Post 289 Cards and Caravan Sounds

 

This may become one of the images that captures 2020 for me. Even the doves are watching and waiting. I have been fortunate in having a calming view of greenery and the Hills in the distance. I've been able to hang out my washing and tend a small balcony garden. By this time next year I expect the wall next door, less than 30cm from the wall visible here, will extend 4-6 metres beyond my balcony blocking a little of that view.  A pity, but manageable.

I've been writing Christmas cards today, 52 ready to post. That process reminds me that, in the scheme of things, I have little to complain about and a lot for which to be thankful.

There has been a Council-sponsored event in the Square this afternoon. to quote the publicity:

Caravan Sounds and Ink & Ruby Studios present Mural Music, a creative Christmas event in Hurtle Square, proudly supported by the City of Adelaide.

A Free & Family friendly interactive Christmas event with live music, a communal mural, a circus 'Come & Try' zone and loads more. You can pick up a paint brush and help local artist Ella complete her pop-up Christmas mural. Then test out your circus skills with the Circabats troupe or treat yourself to a Hokey Pokey ice cream and simply kick back while Caravan Sounds provide the soundtrack to a standout day!

It has been 35C in Adelaide today, with a dry wind. There don't seem to have been many people testing their circus skills. A few tried their hand at the mural. The music was the constant and caused me to close the door to the balcony, but by then I was ready to turn on the aircon, so would have closed the door anyway. 

It"s a bit of a shame. A lot of effort seems to have gone into setting it up, but the weather - and I suspect limited publicity - was against it today. I'm presuming there are people somewhere who like the music!

Before I left for dinner at Katherine and Anthony's I managed to add the zips to the two pouches I worked on yesterday. There is still finishing work to  do on them.  I did a bit of work this evening on the next one.

It's still 31.5 C at 10.30 pm. Tomorrow is forecast as 32C. 

The dark red pelargonium seems to like the heat - as long as I keep watering it. 

I about 100 Kindle pages to finish the book for tomorrow's Book Club. Better get on with it.

Post 288. Fishbank

Today's outing was lunch at Fishbank, a recently established restaurant in the premises previously occupied by Jamie's Italian on the ground floor of a building that was once the headquarters of a prominent Adelaide bank.

This was the last lunch of the year for a group of 5 of us who have lunch together about 4 -5 times a year. 

This year we've had 3. 

Since it is in the heart of the CBD I decided it was time to return to using the city loop bus - a free service Adelaide City Council offers, one loop through the inner city and one through the inner city extending to North Adelaide. I used the bus quite a bit before Covid ( a new definition of BC!). It was suspended in the height of the pandemic here, but restored a couple of months ago. I haven't, however, returned to using it. It stops very close to my apartment and very close to Fishbank. I had my mask with me in case it was crowded, but didn't feel the need. The few passengers were well distanced. The guy with the red trolley was very talkative - about his bus disasters! He was on the O-Bahn when it derailed, and on another bus that crashed. Very good humoured about it.

Fishbank was excellent. There is a lot of light, much of it natural, really high ceilings and plenty of space between tables. The menu is designed for sharing. We shared whitebait, prawns, scallops, Tommy Ruffs on toast, chips and grilled broccoli.

I got home, on the bus, in time to write about half of my Christmas cards. I was thinking of trying to get to the post box with the overseas cards before 6pm when the post is cleared, but I decided I could take them all to the mail exchange over the weekend, and kept writing.

In my letterbox was an unexpected parcel. The son of a childhood friend has just had his first book published and his proud mother has sent them instead of Christmas cards! What a great idea. I need to finish the Ian Rankin I am reading for Sunday's bookclub, before I can read it - but I look forward to it.

Before I went out I watered the plants, put out some seed washed my towels and hung them out. One of the young doves arrived to welcome me home. The doves don't seem to mind the flapping washing.

This evening I finished the geometric sashiko panel in the yellow thread. I added the gimp to the third rectangular pouch, stitched another into a square and pinned another.              

I'm planning to add yellow zips to these two - a job for the machine - and the morning.              

In the meantime, it was a pretty spectacular sunset. 

Post 287, Pilates and friends

 

It was a warm, pleasant day in Adelaide - ahead of rising temperatures over the weekend. I had three commitments today, beginning with Pilates at 12. I spent time this morning catching up on emails and bills as well as reading a bit more of Ian Rankin's A Song for the Dark Times, one of the books for our Book Club meeting this weekend and finding some more resources on Anglo-Saxon embroidery.

Pilates was good.  I improved on my balance exercise which pleases me.

