad I thought I might!

The set of mandalas is now hanging beside my apartment door, with the approval of my neighbours who like it. It is easy to take down for my talk.

Less fortuitously, my luck in finding the colour match for the Nordic cushion didn’t last. There was no win from my lottery tickets🤷🏻‍♀️.

In the tidy-up I emptied the large basket I bought in 2023 to hold the 16 different colour balls for the Rowan coatigan . It had remained in my sitting room as a receptacle for all things related to projects I was working on, including the shawl from the leftover Rowan wool. 

I have found a smaller basket for the wool and proper homes for all the other paraphernalia. After Pilates on Thursday I returned the large basket to Vinnies, from whence it came in February last year. . $10 was a bargain rental for 12 months use.  The women at Vinnies are planning to use it for display.

It actually rained on Thursday! The fans were on at Pilates as well as aircon, an attempt to deal with the humidity - a rarity in Adelaide.  The back balcony rejoiced in water from the sky and the Geisha Girl Durante celebrated with a bloom.

I began work on the Kasia Jacquot kit I bought from the Art Gallery shop after seeing the Radical Textiles exhibition. I was drawn to the kit by the name (Veronka), as well as the colours, design and desire to support the gallery. I was thinking, as I stitched it, what I would do with it. As I went to bed, still thinking about it, I had the germ of an idea about some cotton craft bags I had bought a couple of years ago, intending to embroider or colour them. 

First thing in the morning I dug them out, took the partially embroidered linen out of the hoop and Voila!

I had bought a dozen of these bags in a variety of colours. When I looked at them it occurred to me that they were well suited to this style of embroidery. I checked Kasia Jacquot's website and discovered she sells the printed linens at a very reasonable cost. Matching her linen colours to the craft bags I have, I ordered 5 of them. Really mad woman behaviour. It was still only breakfast time!  Fortunately they are not yet despatched, so I have time to finish other things. 

I had an 11.15 appointment with my audiologist for my annual checkup. At 9.30 I had a phone call to say she was ill and my appointment needed to be postponed. I was a bit relieved. The appointment had crept up on me, and I had intended to have an ear wax extraction before seeing her. It also meant I could be home for a couple of postal deliveries, the Garden of Curiosities book for the Guild library and a Nancy Bird top for myself.

I’m pleased with the top. I bought it larger than I needed, so I could get maximum length. It’s made in Melbourne and hand-smocked. Once the parcels were delivered I went shopping  for Monday dinner ingredients. It promised to be a busy weekend so I wanted to be organised. I got everything I needed and had a late lunch of grilled fish at Mr Nick’s.

Saturday was a Certificate Course workshop. I didn’t want to miss it as Christine Bishop was teaching the stitches for a mat she had offered as a class last year.

I had enrolled in the class, but it didn’t reach the necessary numbers to proceed. I had prepared pale blue linen for the class, but found a smaller maroon piece for the stitch workshop. There was a good turnout and a focused, enjoyable camaraderie. It took concentration, but by 2pm I had a sample of the stitches and felt confident that, with patience and the notes, I can work the mat. I’m not sure I will return to the pale blue. I’m a bit taken now with the maroon!

Saturday night was a break from routine with all of us invited to dinner at the home of family friends with a six-month old baby. It was a lovely meal, and such a joy to be in the company of an alert, engaged, curious baby. It’s been a while for me and I’d forgotten how uplifting it is.

Sunday was Book Club at my place. I was up early to tidy up and get organised for coffee, biscuits and my notes. There were no parking hassles and we had a really animated session. I had chosen the books we discussed and gone a bit overboard, nominating the whole Lilly Pilly Creek series along with Elly Griffiths’ latest and The Wolf Tree by Laura McCluskey. To my relief the consensus was pretty enthusiastic about all of them in one way or another. We were agreed it was great to read a series set locally, and to anticipate more to come but also agreed that The Wolf Tree was the standout.

Apart from a long conversation with my brother, I spent Sunday afternoon cooking lemon chicken for Monday night. It’s a long time since I cooked this - 2 chickens salted and browned with garlic and ginger, then covered with lemon juice, soy sauce and stock and cooked until the meat falls off the bone.  

It smelt delicious as it cooked. I remove and deboned the chickens, using my hands. It ends up shredded, because I need to ensure there are no tiny bones left - a lengthy process, but essential for peace of mind. The stock is refrigerated overnight and the fat skimmed off in the morning before the chicken is returned to it. It goes well with rice, but the easiest is to add Hokkien noodles about 15 minutes before serving. This week I made a both a carrot and a Greek salad to go with it.  I will be eating lemon chicken and carrot salad for a few days without complaint.

Today turned out to be very quiet, waiting at home while plumbers chased leaks in our apartment hot water service. Our water was to be off from 10am until 2pm. I cancelled the cleaners, got up a bit early to clean and tidy  up, filled buckets and jugs with water,  and had thought I might go out, perhaps to join the Tuesday Stitchers at the Guild. However, just after 10am I had a request to turn taps on, to help the plumbers drain the water tanks. Nothing came out, but taps needed to be left open until clean water began to flow again. At this point I decided to stay home to monitor. I finished reading a book and advanced my embroidery until 2.17 when with a hiss and splutter, water began to flow.  The buckets of water are now on the balcony pot plants. The dishwasher can wait until tomorrow.

