Post 359

Up early for cleaning this morning. It was still pretty warm today, and unusually humid. It's still 28C at 10pm with 61% humidity. My dove friends visited to nibble on the seed, but perhaps more to access the shade created by my closed Vergola roof. She looked fine against the sky.

The view South from the balcony is less attractive. The building work progresses. There is now another floor in place, about a metre below my floor.  When the next section of wall goes up I will lose my sneak preview of what is happening - but it will also gradually take the activity and noise to a higher level. It will block some of my view, but by no means all, nor is it the most important.

I spent a bit more time this morning reading Sheila Paine's book. This is a sketch of a terracotta figure of the Great Goddess found in Razgrad, Bulgaria and dating around 4000 BC. The raised arms is common and this became a common figure in embroidery. I am very interested in these figures and symbols. I discovered that Sheila Paine travelled widely researching magic, ancient religious cults, amulets and motifs. She wrote other books. 

I located an early edition of Embroidered Textiles  and a copy of Amulets: Sacred Charms of Power and Protectionand ordered both. A glutton for punishment! 

Today was a JEMS day. I took Brigid's flowers to her when I went to pick Niamh up. Some of the flowers are past their best, but some are still looking fabulous. There were 5 girls at JEMS today - gradually returning towards pre-COVID  numbers. 

Before leaving for JEMS I had taken the blocking pins out of the Owl Service and added the gimp. I had to do it carefully, holding the linen outside the circular design so I wouldn't crush the work. I didn't want to have to block it again as I suspect the gimp will run. I then put a row of stitches about 5cm outside the edge of the circle and gathered it over the outer ring.

I chose this patterned linen to cover the back. I think it's a remnant from Ink and Spindle, but I'm not sure. I cut it to fit and pinned it, then took it with me to pick up Niamh. We had milkshakes at Queen St Cafe and then went on to their place, where I struggled to stay awake, but managed to stitch this down.

I added a hanging loop from the gimp.

I'm very pleased with this. I'm not sure it will mean much to visitors to the Guild Exhibition. I plan to add a note to the back in an archival pen to acknowledge the quote. A job for tomorrow afternoon, I think, after Book Club.

Post 358 One foot up and one foot down, that's the way to London town.

I read a bit more of my book this morning, changed the bed linen and did a load of washing. I hung the washing out before heading out for lunch with 3 friends.

We all met through work somewhere in 70s or 80s and as we retired fell into meeting for lunch about 4 times a year at different venues organised by Anne each time.  

Today's lunch was at Jolley's Boathouse Restaurant on the River Torrens - where I had a birthday lunch a couple of weeks ago.

The food and the company was excellent. I admit to having exactly the same as I had last time - Tommy Ruff Fillets followed by Lamb Backstrap. Interestingly they were both slightly differently presented and balanced. I like that.

The only thing I can fault in the restaurant is that it's a bit noisy. Tables are very well spaced but I think the recent renovations have not considered acoustics. It would be better with some or all of the glass doors open, but that's not going to happen on a 36C day.

Niamh and Veronica got back from their Year 8 Orientation Camp this afternoon and had netball matches to play at 6 pm. Brigid got them organised and I picked them all up from school and brought them back here. I heard all about the camp - good food, challenging activities, a few personality issues and not a lot of sleep. Both of them had a brief sleep before their father collected them for netball.

I am minding Brigid's birthday flowers for 24 hours - a gift from workmates.. They wouldn't go well in the car with all the gear from camp while they are at netball. Fabulous colours.

After they had gone to netball I brought in the washing and hung out another load. then unpicked the first line of text on the Owl Service and redid it. I'm happier with it. 

The gimp I ordered from The Thread Studio arrived today before I went out, three colours to try. I'm thinking the one on the reel.

I tried out the piece in the hoop in which I'm planning to mount it, putting a slightly smaller hoop inside to mark a line for the gimp edge

then tried out the gimp. I think it works. I'm now tacking the line, so I can wash and block the piece before I add the gimp. I think it's too risky to put the gimp on first in case the dye runs.

It was a pleasant sunset palette tonight and it looks as if the heart-in-window-lights has been turned off.

The gimp line is tacked, the piece washed and blocked.

I hope netball was OK. The temperature was down to around 33C by the time they would have been playing. Outdoors.

