Post 363 Plants, real and embroidered, scaffolds of all kinds.

My apologies to those who get this blog by email. Last night I posted just after midnight but somehow missed the 11pm-1am window in which the email is set to go out. Thanks to Robin for alerting me and enabling me to reset the window this morning. 

In spite of the Post number, this is the 365th post since I began this blog a year ago tomorrow. I missed one because of an international date change on the plane and I doubled up numbers on three posts. My thanks to all who are still following along. It's not yet the end - weekly posts will follow for the rest of the year.

 This morning brought a lovely long email from Genevieve in Brussels. She is in fairly restrictive lockdown, and missing seeing her family on a daily basis.She has, of course, been very busy stitching. I really love the biscornu. The monogram is pretty impressive too.  

Most impressive, however, is the finished panel for the Floris ende Blancefloer tapestry project that I wrote about eight months ago. Genevieve worked the bird, the columns and the executioner.

It is such a privilege to have found a dozen or so people in the world who share your interests. Even when we can't get together we can share, support and learn from each other. It's a reason why I will continue to post weekly as long as it helps to keep us in touch. I trust friends will continue to send me bits of news or simply stay in touch. 

Another surprise this morning was a photo from a second cousin I met through Ancestry. He lives in Lincoln, England and my maternal grandmother and his maternal grandfather were siblings. This is a photo of my grandmother's brother Charlie and his second wife, Ethel, in the 1980s. My grandmother was one of 12 children and I had photos of all but two of them. Now I'm missing only one, Edwin, who died aged 19 in 1925.

I needed to go to Taking Shape in the Unley Village to pick up a top I had bought online and had thought I might go on to Create in Stitch to see if they had some A Ver a Soie red silk to replace the orange in the kit I bought for the Remembrance project in Inspirations 109. 

I should have realised from the photo in the magazine that it was not true red. I can't bring myself to make this in anything other than blood red. It occurred to me that I might have some suitable red silk. Sure enough, I had a skein of 12ply Soie Cristale silk in a perfect red!

So instead of Create in Stitch, I went to Barrow and Bench on Unley Rd and bought some plants to replace the geraniums that are looking a bit tatty on the Eastern balcony. I also found another healthy looking frangipani - the common white with yellow centre I am missing - and a chain of beans (like chain of hearts, but bean shape).  

I picked up the top on the way home.

The scaffold had risen another layer by the time I got home. I settled my new flowering colour then trimmed and moved the geraniums to pots on the front balcony.

For now I've hung the chain of beans on the side of the wall garden. I shall probably put it in the top basket so it hangs down the side.

The scaffold at the front of the apartment was in the process of being raised as well.  I settled the frangipani into a large watermiser pot alongside one of the yukkas. Here's hoping!

I intended progressing the squirrel, but couldn't resist trying the red silk thread on the poppy, so I transferred the leaf templates and hooped up the orange fabric. I'm going to try making two poppies, so I traced 8 leaves to the fabric and began outlining the wire on one of them.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      I've managed to finish one petal. The red silk works brilliantly, using 4 strands. Now, shall I continue on the poppy or return to the squirrel? Or alternate?

For the moment I added some leaves to the squirrel. Hedging my bets.

Hopefully there will be something to show on both in a week's time when I next post.

The story will continue in a week's time. I'm planning on Wednesday posts. I'm tempted by Tuesday, but I have another 50 minute dental appointment next Tuesday which may leave me a bit the worst for wear - so I'm aiming for Wednesday.

It's also in my diary to check that the email went out as soon as I wake on Thursday.

Until Wednesday.

Post 362 Walls go up, squirrels emerge and Sophie's Universe expands.

This morning, when the building work began around 7am, there was a bit of tapping and drilling noise and a slight chemical smell. It was not enough to draw me to investigate and I drifted back to sleep. When I raised the blind, around 9.30, I discovered the wall has risen by another level. As I expected, the wall is going to protrude just over a metre beyond our building and my balcony.

