Post 352

As I drove home tonight from Katherine and Anthony's place there were fireworks in the distance - probably at Wayville Showground. I thought it might be to mark the Lunar New Year, but maybe it's part of the Monster Truck Rumble on there at the moment.

After I'd been home a while I found an eariler text message from a neighbour suggesting I look out of my balcony. By the time I saw the message, my neighbour would have been in bed. I think she was referring to this building, several blocks away - I think between Angus and Wakefield Streets towards Victoria Square. 

The upper floors appear to have been deliberately lit up so it appears to hover in Space.

It's a far cry from earlier in the day. I spent several hours this morning working on the Owl Service until I found myself running out of a particular green silk thread. It was over-dyed thread with a gold edge to it. Rather than run out over the weekend, I made a dash out to Create in Stitch to see what they had by way of replacement. 

I don't know where I got the thread from, or even what brand it was. It was wound on to a green thread holder. Samela, was, as ever, helpful. She thought the thread was Gloriana, and I'm inclined to agree. She didn't have an exact match but we're in the ball park. I was also after some gimp to edge the piece, but I was out of luck there.  I bought a couple of lengths of a twisted braid to try as substitute, but wasn't happy with it. I've since ordered some from Dale Rollerson.

Katherine has been working for a couple of years to establish a garden in their front yard, using wicking beds. It's been a long haul, but is finally paying off. It's looking really good.

Today was Anthony's birthday. He'd spent most of it at a Beginner's Bee-keeping Class. He had learned quite a lot. He cooked delicious pork and Katherine made a very delicious cake from Jim's collection of recipes. It has marshmallow melted into the middle, forming a kind of nougat layer.

Candle-blowing at the moment, of course, has to be separated from cake. 

It was lovely to be able to be there for Anthony's birthday.

I had been to the supermarket on my way home from Create in Stitch and bought the ingredients for Monday's dinner - or so I thought. I made a list - fetta, cheddar, filo pastry, eggs - and clean forgot the pasta!

I'll go and get it tomorrow.

Here's where I've ended up with my Owl Service tonight. It's slow, experimental work, but I'm getting there.There's still a way to go, but it's working out. 

 

Hopefully I have enough of the right thread to get me through the weekend. It gets exciting as I begin to see it taking shape and the original idea emerging into some kind of reality. 

I am, I think, on a roll. 

It's also late again. I will need to adjust the time for the email notifications to go out - and remember to move it back in the morning!

Post 351

This fine example of cutwork belonged to Eli Chorbadjiska, Nelly's piano teacher. It is part of a set, all worked by hand. Cutwork (punto tagliato) originated in Italy around the 14th or 15th century. These are mostly buttonhole stitch, really evenly and neatly worked. There is a little bit of stem stitch, back stitch and satin stitch dots on the shapes, which cleverly represent a pond with fish and plants in it.

Working a whole set of these is a major undertaking - hundreds of hours work. 

I finished reading this 1959 Michael Innes book, recently re-issued by Agora Books and provided for review by Net Galley. It is a frivolous crime fiction read which doesn't take itself very seriously -  boys' own adventure meets Lewis Carroll and Sherlock Holmes with elements of locked room and mistaken identity. It's fun once you suspend your disbelief and come along for the ride.

I progressed my Owl Service at Sit'nStitch. It appears below.

I got home in time to water the plants, fill up the water bowl and put some seed out for Black Tips. He arrived while I was there and waited while I put out seed, but baulked at hanging around while I had the hose going. 

He was back as soon as I'd hung up the hose and stepped inside.         He tolerated me taking photos through the open door while he ate, making crunching noises as he bit the seeds.

I was hungry tonight, so cut up a potato and put it in the oven with one of Herbert Adams' slow cooked beef with cracked pepper and shiraz pies out of the freezer. A bit of salad and glass of bubbles - all good.

I've done a bit of unpicking on this one. I'm working it out as I go - in terms of colour, and, to some extent, design.There's likely to be more unpicking before I'm finished. I'm glad I enlarged this motif when I put it on the linen.