After Pilates I had arranged to meet,  at the Queen St Cafe, down the road from the Pilates Studio, a neighbour from my old street in Hindmarsh. We hadn't caught up all year, so had a lot of ground to cover.  Niamh and I have been going to this cafe for milkshakes after Junior Embroiderers. My only criticism is that they don't have lime milkshakes. Today I began my campaign to get them to get lime flavouring.  The waitress says someone else asked about it - so there's a chance.

I had their grilled salmon, which was great. Branka had the pulled pork. We both regret not being able to swim laps this year, but we are also in agreement that we are fortunate to have our families in Australia (one of her daughters got back from work in Europe just in time) and to have our health. We've agreed to catch up more frequently next year.

From Queen Street I went to Jennifer's place to sort out my crochet. Jennifer  had been to her hairdresser today and got lots of expert advice on the impact of  health issues this year on her hair. It looked great. She also has flowers and Christmas decorations in abundance. I should have thought to take photos. Some of the decorations are very old family heirlooms.

We analysed our respective crochet squares. Jennifer solved the size difference.  We each worked the first round. Hers, the white one, was larger than my pink one.

 I am using an old crochet hook that I inherited from either my mother or grandmother - I can't be sure. It is marked as a Size 10. This should translate as 3.25 mm. Jennifer, however was using a 3.00 mm (hers on right), which was clearly larger than my hook (left). I therefore came home with Jennifer's hook and will try again using it. I'm pretty sure this will solve the size difference.

I can't explain the 10 on my hook.

I stopped off at Officeworks on the way home to get more ink cartridges so I can print off yesterday's email to the World Embroidery Study Group for a couple of members who can't get photos on email. I bought a few other small things and hadn't, for once, brought a bag from the car ,so purchased one of their paper bags made from recycled material. Their advertising is clever.                                                                                                                                   My Christmas cards from the printer were in my letterbox when I got home so I can get on with writing in them ready for posting on Monday. 

Tonight I have worked a square with the 3.00mm hook. On the left is the result on top of Jennifer's version. Mine is still smaller, but not so much. 

To the right is the one I worked with the old hook. laid on top of both. I'll work a few more with the 3mm hook to see if I have consistency and sufficient density.

The building work continues next door. The walls are rising and I'm fairly sure they will continue the full nine storeys which will entirely block out my view currently in the photo on the left, looking south east..    You can see the white walls of the building.   

                                                    

Fortunately it won't block my view to the north east (right).

And sunset over the Square remains a source of endless variety and joy.

Post 286 World Embroidery Study Group roundup

Today was largely taken up with the final meeting for the year of the Embroiderers' Guild World Embroidery Study Group. There were nine of us present.

It was a lively meeting with lots of discussion and sharing, which just goes to show what is possible within social distancing requirements of 4 square metres per person.

The first half of the meeting was taken up with planning our program for next year, which is looking pretty exciting - Kogan, Marghab, Opus Anglicanum, Embroidery of the Holocaust, Mend and Make Do, Native American Beading, Viking and Anglo Saxon Embroidery all get a guernsey.

We then did a Show and Tell. Barbara brought along this fabulous piece of Kuba cloth she bought in the 1990s. It was a wall frieze for a mud house. 

Others brought along some of the things they have been working on while locked down this year. I didn't manage to capture all of them. These are Junette's. She also has a great ironing blanket she converted from a possum wool jumper that went through the washing machine and felted!

Lee has finished the embroidery on the Christine Bishop Bird Cage Etui from a class she took in 2007. She had it constructed by a Guild member who does it as part of her business. The sampler was a Jo Dixey challenge.

Lori brought along her Sashiko bag that inspired my pouches (lower right). It is a work of art - sides and lining of denim from the Guild trading table and base from a recycled kimono. The pile of cloths on the table are ones Lori has bought from op shops and stores in the bag.

It's a great group and our next year's program got everyone fired up. Having a projector and connected laptop available makes a big difference to this group. It is so much easier to share our studies. We also have two topics - the Marghab and Native American beading - that relate to recent acquisitions by the Guild Museum that need more analysis and information. We like to feel useful!

Niamh's phone has still not turned up, despite Niamh and Anthony doing another search this morning. 

I posted this early today because I wanted to order the fourth volume of the blog book  to meet a printer's Christmas discount deadline. I wanted to include the last meeting of the WES Group as the end of this volume. This last section will not appear in the book. This time the uploading and purchase worked reasonably well. There are a couple of tricks that are not well explained but I've had a bit of practice now. I still had to go back and correct a couple of times. 

There are 77 posts from now to February 26, which will make a full year of the blog. That will make volume 5. 

I added the outer layer to the circle Guan Yin has been minding for me tonight. It's the orange circle with dark blue square. The three on the right are those done using US crochet convention. The top left is Jennifer's.  I'm happy with my tension and resulting size, but I took my hook under the arm rather than the top in the first stitches into the square. Still, it's an improvement. Jennifer is going to give me more guidance tomorrow.