Nelly left a comment on yesterday's blog with a link to a website about the Bulgarian city of Varna, from which her family come. It seems to figure heavily in the story of Bulgarian embroidery. I'll try to follow up.

This blog has 5 more daily posts. I started in one year ago on 25 February 2020. I plan to continue daily until 24 February 2021, then move to weekly posts on Wednesdays, possibly for another year, or at least until we are well on the way out of national and international Covid isolation. It's been an exercise worth doing - and helped me to focus and think. It's time, however, to shift to another gear. 

Carpe diem.

Post 357 It's all about symbols

The view from my window tonight is interesting. 

The heart in lights on the building on the left, as well as being partially blocked to my view by the building in front of it, now has a number of other lights missing. The tall building in the middle has random lights on, and to the right the moon is descending. Unfortunately I can't capture the moon as the crescent it is to the naked eye. It is an interesting piece of abstract art. 

Heartbreak by Moonlight?

I spent most of the morning turning the presentations from our World Embroidery Study Group meeting earlier this month into notes I could print for a member of the group who can't access email reports. It takes time to create a version that captures enough of the content without too much unaffordable colour printing. I think I've succeeded. I was hoping to finish and print it before I left for Pilates, so I could take it with me to post, but didn't quite finish. I now hope to mail it tomorrow.

After Pilates (which exercised a few unaccustomed areas and left me with a couple of aches) I called at the Guild to return the books I had borrowed on both Icelandic and Bulgarian embroideries and also to borrow Sheila Paine's book on Embroidered Textiles. Christine Bishop had recommended its section on Bulgarian Embroidery.    

As it turned out, the couple of pages on Bulgarian embroidery, in the first section of the book Guide to Identification, were less interesting than the later sections of the book which unpacked a lot of the beliefs and practices that underpin symbols and motifs used in embroidery across the world.         

The second chapter, The Decorative Power of Cult, looks at the influence of symbols of very ancient worship - across many, many cultures and the varieties of ways they manifest.                                                                                                                        

I was particularly interested in the last chapter, The Magical Source of Protection, again, manifesting differently in multiple cultures.

One example is that bovine horns were widely regarded as protective (possibly,  Paine reports because of their seemingly magical property of shedding and renewal)

An early example of a horned animal used as a votive or amulet is the gold plaque of a bovine dating from 4500 BC, found in the tombs of Varna in Bulgaria. The holes in this plaque would indicate that it was stitched onto fabric. Paine p152

She outlines evidence of its use in India and Asia, then goes on to say (p154 ) At its westernmost point in the embroideries of Hungary and Bulgaria the horn remains as a small hooked motif worked on the edge of patterns, usually in black thread.

There is this fine example in Vala Georgieva's work.

The book is going to prove interesting to a number of our studies in the World Embroidery Group.

From the Guild I went to Tony and Mark's excellent shop in the Unley Shopping Centre and bought quite a lot of fruit and veg as well as milk. I was very curious about these flowers in their florist section. I should have asked about them, but by now I was tired and wanted to get home.

I spent a while finishing off a summary of my researches into Bulgarian embroidery before getting down to the lettering on my Owl Service.

I did rather better than I thought I might. I've found using three strands of silk and couching it down works best. I now intend to unpick the first few words and redo them in this manner. Then I can block it and add the gimp when it arrives.

I'm hugely relieved. I began to think I would not be able to manage the text.

I know now that it will work. It's a bit mad and obscure, but a powerful image for those interested in Alan Garner's work, or Welsh legend.

Post 356 Perseverence

It reached 38C in Adelaide today.  I kept the roller shutter down on my spare room window, the Vergola roof closed and the aircon on. The washing I put out yesterday afternoon was more than dry.

Katherine brought me a new supply of seed on Monday, courtesy of her chickens. The heat didn't deter Black Tips from exploring at some length.

 He returned later this afternoon with Blush. The worst of the heat had by then moved to the other end of the building.They polished off any remaining seed.

I spent most of the morning preparing a summary of my Bulgarian embroidery research for Nelly. There is one more book at the Guild Library that I need to consult before finalising it. I might manage to call in tomorrow before Pilates.

Margaret M has managed to arrange our Inuit samplers for the Guild Exhibition next month. This morning I  composed the explanation to accompany it, which will be laminated and attached. 

The committee begins to accept entries from tomorrow. The exhibition is from 6-21 March.