I have almost finished all the motifs in my hoop. I can do a little more on the lower flowers before removing the hoop. It's a joyful design. Tomorrow is my endodontist appointment. That may be a root canal treatment, or more scans and preparation.  Hopefully I will be able to finish the embroidery. 🙏

Post 577 Keyfobs, crumhorns and elves

I didn’t go outside last Wednesday, bunkered down reading, stitching the fifth evil eye mandala and keeping the water up to my plants. 

I was, however, up early on Thursday, showered, dressed and out for a quick walk before handing over my carpark entry fobs at 8am so they could be reprogrammed in the light of recent theft. The last of mine arrived from family as I was handing them over. I stayed inside stitching until the fobs were scheduled for pick-up. 

There was no one in the foyer for the agreed 1pm handover. Turned out our Strata President (an ex-postman) had delivered them to our doors. I hadn’t seen the small, dark package to the side of my door. The sensor light doesn’t come on until I am facing the lift door, by which time the package was behind me. Eventually sorted.

With carpark entry and exit now restored, I took myself off to Adairs for a cushion to finish the Nordic Square project. Details in my embroidery blog.

While out I bought half a dozen prawns so I could have them with salad for a late lunch/early dinner. Worked a treat.

I also spent some time perusing this book which arrived from Alison Cole who advertised having a few spare copies. It’s fabulous. It presents 154 beautifully clear original designs for embroidery, or other crafts, but more importantly, explains the design process in each of its 6 organising categories,  Elizabethan Flowers; Jacobean Jungles; Birds, Beasts and Bugs; Beakers, Borders and Finery; Ancient Vestments; and Letters and Numbers, all with a New Zealand twist. I’m hanging on to this one!  It appears to be a very limited printing, probably only available directly from the author. I have now ordered a copy for the Guild library.

It was great to wake up on Sunday to a cool change and to breakfast with a breeze flowing through the apartment. I only intended to water my pots but found myself repotting one and then emptying half a dozen dead plants into a recycling bag, trimming off dead leaves and carting it all down to the green bin. I had thought to wait a bit longer to do this since the forecast rises back to 30/1C by midweek, but I was energised by the breeze. I won’t, however, attempt to replace the plants, nor fertilise the rest, for a few weeks yet.

I finished in plenty of time to grab a drink and scone before heading off to a Fringe concert at a church about 15 minutes drive away. It was a very entertaining hour.  

I hadn't been there before. The original church is being used as a hall, with a very spacious, modern church in use for worship. It has a large sculpted copper mural running around two walls, illustrating Bible verses.

I was interested to see a large number of tapestry kneelers (used now, I'm pretty sure, as cushions). I liked the cockatoos, but sat on the donkey for convenience.

9 core members of the group, all in costume, introduced their instruments and played 11 pieces as a story, narrated by a tenth member. They were joined by another singer and several more string players for the last pieces.

 One player also juggled. It was a slightly anomylous that the players wear spectacles and use modern music stands or electronics.

As the concert concluded the light blessed the players and transformed what had appeared to be plain wood in the cross to a textured pattern. Magic. I’m glad I made the effort to go.

I had been right in my faith in the Bureau of Meteorology forecast on Monday. It was only 27C. The  four hours of oven time required to roast the 4.3kg shoulder roast did, however,  heat up the room. so I needed the balcony doors open. I went out late morning to get bread and call at the Guild to talk to the Library Team, but by 2pm the apartment was ready for visitors, meat and potatoes were in the oven and I could finish constructing the last of the Evil Eye Mandalas. 

That completes the set of five I bought online I assumed when I bought them, that the designer was located in the UK because I found them on the UK Etsy site. An obvious mistake. They were delivered via a warehouse in Botany. Wherever they originated, they were a pleasure to stitch.

Today I picked up my exhibition entries from the Guild, intending to see if I could hang the five pieces. I have spent the afternoon unsuccessfully searching for the fourth one, which I completed in late February! I thought I had put it with my books and notes for the talk, but it is not there, nor in any other place I have thought of, including my car. I'm telling myself the elves  may have needed it ...

I'm hoping they return it before the meeting, otherwise I will have to make do with a photo. I'm not ordering another one! 

Post576 Festival, food, fabric, friends and fixing.

As I’ve been writing this all week, I have been following the progress of Cyclone Albert as it approached and made landfall on the north east coast of Queensland and NSW. We are relieved, and grateful that our numerous family and friends in the area are all safe, though some will be dealing with flooding and cleaning up for some time to come. 🙏🏼   In comparison, Adelaide news is insignificant.

I wasn’t really needed as Desk Hostess at the Guild on Wednesday but was glad I’d gone. The library team were there and we caught up on a few books. There was a steady dribble of exhibition visitors, good sales of fiction books and trading table activity. It was good to be around the action and I got the central motif of the Japanese Nordic cross stitch done. 