 

This is what it looks like from the chair inside my bedroom .The wall will, of course, keep going higher - to 9 storeys. I'd prefer it wasn't there, but it is not terrible. Yes, it will block some of my view from the balcony, but it is nowhere near as drastic as I had feared.

This (left) is the view from my sewing machine (the sewing/office room has a non-opening window on to the balcony)

and this (below right) is what you see at the moment from the window of the spare bedroom. The scaffold will, of course, eventually be removed.

From my bed the wall is not visible at all. If I find the wall annoying me, I shall probably move the chair to the other wall rather than spend longer in bed!

This afternoon was our Sit'nStitch. Susan is doing great things with one of the Margaret Light designs using Gum Nut woollen threads. I didn't take a photo. 

Jennifer meanwhile has progressed  her Sophie's Universe. The circle has turned into a square and will continue that way. It gets longer and longer around each row. Jennifer is well up to the challenge. 

Susan and I are in awe. 

Many thanks to those of you who have expressed approval of my decision to continue weekly posts to this blog. I am most appreciative. I'm also glad  so many have enjoyed reading my daily routines and occasional adventures. My friend Christine in Watford has even written a poem! My only quarrel is that it is au revoir, rather than adieu - it will, after tomorrow, only be a week to the next post!

It was a year since it started,
As her home shores she departed,
She blogged of her travels and much much much more,
Of Shakespeare,Anne Hathaway and all that folklore,
Of linens and thread,
Of meals and new beds,
Till she picked up her skirts and ran for that plane,
Leaving the UK  and all of that rain,
As holding her breath she just made it back,
As the world all fell silent and had to change tack.

So she’s blogged for a year,
But the last postings now here,
As she knitted and sewed and crocheted and cooked,
And we all waited to see what new activity she’d booked,
With birds being feed,
And sunsets all red,
We enjoyed the wide views,
From the balconies two,
And those golfing kangaroos were really just great,
And we mustn’t forget Murtle ( and of course her best mate)

So farewell and adieu to Jillian’s fair table,
As we all await soon to hear old Aesop’s Fables.

(Eat your heart out Keats - well it is his 200th anniversary this week)

Thank you so much Christine. It's so generous when you are coping with lockdown - and trying to trim your own hair. It will be such a joy if we can meet up again in a year or so.

For dinner I had reheated left-overs from last night - delicious. I think Ken is right. He thought the secret of this dish was the oil, lemon juice and garlic mixture in which is it roasted. That flavour was even stronger when reheated.

It's been, from my point of view, a much more pleasant day weather-wise at 23C compared to last week's temperatures.

Here's my progress on the squirrel. I'm not quite happy with it but will probably move o the leaves and remaining trunk before attempting any tweaks. 

It's very satisfying.

Post 361 A lot of food, Exhibition entries go and Aesop starts.

 After breakfast this morning I prepared the meal for tonight.  This is based on the recipe for Tray baked pork sausages and roasted vegetables that I had at my friends' place last week. I had, I admit, added quite a few more vegetables  and used five times the number of sausages recommended in the recipe. I also doubled the cooking time because of the volume.

The recipe served three of us last week and I was cooking for 7. Clearly I had over-estimated. These are large dishes. The vegetables were fennel, carrots, parsnips, capsicum, shallots, baby beetroot, brussel sprouts and, of course, potatoes. I added broccoli about 15 minutes before the end.

In the event, Anthony and Fionn were not well today, stayed home and may or may not have been up to eating tonight. I estimate that the top tray - which just fits in my oven, would have fed the 7 of us. As it was, 5 of us demolished the contents of the oval dish and made some inroads into the other. Generous serves went home for the invalids and I have a meal for tomorrow.

Regretfully, I forgot again to photograph the cooked versions! We are agreed, however, that this can be added to the Monday repertoire.

