Post 337 Mostly Myreshka Embroidery

 

Today there was a Wake and lunch for Susan Monks, the friend who died on 20 November 2020. Out of an abundance of caution, I didn't attend. I'm sure it will have been a time of good food, friendship and great stories about Susan. She was a remarkable woman and a good friend. I find myself reliving the conversations we had in 2020 - and having conversations with her in my head, drawing on her wisdom as I think things through.                                                                                                                                        My world, and the education community, especially in South Australia, is so much richer and wiser because of her life. I rejoice in it.

I was woken just after 7am this morning by the noise of drilling on the building site. By the time I left home just before 9 am there was heavy equipment operating - a bit rich on Saturday, with no notice given to neighbours (at least not to this neighbour).

I was heading to a Certificate Course Workshop at the Guild so escaped the noise. I suspect my neighbours one floor below were less than pleased. Might be worth a phone call to the Council on Monday.

As I headed out I also received a text message to say a parcel was due to be delivered today. Another sign the times are out of joint. We haven't had Saturday mail deliveries for decades. I suspect parcel deliveries are contracted out, so the contractor is free to deliver out of normal business hours. 

Of course, when I arrived home there was a card to say I had missed the delivery and can pick it up after an indecipherable time on Monday.

There were about 18 students at the Guild Workshop. The much anticipated video camera had arrived and yesterday had been installed and connected to the overhead projector. 

It has been set up so an instructor can sit with the camera trained on their hands, projecting the image to the screen as they work stitches.

      

In a Covid world this means tutors can work within distancing recommendations or requirements, without students gathering around them in a circle.

The dangling cord is not ideal, but most students can sit fully distanced where this doesn't impact. 

The workshop, taken by Christine Bishop, was on Myreshka embroidery - drawn thread work from Russia. It is worked in blocks, using very specific and fairly simple techniques demanding a fair bit of concentration until you get the sequence and rhythm.

Part of the concentration is, of course, counting the threads. We began by working the border. Here the pin is marking where I counted 5 threads instead of 6. Fortunately I could undo from the shorter end. My new glasses and magnifier worked well - but obviously didn't prevent a miscount.

I do so enjoy these workshops. I mostly do my own thing, following the instructions and concentrating. People ask questions freely, and the answers help us all. There is enough familiarity to be comfortable and caring but a high degree of focus ensures productivity and shared purpose.

I find them nurturing and enriching.

We remain seated one at each end of out 1.5 metre long, 2 metre apart tables for lunch. The kitchen can now be used by two people at a time, but no-one that I noticed took advantage, except to pour water from the kettle boiled by the Covid Marshall. I brought my usual biscuits with cheese slices and a tomato. I'm making good use of my Sashiko napkins to cover the table, and use the lid of my container to cut the tomato.

This is where I got to. The last row I worked at home. I am playing around with patterns and numbers of blocks between 'holes'. It is a most flexible technique. It is, by the way, usually worked in thread the same colour as the fabric, although there are no rules. I chose to work in a contrasting colour to help me see what I am doing. 

At Katherine's place I caught up on the first three days of school - all interesting, fairly balanced assessments, with friendships and relationships to the fore. 

Brigid had finished making her dress - the one for which I bought the pattern two weeks ago - this afternoon and wore it to a party tonight.She looked smashing.

There was also the feast of barbecued meat, roast potatoes, salad and broccolini. I finished another crocheted circle.

After returning home tonight I finished the blue wren. I am always surprised at the difference the seed stitch makes.

This is now ready to be appliqued on to a bag.

These are the two linens I am considering for the bag, kangaroo paw pattern on the left, bottle brush on the right. I think it goes better on the bottle brush.

I have one more of Nicola's birds to do. At the moment I'm thinking I could turn it into a Western spinebill, which feeds on kangaroo paw.

A friend has offered to drop in her collection of family embroidery tomorrow morning for me to examine and document over the next couple of months. 

The sunset summed up the day - from dark to light with persistent pink.

Post 336

 

Today I'm starting with the end of the day, rather than the beginning. This is my progress on the latest Nicola bird. I have seed stitch to complete in all sections of the bird and a black bead to add to the eye. 

