This week began with a morning of duty at the Guild Exhibition. The photos shows a small part of it. There are just under 300 exhibits spread over the gallery and the house. You can just see my bags on the back wall. We were quite busy on Wednesday morning with a group from the country driving up together to visit. We had plenty of helpers.
I did another three hours on Sunday, which was much quieter. This is the small garden between the house and Gallery. Helpers had time to sit and talk.
The exhibition was planned for last year. Numbers of both exhibitors and attendees are down on previous years, but still respectable. Exhibition regulars came and clearly get joy out of the work. Some go away quite excited, with an idea or two. There are also a few visitors who are new and also get excited. On Wednesday I met a young woman from Brazil who has an Art business in Adelaide and is interested in the World Embroidery Study Group.
I've been working steadily on the Turkman pouch. It's almost finished. The corner tassels are not yet done. I'm playing with using some gum nuts I've gilded a little, (resting there in the photos). I'm not convinced. I'll publish the story and result in my embroidery blog in the next couple of days.
Sunday morning was our Book Club meeting with lots of good discussion and ideas. I had chosen the books - Aaron Elkins' Gideon Oliver series and Sujarta Massey's Murder at Malabar Hill. Everyone liked the latter, and most liked Aaron Elkins.
The weather has been quite variable, 31C one day, but down to 19C and 20C on others. I'm not complaining. 31 is far more tolerable when followed by the low 20s. We had one night of rain so the plants have needed regular watering. The dove pair, especially Black Tips, have spent a lot of time visiting, even when I haven't put out seed - although no doubt the hope is still there!
Like me, they now indulge in a lot of sitting!
There's a new flower on the aloe, so I'm keeping an eye out for the Noisy Miner, who seems to have a grapevine that notifies of this bloom.
This Schlumbergia is also blooming, I think for the first time. So far there is only one flower but a couple more coming.
The marigolds are going great guns and very cheering. I like to watch the buds form and open - such a contrast to the extravagance of the flowers.
On the front balcony I have two frangipani blooming, the red one for the first time. Unfortunately neither of them are scented but I'm still pleased to have them. Hopefully the one I added a month ago will bloom with scent next year.
The building continues its steady upward rise. It is now, I think, probably 5 storeys high (four more to go).The white strip of wall close to the scaffold is the new building, the darker wall is my balcony. There's a bit of noise, but still not enough to distress me. I avoid my living area when there is a concrete pour or the crane lifting panels into place. I can no longer see the work from my balcony except for a very rare instance of a worker climbing the scaffold.
By this morning we worked out that the two brothers were never actually transported. They appear to have served their sentences on the hulk Leviathan, Henry serving the full 7 years and John released on parole after 4 years. Their gaolers gave them reports of good behaviour which may have been the reason they were never transported. The UK Hulk Registers and Letter Books 1802-1847 for Henry and John Attersley show a few others with similar outcome. I did not know some sentenced convicts stayed on the hulks. It's a bit of a toss-up whether they were better off.This is my grandmother, Ada whose ancestors these were. It now looks as if her line can be traced back through the Attesley's to Philip Attesley (1541-1572) and his wife Alyce Drawton (1542-1579). I have very little information about their lives except that two of their seven children survived to adulthood and by the 18th century their descendants were small-hold farmers. At no point in time does it look like an easy life.
Last night I cooked another variation of the tray-baked pork sausages . Once again, it was successful. Brigid had a 7pm netball committee meeting, so the kids and I ate just after 6. Katherine and Anthony picked them up in time to drop Brigid at her meeting and took the small cooked dish home to eat. I still didn't remember to photograph the cooked version!
Yesterday was also the day of International Women's Day marches around Australia, focused on 'Enough is Enough' a version of 'Me too' triggered by some recent prominent cases here. I decided it was too difficult to go to the local march today but my spirit was there.
I have changed my mind about using the Bushfire project for my Design Online project. I think it's too ambitious for the course, so I''m working on doing something with one of these linen pieces from Ink and Spindle. Not sure what yet, but using the river motif.
The post today included two books from separate sources. Each was packaged neatly in a padded paper bag that fits in the letterbox! Bravo! One is, of course, the paper copy of Pat's book which I have already read on Kindle. I wanted a copy I can lend to people. The other is another of Shiela Payne's books. I haven't had a chance to browse carefully but it does have numerous index references to Bulgaria.
Finally, I did a repair job this morning for a friend. I have repaired these before - favourite orange trousers bought in Indonesia that split. Last week Ken sent this photo (left) of another disaster to befall them, above a previous patch.
I stitched the tear to a piece of batik on the inside then stitched another batik patch over the top. 
Later this year the World Embroidery Group is having a couple of sessions on Mend and Make Do. I might borrow them back to take along!
Until next week.