                                                                                                                                                                                      I  then ironed my bags for the Guild Exhibition. There are four of them (one bag is embroidered both sides). With the Owl Service hanging, that makes 5 entries. I found tags and filled out five forms I  printed yesterday and placed them in the padded bags I made for an exhibition a couple of years ago. This is a prerequisite of entries. I had planned to take these to the Guild tomorrow, but figured since I had ironed them it would be better not to try to store them here any longer,

so I took them out to the Guild. Basics2Beyond was in full swing. I put in my apologies. The registration process swung into action, numbering, tagging, photographing and entering into a database. My entries are numbers 77-81.

Back at home the building was continuing nest door with the crane working. I didn't try to find out what it was doing, but from the hook attached I suspect it is lifting panels into place. There is no sign of walls rising further yet at the back.

It didn't deter my dove friends who visited several times and seem to be in fine feather.

I have put the first stitches in the Aesop Frame. I want to finish the top leaves and the squirrel before I add any highlights to the tree - and I'm going to be light-handed when I do.

It's good to have started. 

There are only two more daily posts. I will, however, keep daily photos and note events, so that the weekly posts can continue some of the narratives and progress. 

Post 360 Books, Doves and the entry of a squirrel.

 I'm glad that, when heading out to my Crime Book Club meeting this morning at Uncle Albert's cafe in Norwood,  I thought to try this necklace, given to me by Alison a few years ago, on my bamboo top. I'm glad that, when heading out to my Crime Book Club meeting this morning at Uncle Albert's cafe in Norwood,  I thought to try this necklace, given to me by Alison a few years ago, on my bamboo top. The beads in the necklace have a green tinge, which I couldn't capture. It works really well. 

It was a good Book Club session - six of us, the full quota. The format works well. While we are rostered to recommend 2 or 3 books for everyone to read, there is no compulsion to read all - or indeed any - of them. After we've discussed the recommended books we share what we've read in the month, which results in a long list of titles and enough information to know whether you'd want to read them. There are 32 titles on the list generated today, of which I will probably try 3 or 4.

Coles, the supermarket I usually use near Uncle Alberts, is being demolished and rebuilt. I tried Foodland over the road, which was terrific. I was looking for chipolatas for tomorrow night's dinner and they had 5 different kinds. 

When I got home a strange squawking noise drew me to the back balcony. There were the two young doves, Black Tips and Blush. He was puffed up and she was grooming him. I wondered if it were a mating ritual. 

She walked away, ate a little seed and drank some water.

I then realised that one of his tail feathers appeared damaged. It was bent at an angle to the other feathers. He spent ten or so minutes grooming his feathers. I couldn't really see how it would help but it did appear that he was trying to fix the problem.

There was a lot of fluffing of feathers. It was windy and the wind was strengthening. I watched for quite a long time, because I was worried whether he would be able to fly with the broken feather.

Blush hung around, keeping watch. 

Eventually, he sampled the seed and water,  mounted the rail and flew off - seemingly with ease.

They returned several times in the afternoon but without any more of the previous behaviour and with no sign of the damaged feather. His tail seemed normal.

I found my archive pen and marked the back of my Owl Service. I printed five exhibition entry forms,  dug out the padded bags required for Exhibition entries, as many tags as I could find and gathered the 4 bags I embroidered with the exhibition in mind. They need a good iron.  I put that off till tomorrow. 

I debated whether to begin the Remembrance Poppy, or to launch into the Aesop Frame. The poppy was tempting, but when I got it out I was unhappy with the orange colour of the fabric and silk thread. The fabric I can live with, but the silk thread that covers it needs, in my opinion, to be blood red, since it is representing blood. I'm not sure if I can get the right red in A ver au soie silk in Adelaide, but I want to try before I launch into it, so I set it aside and got out the Aesop.

It took me a while to find it. I had put it away in a safe place when Alison and Karl came to stay in January.

I read the booklet, unrolled the linen for the first time and mounted it in a ten inch frame, covered with cling film,

I used quilting clips to roll up the excess linen. I'm now ready to start.  

Rather than start tonight, I added a couple of circles to the apricot collection I've been working on over the last few days. I now have three edges and 5 circles - half the number I'm aiming for.

Along the way, another interesting, mild sunset.