I will then applique the bird to a linen bag which I have yet to make. I will embroider the legs and feet directly on the the bag once the bird is on it. They are two narrow to applique cleanly. I have based the colours on the colours of the Australian Blue Wren.

A fair bit of the bird was embroidered at our Sit'nStitch session this afternoon. Susan blocked one of her Anna Scott panels and Jennifer worked some of the second of the samplers we bought a year ago from Jenny McWinney. One is finished - and about to be made into a bag. She also began another round of Sophie's Universe, I should have taken photos, but was too focused in the moment of our discussions.

The building next door was much quieter today. I still don't know whether I will have a 9 storey wall against my apartment wall. This was taken from my balcony - the bluey-grey in the lower right corner is my balcony rail. The wall of the new building abuts the wall of our building (lower left hand).  All will soon become clear as the building continues.

I did a bit of an inspection of the progress made by the succulent slips I had put in, many from Margaret Adams and some from my own plants. These are all new growth. I will need to watch that emerging red flower - the Noisy Miner removed the last one before it got to open.

There's an awful lot of joy in seeing cuttings turn into new plants.

I should probably trim the petunia plant back a bit, but I am holding back while it is producing flowers like this, especially in the evening when it has such depth.

The Mandevillia has continued to flower and develop leaves. It has produced a white flower amongst all the pink ones. Pretty interesting.

I have a couple of empty pots now on the front balcony. I'm might look for replacement plants next week. The section I cut from the large Yukka last week is looking very healthy

For those living outside South Australia, who are interested, the Cherry Hills fire is contained but still being attended by crews from around Adelaide to put out flare-ups. The roads around the fire area remain closed. 

An interesting sunset tonight. 

I hope the kids have all had a good start to their new school year. I hope to hear about it tomorrow.

Post 335 Chair and Birds

 

I began the morning reading Catherine Aird's The Late Phoenix, the fourth in her Inspector Sloan series set in the fictional village of Berebury, West Calleshire, England around the end of the 60s or early 70s.                                                                                                                                                                                            This is the first I have read and so far it's promising.                                                                                                                        Eventually I dragged my self away from the book to have a go at adding the Phoenix and Lady Ann's Flowers to my chair before going to Pilates.

The chair is here tipped on its side so I could pin the pieces on.

I got the cover off fairly easily. The tricky bit is manoeuvring the awkwardly shaped cover around under the sewing machine and keeping the panels quite flat. I did need to undo a few centimetres at the end to adjust, but it went as smoothly as I could have hoped.

More surprisingly,  I got it back on the chair without much difficulty.  

The remaining space is for the Aesop Frame.

From the sewing machine, I could see black tips reproaching me for the absence of seed. He flew off, but I hastened out to water the plants, fill the water bowl and put out seed, before rushing off to Pilates.

Martine was ill today. Even well established routines are usually a bit more demanding with a new instructor and it was so today - a good thing.

I went on from Pilates to Unley Village, posted a parcel, got my moisturiser, pasta and meat.

The first floor was being poured on the building site next door - a big job. The floor covers the whole site, so the pourer crane and the cement mixers were going constantly. I didn't find the noise (which emanates from the engines at ground level working the crane and mixer) too bad at the back of the apartment, where I was working. One floor down, seven to go.

The philodendron given to me for Christmas has developed new leaves. Outside, on the Western balcony  a few plants were drooping in the 31C heat and needed water. 

I phoned the periodontist rooms today and asked them to put me on the waiting list for any 50 minute cancellations in 13 days until my appointment. The ache in my tooth is intermittent and bearable but it seems sensible to accelerate the extraction if possible. The receptionist was helpful. 

I am now working on my Nicola blue wren.  So far I've used Madeira silk and Madeira metallic threads, a little Cascade House silk and some DMC Etoile.

There's a way to go. Tomorrow is Sit'n Stitch. Maybe I'll take this along. I want to finish this one before I start Aesop.

Post 334 Lady Ann’s garden grows

 

I thought I would take the plunge this morning and attach the Phoenix and Lady Ann's Garden panels to the chair. I pinned them on to the chair and realised that it would be better if the edges of the two panels aligned.   

I sketched in an extension of the pattern, making sure the additions would cover the border line on the linen.