I'm getting a little better at capturing birds coming home to roost at sunset. So far I've managed pairs. One day I'll be in time to capture a flock.

For now, it's time for me to roost too.

Post 350 Asking the experts

Late this afternoon Black Tips paid a visit. I haven't put seed out for several days, but it doesn't put him off. He got jittery when I tried to open the door to give him the last of the seed in my container, so I let him be.Tomorrow I shall refresh the water and put out the remaining seed.

Half an hour before I was due to leave for Pilates, the postie delivered a parcel - my kit for the Inspirations Remembrance poppy project in the latest issue. It arrived in this box - 32cmx27cmx12cm. I buzzed the postie in. She left it in the entry foyer and I went down and picked it up. 

Inside was another box, some 22cmx16cmx5cm and inside that was the kit, some 15cmx10cmx1cm in a plastic bag.  Had this been delivered half an hour later, I would have been on my way to Pilates. The parcel would then be taken to the local post office where I could pick it up after 4pm.

I have emailed Inspirations suggesting they offer customers the option of postage in padded post bags that fit easily into letterboxes.

I finished Pilates at 2pm. I had arranged to meet Christine Bishop at the Guild at 3pm, to show her Nelly's Bulgarian embroidery collection. I filled in the hour between by having lunch at the Queen St Cafe, my usual Atlantic Salmon with salad and beetroot dressing. It is really delicious and very healthy.

At the Guild it was the change over period between the Open Day group and the Open Evening group. The half a dozen people there were very interested in the Bulgarian collection. I am in the process of putting together a document for Nelly so won't go into great detail here. 

In summary, I think I established that 

(1) the older pieces of embroidery by Vala Georgieva are worked on hand-woven hemp

(2) 3 or 4 of those older pieces are very beautiful and collectable

(3) they include a range of traditional stitches and motifs

(4) the collection of Miche Todorova is all crocheted and displays a high level of skill. The patterns are not common.

This piece of crochet was much admired by those with knowledge of crochet.

There was some debate about how it was achieved, and whether it was knitted or crocheted. It was established that yes, it is crocheted and Christine explained how.

There was a lot of admiration, too, for this border. 

I think I have enough information to do a reasonable job of documenting. I have more photographs to take and a bit to add to the PowerPoint. Christine also suggested a couple of reference books on the stitches. 

It reached 33C in Adelaide today, below the 38 forecast. After lunching out I had crackers with cheese and tomato slices for dinner. I washed the champagne flutes this morning, so thought I should try one out. 

It works fine.  

I got a little done on the Owl Service. It's slow work because I have to work it out as I go, but it's a fun challenge.

It might be a bit focused for Sit'bStitch tomorrow. I may revert to my crochet squares.

Post 349 World Embroidery Study Group.

 

There were 11 of us at the World Embroidery Study Group meeting today - pretty much back to our pre-Covid attendance.

Junette gave a presentation on Kogin embroidery. She had a few additional interesting snippets - like the oldest known needle with an eye is one found in Siberia, made from a bird bone, about 3" long and believed to be 50,000 years old!

Margaret Adams, another Guild member and electronic member of our group, has done a lot of work on Kogin embroidery, a lot of it for the Guild's Certificate course. Margaret brought along her samplers 

as well as some projects she has worked, like this book cover

and this pouch to hold all her Kogin equipment.

There was a lot more. There was a buzz in the room and everyone got involved and enthusiastic.  We are so fortunate to have such expertise to draw on.

We also gathered up the examples we had worked following our Inuit workshop last year. These will be put together as an entry in the upcoming Guild exhibition. It's an opportunity to showcase what we do as a group. Since we are a Study Group we don't have products to show as other groups do.

The Guild is preparing for a second exhibition this year as part of South Australian Living Arts (SALA) in August. We don't usually do two in one year, but the Members' Exhibition is a carry-over from last year, when it was cancelled due to COVID.

Our SALA exhibition is themed A Forrest, and the organising team have produced some dyed fabric pieces that members can buy to embellish and construct in any way they like. I found this amongst the printed panels and figured I would simply have to turn it into one of my dove friends.  Another challenge.

