Post 67: a Bit of an Idea

The first job of the day was to block the Mellerstain Screen. To my joy, the polystyrene blocking board that I had obtained from Christine Bishop (a piece of polystyrene covered in cling wrap) was just about the perfect size for the screen. This made the job so much easier. Any larger and I would have had to use a towel on the carpet. While that works quite well, it means getting down on the floor, which my knees do not like.

This wayI could do it seated, on  my lap. This gives me a good grip and makes it easy to pull the wet fabric really tight. I went around the edges about 3 times, tightening the pins each time.

Next time I will remember to put a towel on my lap first.


It is drying in front of the window. I expect it will take about 24 hours to dry.

The next job was to prepare the fabric for the Anna Scott Songbird project from Inspirations 106. I had assembled some cream linen, lining and, last night, Appleton's wool. I wasn't really sure about the cream linen that I had. I also had some green cotton that might work.

As I measured out what I had, including the lining (a piece of printed linen from Ink and Spindle), it suddenly occurred to me that the printed linen might work with an adaptation of the design.

I had made a printed copy of the design to trace. I cut out the bird from the printed copy and tried it on the fabric.

It seemed to work.













So I worked out the layout , ironed it, positioned and traced the bird  using the cutout.


The piece of Ink and Spindle fabric was enough to make a bag about 35cm x 45 cm, with inset sides and base.

The green cotton will become the lining. so I cut that out as well. There is quite enough for a handle.













By early afternoon it was in a hoop, on a seated stand and ready to roll.
There was, however, a snag. The Appleton's wool I had spent an hour of so choosing and organising last night did not seem suitable for this fabric. For one thing, the bag might need washing and I wasn't sure washing the wool and this linen together would work.

Back to my threads to find alternatives. I had a collection of linen threads that I had bought on a Guild trading table last year. The colours seemed to fit, supplemented by a few silk threads of various kinds.




I spent the afternoon working on it. It's a bit mad I think - or at least obsessive. I just want to see if it works, so kept stitching, and watching (well, listening to) the daily news updates from the states and territories on the virus.

The couching thread is silk but all the other threads are linen.




Katherine rang and we caught up for an hour. The return to school has gone well for the kids.

I cooked lamb cutlets, potato, tomato and snow peas for dinner, but mostly I kept stitching.

It's working!

I'd like to know more about this songbird. I'm not sure the habitat is right - but it's going to look good.

I checked on the dove a few times. I think I now have two visiting doves. It's difficult to tell because I don't see them together, but this one seems slightly larger and has fewer white feathers in the tale. Perhaps the male?

Finally, many thanks to everyone who has asked after Jennifer and those who have been praying for her. Today's bulletin says she is communicating with the nurse and indicating she'd like a wheelchair so she can move around! The plan is to remove the ventilator in 2 days time and probably install a vocaliser in her trach tube. Susan is going to deliver Jennifer's phone, books, and a colouring book to her. It's a great improvement and good news story.


I am having some trouble with the Feedburner that emails these blog posts to subscribers. The emails are scheduled to go out between 11pm and 1am Adelaide time each day, but every now and then they fail to go. I check when I wake in the night and if necessary reprogram. I suspect that Feedburner is not programmed to take account of daylight saving. I am experimenting with using GMT rather than Adelaide time tonight, so hope there is no disruption.