As I was largely redundant, I left around 2pm and went to West Lakes to buy the perfume from the department store that had given me the sample. I left with a 100ml bottle and 2 samples of other perfumes. The women who had originally served me were not there, but I left messages of thanks.

The sunset was a distraction, but by the time I went to bed the basic Nordic design  was clear. I was oddly buoyed by the sense of community at the Guild.   

The replacement magnetic clips for the sashiko bag also arrived, carefully wrapped in a complete pattern for a child's dress! Clearly Spotlight are clearing out their patterns and using them as packing. I applaud their recycling effort, especially the use of the complete pattern. It could certainly be used to make a simple child's dress.  Will I ever need that? Possibly. I will enquire about use at the Guild.

It’s good to be back to Pilates. My finger was sore and a bit inflamed at the end of the session but had subsided by the time I’d eaten as much as I could manage of a potato omelette with rocket and pear salad at Queen St Cafe.  

I was therefore able to construct the sashiko bag when I got home. Very pleased with it.

It’s still hot in Adelaide, well over 30C all week. Watering my balcony plants is a daily must. The Festival is now in full swing, along with the Fringe, Womadelaide and, last weekend, the Motorsport Festival, at Victoria Park, a couple of blocks behind me. It provided a background soundtrack from 8.30am to around 4pm.   On Friday I missed most of it by taking the City Loop bus to the Art Gallery to meet a couple more friends over from Sydney for Writers Week, which finished on Thursday. 

Oddly, the car noise wasn’t evident travelling along Hutt St, between the apartment and the race. Maybe there was a pause.   Street trees and surrounding parkland provide shade and a sense of tranquillity, one of the advantages of Adelaide as a Festival City.

My friends were visiting the Radical Textiles Exhibition which I've already visited twice. I spent a while in the main gallery, where preparations are already underway for the Dangerously Modern: Australian Women Artists in Europe 1890-1940 Exhibition in May. It’s going to be interesting.            

I was also taken by this bark canoe filled with painted snail shells.  

The main business, however was a long lunch with friends I see at most years at this time when they come for Writers Week, although from 2017-2020 I was visiting the UK at this time of the year for Embroidery Retreats (the origin of this blog!) and 2021-3 were interrupted by Covid. This year the city seems in full recovery. After lunch we drove to catch the Guild Exhibition. Another grand day.

The heat persists. Yesterday reached 40C. Thankfully it's down to 30C today. Most of Saturday and Monday was spent inside ,allowing me to finish stitching the Nordic Cross Stitch project. I'm in the process of working out how to construct it.   

A couple of small dramas interrupted my stitching calm. Firstly, I had to cancel tomorrow's WES Group meeting. I had not adequately recorded it on the exhibition roster. I had checked the arrangement with the President, but not with the exhibition organiser, and a group is travelling from the country to staff the exhibition on that day. It's my stuff-up. I didn't communicate clearly.

The other drama reached me around 3pm yesterday via a phone call  from our Strata Pod Rep. She had just interrupted our carpark burglar of a month ago breaking into my carpark locker again. She came through the door from our foyer into the carpark to see the man, recognisable from the original break-in CCTV footage, at my locker, cutting the padlock with bolt cutters. She screamed, trying to attract attention. He waved his hands, as if to say 'I mean no harm' and ran through the carpark and away. There was no one around to hear her. He had cut through the new padlock on my storage cage, but got no further. Although he had stolen a carpark entry fob in January, he gained entry yesterday by following a car through the door. Nevertheless, our fobs are being reprogrammed on Thursday. It is a bit creepy that he came back to 2 lockers, one of which was mine,  I presume for the boxes I carelessly marked 'Personal Treasures' and 'Treasures from Asia'. 

Yesterday was, perhaps not coincidentally, a public holiday in SA. Hardware shops were open and I was tempted to rush to Bunnings for more secure locks, but decided to wait and contact Adelaide Locksmiths this morning.

I’m glad I did. They were, as usual, fabulous. We spoke by phone, I sent them photos and then visited them after the cleaners had gone. After much discussion, we settled on a heavy chain and lock that can only be cut by a grinder. The links fit so snuggly in the lock shaft that it can't be cut.

 

The chain comes in metre lengths, so he cut it in half for me and I bought 2 locks. The storage cage is now secured towards the bottom and above the bolt lock. I will probably also  put a simple lock back on the bolt.

Overkill? Probably. It certainly makes me feel good. I have my don’t mess with me dander up. A couple of pod reps came by as I finished installing it amd were impressed. We laughed a lot - a great sign.

This afternoon I've had to change a couple of medical appointments due to doctors moving practice. I have had such help and cooperation from receptionists along the way. It makes such a difference to my day. 🙏

I'm now starting on the last of the Evil Eye mandalas in the set of 5. The next week's forecast is still consistently above 30C. Tomorrow I  now have time I hadn't counted on to stay cool and get on with stitching this one. 

While I'd prefer it to be cooler, this weather certainly produces some great sunsets. This is tonight's.