It's been quite a productive day.

Post 285 Shopping, Graduands, lost and found

After a good catch up on the phone with Vivienne, I set off to Adairs to buy another pot stand for the poinsettia. The one I put it in yesterday was bought three years ago to house the Christmas poinsettia, but has been home to a peace lily for a couple of years. I evicted it yesterday to house the poinsettia but thought it time to buy another stand.  I chose the rattan one from an ad. The rounded base should distribute weight more easily and be less likely to leave an indent on the carpet. It was the last one  in the shop. The woven pot  is from Mombasa.The lily is now back in its happy place.

From Adairs I went to Port Adelaide to do a bit more Christmas shopping. Fairly successful.

I progressed the sashiko piece a fair way, but didn't finish it. I also managed to choose a pile of threads for Lady Anne's Flowers.

Tonight is Niamh and Veronica's Year 7 graduation. They dropped their gladrags here this morning and came after school to shower and change. Brigid arrived to help with hair and makeup.

She was also roped into a photoshoot in the Square as they were on their way. The evening begins with a dinner at a hotel near the school, followed by a graduation ceremony and culminating in a disco.

It was marvellous to see them tearing across the Square  - on the way to a graduation!

Not  long after, Brigid had a message from Veronica to say that Niamh couldn't find her phone. We searched the apartment to no avail. I don't know the end of that story. It had not turned up when they called to pick up their bags after the disco. I do hope it turns up and doesn't ruin an important event.

In the course of looking for the phone I found something else. Guan Yin seems to have been the keeper of the crochet! I think I put it there in passing on my way to close the curtains immediately after I finished it.  It looks remarkably like an offering. Perhaps this blanket needs to be dedicated to her.

World Embroidery Study Group tomorrow.

Post 283 photos galore

 

Windy again this morning. Two young doves turned up and sat for a while. I took several photos and this one show a little of the bending of the tree behind them in the wind.

They stayed for quite a while, drinking and feeding in harmony.

After a while, the larger of the two took up his post as sentinel while the other continued to eat and drink. She eventually joined him on the rail, where I left them to get my breakfast.

I needed some eggs for tonight's Pastitsio (or pasta pie as the girls prefer to call it) so decided to shop at Unley Village after visiting Barrow and Bench further up Unley Rd to buy my Christmas poinsettia and Riverlea Cottage Quilts for the sashiko thread.

My brother called while I was at the Barrow and Bench checkout, so I sat in the carpark and called him back. We discussed the exigencies of the art market at the moment and the beauty of Mollymook, where he is staying at the moment

and this is the view from their window.  I include this especially for my Guild friend, known locally as Margaret from Mollymook to distinguish her from other Margarets who don't hail from quite so far away.

My parking space behind Riverlea Cottage Quilts was right in front of a grevillea bush  in flower. I couldn't resist photographing.I

There was also a tea tree next to the grevillea with emerging flowers.  If I had Alison Cole's skill I might have worked out a stumpwork version by now, but I'll think about it for a while.

Inside I found some threads I think might work on the dark red fabric of my current sashiko, and perhaps on black I have as well. I also got some needles. 

The loose thread is what I am currently using, and the purple at the back is what I got, along with  a chocolate bear, from the shop's Advent Calendar draw that I won. I suspect I was the first customer of the day.

By the time I arrived home my two linens, Lady Anne's Flowers and Phoenix and Tree were in my letterbox, along with a surprise tea towel. Many thanks Frankie and Phillipa. I had better move off sashiko and on to Crewel, so I have these finished before the Aesop Frame arrives!

The poinsettia looks fabulous. They were short on red ones but I'm very pleased with the one I secured. They also have some potted Fir Trees carefully grown to cone shape. I'm thinking about going back to get one as a Christmas tree.

This afternoon, after preparing the pastitsio, I had another go at the crochet, working the inner circle using the UK version of the stitches. It worked! My circle was very close to Jennifer's. I set it aside, with the crochet hook, to return to later. It has now completely disappeared! I've been through the bag of wool, the chair, the other bags near the chair, and everything else around. No circle, no hook.

The circle fairies?

I guess I start again another day. 

In the meantime I've been playing with the new green and yellow threads. I worked a green line from top to bottom and yellow from left to right. The green doesn't show up. I'm going to take it out and work it all in the yellow.

I have mounted Lady Anne’s Flowers in a 12” hoop. Tomorrow I will select the wools I plan to use and work out if I need to buy any more. I’m really looking forward to plunging into that big flower.

I haven’t sent the reminder to the WES Group for Wednesday’s meeting. I need to put together a list of possible topics for next year before I send it. That’s, I think, a job for the morning rather than tonight.