Over the course of the day, with the help of a 3" hoop, I stitched the areas I had sketched in.  It took four moves of the hoop.

I had to make do with the colours I had. At one stage I thought of going to Create in Stitch to get a couple of colours I had used up, but the lift maintenance crew had arrived to replace the rollers, and the lift was out of use, so I gave up that idea.

Unfortunately, I couldn't put the finished piece on the chair without re-blocking.  So at the moment it is once again drying on the blocking board.

The addition is a little sparse but I didn't want to add more than necessary. I'm pretty sure it will now fit the space more comfortably.

I had a catch-up call with my brother and brought the guest beds sheets in from the washing line before the sun went down with splendour. 

I did try to capture the flights of birds returning to roost - but they were too swift for me.

I hadn't counted on spending so much time today on the crewel work, so worked this evening on three more pink crochet circles. I now have 5 finished - half the target.

Pilates tomorrow, but there might be time to stitch the two panels on to the chair. The tooth I am booked to have extracted in 2 weeks' time is beginning to ache a little. I'm hoping it lasts two more weeks. 

Fingers crossed.

Post 333 Time out

I spent the morning on my chair near the Eastern balcony, reading. It was pleasant weather - 23C maximum.

I read the whole book - the second in a detective series new to me. It is set in Wales, although the landscape is not integral. I really enjoyed it. The characters are well drawn and the team concept is particularly well developed - respectful.

Eventually I remembered I had intended to put on a load of washing. I hung it out around 2.30pm.  It was, fortunately, dry by 8pm.

The wall garden, on the opposite side of the balcony to the washing line, looks much brighter following yesterday's rain - quite perky.

I finished the last two of the ecru circles, then swapped the ecru ball for a pink one, worked an outside square on one ecru circle then began a series of pink circles. I think this scheme is going to work for me. 

Today is Australia Day, and a public holiday. The date is controversial, since it is the Anniversary of the arrival of the First Fleet in Sydney Harbour and the planting of the British Flag - i.e. colonisation of a country that had been inhabited by indigenous communities for what we now know to have been 60,000 years. It has only been a national public holiday since 1994 although the name and date were recognised in all individual states from 1935. 

It is not a day that was of significance in my family as I was growing up. Although my proudly Australian mother, who came to Australia from England before her 4th birthday, knew and told us a lot of the history of colonial Sydney,  the day had no relevance. August 1st, Wattle Day, was what my mother had celebrated at school, and she stuck to it. 

In my working adult life Australia day was primarily the marker of the end of the long summer school holiday and last day to prepare for a new school year.  Jim occasionally attended and appreciate a citizenship ceremony as part of his job. In the early 2000s when one of our neighbours often marked it by a boozy, noisy barbecue I came to dread and dislike the day. 

Voices for either a change of date or a change of concept - or both- grow stronger year by year. I'm sure change will eventually come.  I hope so.

This helicopter made a lot of noise coming in to land in the city around 6pm tonight. It looked and sounded as if it were going to land very close - perhaps on the police headquarters two blocks away. I think, however, it went beyond that, probably to the Royal Adelaide Hospital.  

140 fire fighters today contained the Adelaide Hills fire. As I understand, it is still burning but within containment lines. Two houses, 19 outbuildings  and 2 cars have been lost - and unknown numbers of animals.  Yesterday's rain, 30mm in the city in the 24 hour period to 9am this morning, was the most that has fallen in a January day in 44 years.

I didn't do any work on my chair, or on the Nicola bird, both of which were on my plan for today. It was very good to take things easy. 

Posr 332 Fires and Farewells

 I had posted yesterday's blog a little before midnight, temperature 28.5C, when this arrived in my email, just taken by my friend Christine in Watford. It didn't, as she had hoped, make me feel cooler, but it did help me imagine feeling cooler,  She was rugged up inside, with heater going full blast.

I left the aircon on all night, which I hardly ever do. That made two nights in a row. We also had fans going in both bedrooms. It finally got down to 24C at 6am which was about when I heard rain, which didn't last. 

I was very surprised, then at 8.30 am to  look to the West outside and see, not rain clouds, but smoke haze over the city, and , when I checked, also over the Hills in the East. Within minutes the smell of smoke had penetrated the apartment.