In the afternoon I spent quite a bit of time working out how to get the text I want on the Owl Service.  I traced the shape of the negative space on the piece and played with the text on the tracing. Once I was happy with the layout on the tracing paper I decided the easiest method was to copy it on to the linen in pencil. I drew light lines on the piece and centred the text, then penciled it on. I had not expected to use this method, but when it came to the point this seemed the only viable way.

I had several attempts at the lettering, beginning with Quaker stitch in black linen thread. That proved to be far too thick and heavy, so heavy that the text wasn't clear. I unpicked and swapped over to split stitch in 6 strands of silk thread in dark green. It was still so thick the letters merged. I have finally went to 3 strands of stranded silk and took the piece out of the hoop. Holding it in my hand seemed to work better. I have used a combination of stem stitch and straight stitch to get this far. It's hard, painstaking work, but I'm hoping it will come a bit easier before too long.

For those of you who have asked about it,  the orienteering excursion with the Outdoor Ed class.and their teacher did go ahead with Brigid assisting. Predictably, it took more time than the 2 hours allocated  and they were 45 minutes late back to school. Fortunately she still had time to come here, change, relax and get to her birthday dinner on time. She is a remarkable, capable and resilient young woman.  Just as well. There's a lot  outside her control that could have gone wrong today. She did all the right things to contain and manage the risk. Brava.

Post 355 All about friends and textiles

 I had a very slow start this morning, getting up late and finishing Clare Chase's Mystery on Hidden Lane, the first of her Eve Mallow series. I'm glad I didn't start with this one. While it has the framework of the later books in the series and the beginnings of the community, I found it a bit convoluted and over-detailed. I think she has improved as she's gone along.

The postman called as I was finishing it. He had my package from Ink and Spindle. I had bought three bundles of remnants in their recent sale as well as a metre of their flax coloured eco-linen.

The remnants are really inspiring - and a complete indulgence. I have no immediate use for them but they fill me with ideas. I can see some of them embellished (colour on the wrens, or on some of the line-drawn plants for example) 

Or rows of stitching along the arced lines of the river bed pieces shown here. There are more, of varying sizes. None are large but I''m envisaging pouches and bags.

I'm putting them de for a while - I will not be distracted!

They are, however, lovely. Ink and Spindle use Belgian linen of superbe quality - I'm in thrall.

I did a little on my Owl Service in the vain hope I'd get the motifs finished before I left to Sit'n Stitch at Susan's place. In the end I took it with me and finished it there. There were various little bits of correction to do as will as what was left to complete on second small motif.

Now for the quote. The plan is to put a piece of tracing paper over it and trace the outline then practice writing on the tracing paper version to get the spacing and layout right. I'm thinking I might need to work through Solvi or

 tracing paper to get it even. Then I can use the gimp that is on its way from The Thread Studio to outline the edge of the 'plate'.

I'm very pleased with it.Susan and I had a productive and most relaxed afternoon. Her piece from Margaret Light's book is coming on beautifully.

Nelly sent me some photos of some clothing she has and did not include in the collection she has lent me. They are all embroidered by her mother-in-law, Vala Georgieva, who is now working on 4 tree of life embroideries for Nelly and other members of her family. 

I am going to take up Nelly's offer to borrow these as well for our World Embroidery Study Group meeting in April.

How beautiful is this? 

From Susan's I went on to friends' place for dinner. I do like the entrance to their place- the depth of blue in the pot and the thriving native plants. 

Barbara had cooked tray-baked pork sausages with roast vegetables from a recipe. It was not only excellent but has inspired me for a Monday night dinner.

While we were solving the problems of the world I finished another crocheted square. As you can see, I've moved on to a ball of orange cotton.

That's about it for today. Tomorrow I need to prepare the text for the WES Group entry in the Guild Exhibition. Margaret M has our pieces on Inuit embroidery laid out ready to fix. Brigid is also coming here after she finishes work at St Aloysius School before going out with a friend for her birthday. She's booked to accompany an orienteering excursion, which I'm hoping will be cancelled as the forecast is 35C and the exercise is in a State Forrest on the edge of the recent bushfire. 

Post 354 Milestones

 This morning's big news was from my friend Pat Manser. Her project of last five years has come to fruition. Pat worked on the original research team established by Arthur Delbridge to scope and plan an Australian dictionary. She has been passionate about the need to tell the story. It will be released in eBook format next Tuesday and after that in hardback. I've ordered my Kindle copy to be delivered next Tuesday.