After we had all finished and sanitised the Gallery, I headed up to Stirling in the Adelaide Hills on a mission to visit Aptos Cruz Gallery in search of a birthday present. I didn't find what I had in mind, but I did find the perfect gift in a different form. I can't share that until next week.

 While I was there I succumbed to two things for myself. This cube is plain grey until you touch it, when it lights up with the time, date and temperature (it's showing time here, in case you are worried).

I've seen it before at Aptos Cruz. This was the last one, so I bought it.

They also had just two of these champagne flutes left and reduced in price. I have broken all but 3 odd champagne glasses. I now have 5. I rather like the elegance of these without stems.

The rest of the day has been spent writing up and sending out a summary of the meeting today and working on my Power Point on Bulgarian Embroidery. 

The WES Group today agreed to change our program so they can view Nelly's family collection at our April meeting before I return it to her. It's great to learn with PowerPoint, but just fabulous when we have physical examples (as we did today). 

On with the cotton gloves!

Finally, tonight I finished the first of the motifs on my Owl Service embroidery. I'm quite pleased with this.I think I'm going to need more of the over-dyed greeny-gold silk thread. Not sure I'll be able to get it reached 36C today and is forecast at 38C tomorrow before showers in the late afternoon. I have Pilates. 

Post 348 Bulgarian embroidery, owl service and a pigeon.

Today I began the process of photographing Nelly's collection of Bulgarian embroidery, concentrating on the largest opus, that of her mother-in-law, Vala Georgieva. There are a couple of wonderful pieces in this collection. I am not going to go into detail here. I will take much longer to research and document. 

This is from a table runner, intensely embroidered, mostly in cross stitch and slanted Slav stitch. 

The latter stitch is new to me. For those who are embroiderers, it resembles tent stitch, but the slant is greater than half a cross stitch - twice the length on the horizontal as on the vertical. 

This tree of life motif is much used in Bulgarian embroidery and appears four times on this runner.

I spread some of the pieces out on my dining table and photographed them using my digital SLR, first with the 18-200 mm lens and then with a macro lens to get the detail. The detail is tricky, because the macro lens has a very specific focus and blurs the edges. It's a bit of a balancing act.

The overall impression of this collection, spread out, is red. That, I have learnt, has its roots in a pre-medieval cultural association with the blood of mothers and birth. It was associated with life, renewal and prosperity. 

Embroidery, it seems, was the highest of Bulgarian crafts, maintained without break through the 500 years Bulgaria was ruled by the Ottoman Empire, preserving identity. 

It's a privilege to have access to this collection and to be in a position to learn more. I look forward to documenting it and making it accessible in a number of ways. 

 

I managed to print off a proof set of notes for the Certificate Workshop and copy the PowerPoint on to my Guild dedicated USB. 

My duck soup worked well for my dinner - with enough left for tomorrow.

My friend Peter in London has sent me this photo of the pigeon on his window sill. It's been -7C and the bird is surviving on the muesli Peter is feeding it. It reminds me of " The North wind doth blow, and we shall have snow, and what will the robin do then, poor thing?" I can't quite come up with the right ending for "She'll sit on the sill, and weather the chill" since she clearing isn't tucking her head under her wing and I can't think of a suitable rhyme for muesli.

I was itching to keep working on the Bulgarian embroidery, but turned instead to the Owl Service while I watched Pie in the Sky and the third episode of Midsomer Murders Series 1. I wasn't happy with the white, so returned to original dinner service which had gold on the green. I dug out some gold Madeira silk and whipped over the white. I'm much happier. It's nowhere near finished, but definitely on the right track.

Tomorrow is the first meeting of the World Embroidery Study Group for 2021. I've got our calendar printed off to discuss and a contact sheet for attendees to amend.  I'm looking forward to seeing how members fared over the break. 

Post 347 More words than photos

 I managed to hang the washing out this morning before heading to the podiatrist. From there I went on to Frewville Foodland to get the ingredients for tonight's dinner - a whole cooked duck, ham pieces, a strap of roast pork, noodles,  shallots, broccolini, some bread, fresh hot cross buns (yes, I've finally succumbed to buying them before Good Friday!) and a feta and spinach pull-apart. By the time I got home I needed a coffee and hot cross bun and a chapter or two of my current book. 