Fire fighters had been working all night to contain the fire that started in Cherry Gardens, in the Southern end of the Adelaide Hills. It had spread north to Mylor and residents were being asked to  prepare to evacuate. Rain this afternoon reduced the danger to property and lives, but the fire is now burning deep in bushland hard for firefighters to access and is expected to take 4-5 days to extinguish.

I have been trying to find a way of working the crochet squares that doesn't involve either winding off smaller balls from the 200 gram balls or carrying several 200gm balls around with me. The trouble with the latter is obvious, and the former ends up with joins because lengths are difficult to judge efficiently. 

Today I tried a different approach. I made a square using a small ball of blue I had wound off and a full ball of ecru. I then made eight circles from the ecru. I have 11 different colours in 200 gram balls. I'm going to make two more circles from the ecru, then swap the ecru for another 200gm ball in a different colour. I will use the new colour to work the outside square of one of the ecru circles, then work 10 circles in the new colour - and repeat the process. If I don't get bored, this method will give me a full suite of all possible colour combinations without my having to carry more than one 200 gm ball around with me.

My visitors and I had lunch today at the Queen St Cafe, then, on the way to the airport, dropped in briefly on Brigid, Fionn and Niamh who were home today. It was raining by now. The airport was relatively quiet. The visit was short - but fabulous from my point of view. I'm so grateful to them for making the effort to come. 'Catching up' is an important process. I'm a fan of electronic communication, and know how effective it can be. I have to admit, however, the benefits  and nuances that come with being physically together. and able to integrate all senses.

Tonight's sunset was a contrast to this morning's view. It rained solidly for a couple of hours this afternoon. The smoke has cleared after the rain. The temperature was down to 24C. Tonight's minimum is 18C. 

That's a big improvement from my point of view.

It still leaves the fire fighters with a big job to extinguish the fires burning in the Hills, even if there are no homes in its path. 

Post 331 Lunch and Lots of Conversations

Today I was mostly living in the moment, fully engaged in conversations and not thinking about photos, so I have borrowed a couple from the website of The Greek on Halifax St, the restaurant within easy walking distance of my apartment where we had a family lunch today - all 9 of us. I had intended to ask the wait staff to take a photo of us, but again forgot. 

It was 41C in Adelaide today and at 10pm tonight, when I began writing this blog post, it was still 32C. Katherine and Anthony parked in my second car space under the building and we walked to the restaurant - Mad dogs and Englishmen all.

The Greek is distinctive in Adelaide's inner square mile, being built into an old disinfector factory with a distinctive brick chimney. This photo is from Good Food Thyme. Today, obviously there was no-one sitting outside. There were only 3 occupied tables, about 19 people in all.

The menu features fair bit of seafood as well as lamb. I've eaten here many times but have not tried the Metaxa plate, which is what I had today. It was really delicious and generous servings. I finished, of course, with Affogato (no liqueur) and two pieces of Turkish delight.

I think everyone enjoyed themselves and there was a lot of conversation going on. The restaurant service is very thoughtful and considerate and the food great.

One of the  many things I like about The Greek is their display of Greek artefacts I especially like the crocheted pieces displayed in hoops, sometimes with something coloured behind. This photo is also from The Greek's website.

We went back to Katherine and Anthony's place afterwards, where I kept my promise to shorten Veronica's school uniforms before she goes to school this Wednesday.  I unpicked the hem, cut off excess then pinned it, turned it under and stitched it down by hands.

It took me about two hours to do two. It looks quite tiny  here with nothing with which to compare. It isn't.                                                                            Veronica is pleased with the result. I had a conversation with her about what we should do with the off-cuts. She thought the only use was in headbands. There is, I think, a school rock band.....

We came home around 5.30 pm and talked about lots of things until having a scratch meal around 8. While it's much cooler inside than out, the aircon has only got it down to about 28C. The overnight minimum is 27C, and we don't get that until about 6 in the morning.  

It's been a really lovely day. I've enjoyed every minute, in spite of the heat, which I loathe. 

The only stitching I did was just over half a crocheted square. Not worth photographing.

Jennifer, on the other hand has sent this photo of her progress on Sophie's Universe.  How lovely is that?

Time to try to sleep.