Post 233

I caught a glimpse of a couple of lorikeets feeding in the tree behind my apartment this morning, grabbed the camera and opened the door to the balcony. To my surprise, there was Turtle, sitting on the rail, waiting for seed. This hasn't happened in a while.  

I left the door open, put down the camera and cast some seed. 

He was attentive but unafraid.

After a minute or two he jumped down from the rail and ate seed. He didn't venture close to me and the open door, but he did move around freely. He stayed for 5-10 minutes before surveying the landscape and heading to more interesting parts.

I am interested in the way his colour appears to change in different positions, according to the light and his movement. I am thinking about the colours I will use on my crewel dove feather. I was assuming greys, but there is a lot of brown here, and, of course, the distinctive black and white collar. 

I might have to go beyond the three colours to which I have been restricting myself.

There are a couple of good news stories to report this morning. The big one is that Jennifer's test results are back and she has tested negative to Corona Virus. Yippee! It was, of course, the most likely outcome, but is still a huge relief and cause of celebration.  Our Sit 'n Stitch was back on this afternoon.

Susan is still working on her blanket. It’s stunning and gets more so every week. We haven’t seen it spread out yet.

Jennifer worked today on a crocheted summer shawl. Unfortunately I didn't think at the time to photograph it.

I began by adjusting my Inuit applique, adding more grey fly stitches to the bear to reduce the impact of the yellow.  

Jennifer’s comment was that the bear is a meerkat. I think she’s right! I’m going to add a title ‘bear hunt’ to this piece so the intention is clear. It might, however, be better titled ‘Inuit hunter meets meerkat!

I went on to finish the Adelaide rosella feather. It’s interesting the way these feathers, which are in no way representational, do manage to give an impression

I moved my hoop on to the next feather. I'm going to try for a lorikeet, modifying the greens somewhat - away from limey greens - to blend with the Jacobean colours on the chair.

The minor , in the scheme of things, celebration today is that Jen, at Blog2Print not only allowed me to use the discount code on later books but refunded 40% of the cost of the book I made yesterday.! That is well beyond my expectations as a customer. 

I had a read of the electronic copy this morning, taking me back to the Stratford Retreat, our activities and developing concern about Covid19. It's so interesting to be reminded of the dilemmas I faced in deciding to return to Australia a few days early and the adjustments made in self-isolating. We've been on a long learning curve - and most of the learning does not relate to embroidery. 

By the end of the evening this is where I am up to on the lorikeet feather. I'm a bit short on lighter greens, so might need to visit Create in Stitch tomorrow.