There was then a couple of hours of chopping and pulling - deboning the duck, cutting up a substantial pile of vegetables, ham and pork - all done before the girls arrived at 2.45. Veronica was a bit achy from the orthodontist inserting spacers in her teeth and managed to fall asleep for a couple of hours. Niamh did her homework then read her book. I managed to send a reminder email to the WES Group re our Wednesday meeting and review a couple of books on Goodreads. 

The duck noodle stir fry worked well. I also have a saucepan of stock from the bones to make my duck soup tomorrow.

As you may have guessed, I failed to take photos throughout the day. 

There were, however, a couple of interesting views at sunset.

I haven't made progress on the Owl Service. I chose instead to finish the 10 pale blue circles for my crocheted squares while I watched Series 1 Episode 2 of Midsomer Murders. I now have 10 circles in three colours and can begin on a fourth.

Lots of possibilities for tomorrow.

 

Post 346 Getting organised and messing about.

I have spent most of today working on my Traditional Icelandic Embroidery workshop for the Certificate Course in May. I'm not complaining. It's been good to have the time to get it done. I made a presentation on this to the World Embroidery Study Group last year, but that did not require a workshop with a project. Although I provided a project, based on long-armed cross stitch, it was taken from Piecework Magazine and didn't involve me teaching anything. 

When I agreed to do the certificate course workshop, I was asked to focus on surface stitchery, so much of my work today has been finding suitable designs and setting tasks based on historical Icelandic embroidery.  The advertising for the workshop however, includes long-armed cross stitch, so I need to cover that as well.

I don't imagine many readers are interested in this - but these are the only photos I have to show for a long day's work.

I adjusted the Power Point, planned 3 projects and created a set of class notes, including instructions for projects. 

I now have three tasks and sets of instructions, one  for couched work ( a bishop), one for split stitch (flower) and one  long-armed cross stitch (a strange long creature). All I have to do now is work an example of each project!

During and after breakfast I managed to read some more chapters of Sujarta Massey's A Murder at Malabar Hill, which I'm going to recommend to my book club when I get to pick later this month. I then spent time sorting out my Netflix subscription which was set up 5 years ago through Apple. I recently had an odd email from Apple telling me they couldn't debit my payment because of a problem with the card. There is no problem with the card, the January payment was debited and the February one isn't yet due. It looked like a scam to me. Today Netflix suspended my account because payment hadn't been made. It turns out Apple (iTunes) didn't pay Netflix in January. I've now requested a refund and explanation from Apple and re-subscribed directly to Netflix. I've wondered for a while if I should discontinue my Netflix subscription because I hardly use it. However the kids, especially Veronica, use it on Mondays so I'll keep going for a bit.

In the middle of the morning I put on some washing. It finished around midday but by then I was working on the Icelandic workshop. I didn't move from the table where I was working until 5.15pm. Guess I'll hang the washing out tomorrow.

Recovering from my Icelandic marathon, I  managed another lucky bird-returning-at-sunset shot, although I missed the flock that preceded it by a few minutes.

I won't be able to enjoy for long this view of the twin tree from the point at which I took the photo. The wall of the building next door will block it from this angle. Fortunately I will still be able to see it from the other end of the balcony. 

I've grown fond of the strange split tree. I will continue to have an unobstructed view of the two below.

To counterbalance the Netflix trouble this morning, this evening I managed to connect my TV to Tubi, via my iPad and play the first episode of Midsomer Murders. I dicovered Tubi's free service yesterday - with the first 15 series of MM. I hadn't tried to connect it until this evening. I had expected to have to watch them on my iPad mini, but it transfers easily to the TV screen.

Guess I won't be needing Netflix for a few weeks. I've always wanted to watch Midsomer Murders in order.

While watching, I've been playing with my Owl Service embroidery. I've undone a bit. It's trial and error to work out how to get the effect I want. 

It's fun. Simply messing about with stitches.