It's a story worth telling, and important in the history of Australian culture - the way we see and think about ourselves. All credit to Pat for persisting in bringing it to publication. 

I'm looking forward to reading it next week.

Most of my day was spent preparing for tonight's birthday dinner. I made a trip to Rheinland Bakery on Port Rd. I'd been planning to order a Dobosch cake last week, but realised Niamh and Veronica would not be able to eat it with the bands on their teeth. When I discussed it with them on the weekend, they were adamant that they could remove the toffee triangles and eat the cake. By then the shop was closed for the weekend. I rang them at 8am this morning but they did not have one in stock today. I went to the shop later in the morning and bought a chocolate mouse cake with chocolate shards around the outside. On the suggestion of the shop assistant I added some strawberries.

I'm not good at taking photos when on a mission, as I was today. The pastitsio me phyllo (or pasta pie to the kids) worked well.  I also cooked some chicken Marylands for Fionn, whose athletic diet doesn't allow for large serves of pasta, pastry and cheeses. 

At the moment blowing out candles over a cake that is going to be shared is not a safe  or recommended thing to do. I came up with a sacrificial hot cross bun and stuck two candles , a 1 and an 8 in them for the blowing out. I then discarded the bun and candles.  Improvisation.  Another new normal?

Brigid's birthday is not until Wednesday, but Niamh and Veronica have to go on a school camp that day, and Brigid has to help supervise an orienteering excursion.

We gave her her presents after dinner. I reckon she had a good time. I certainly did! 

I'm also conscious of those who would love to have seen this day - Jim, who was acutely aware he would not be likely to see it, my father, who lived to meet Brigid and my mother who didn't but would be so full of joy and admiration. I'm not sad about this today - more alert to their ongoing contribution.

I'm getting quicker at photographing some of the birds coming home to roost at sunset.

Yes, this in a bird, not a plane. The proportional size is a function of the zoom

I managed a little bit of the Owl Service. I reckon there's about another 3 hours of stitching to finish it. Then comes the lettering - perhaps the hardest bit.

The forecast for the next few days is 33C, 36C, 37C, 34C before dropping to 25C.  I'm hoping for not too much noise from the building work, effective aircon and time to finish stitching this.

Post 353 Light, shade and birds

I woke briefly early this morning, checked that last night's blog email had been delivered and there were no surprising emails, then went back to sleep. It was, after all, very late when I went to bed last night. I woke to this interesting pattern on the blind. 

I had breakfast and eventually went to Frewville to fill the gaps in yesterday's shopping.  I also bought a couple of Vietnamese cold prawn rolls for my dinner. 

As I left for Frewville I noticed a dove soaking up the warmth of the balcony tiles, contented enough to let me snap a photo without moving.

This morning my neighbour sent me a photo of the lights she had alerted me to last night. Melody had worked it out - a Valentine's Day heart. I assumed the lower floor lights had been turned off before I got home.

Tonight, however, the truth dawned.

My friend lives at the opposite end of our apartment block (which has a long frontage and only 3 storeys in height), She looks straight on to the illuminated building, while I look at an angle - with another building in between that blocks my view of the lower part of the heart!

We'll just have to imagine.

My friend Peter in London is still feeding his sheltering pigeon with muesli. Good to see it is still surviving the wind and snow.  I began a new book - the first of the Clare Chase Eve Mallory series, Mystery on Hidden Lane.

Eventually I set it aside with a little reluctance and took up the Owl Service, working on the seed-poddy things on the large motif. My new threads are serving me well. I also heard from The Thread Studio to say my gimp will be in tomorrow's mail. Great service!

I keep forgetting to replenish my supply of seed for the doves, courtesy of Katherine's chickens. I put the last bits out this afternoon and was rewarded by a visit from Black Tips. 

By dinner time I had finished embroidering the large flower motif. It has turned out much better than I had dared to hope.

I have made a start on the last flower. This time I stayed away from white thread and laid a guide thread of a goldy-brown 5 perle. It makes the gold couching much easier. I'm still covering the perle but the brown is much more forgiving. There's a way to go, but the end is in sight.

It's unlikely that much will get done tomorrow. Tomorrow's dinner will be a small preliminary celebration for Brigid's 18th birthday.