Post 503 Preparing, Relaxing, Enjoying.

It began as a week of getting jobs done, catching up on things I have been putting off. On Wednesday I went to the hairdresser, hung the photograph I had framed a few weeks ago, and prepared my tax.

Many thanks to the friends who provided advice on carpet cleaning. That was helpful, supportive and useful. I haven't as yet acted, but I will. Next week I plan to visit Bunnings to investigate further. At the moment I am favouring buying a small carpet shampooer. 

On Thursday I took the plasters off my back and got back to Pilates (not in that order!). On the way I called at Bunnings and bought potting mix, some dianthus, a couple of wheel platforms for pots and some wall hooks that hold weight and don't require tools to install. I haven't heard back from my former picture hanger, so decided to see if I could do it myself. 

The mirrored mosaic I bought a few weeks ago weighs 4.2kg. I used a 7 kg hook for plasterboard walls and followed the instructions. 

 It's holding up firmly.  The lovely pinky watercolour visible in the left of the photo is by Brigid. I moved it to where it now is so it can be seen from the corridor. It goes well with the Ruth Tuck watercolour above it.

It was formerly on the corridor wall where I have now hung Colleen's Green Parrots and Ginger Jar (above left). I think it all works - and I did it myself! 

I also made adjustments to a bark Wandjina painting that hangs over my bath. A couple of the hangers (removable adhesive so as not to damage the tiles) had fallen off, so it hung askew. My efforts were not of a high standard, as I did not want to climb in the bath while on my own, but I did manage to support and straighten it.

The two books on Mexican embroidery that I ordered after seeing the Frida and Diego exhibition arrived (separately) this week. I'm hoping that someone in the WES Group will be inspired to investigate and tell us about it sometime next year. The Guild Museum has a decent collection of Mexican embroidery.

The Goodman book has a lot of very helpful information about stitches.

Birds are still active and I am trying to resist too many photos.  I can't claim to have been successful in that.

I finished off the Christmas bags - adding the ribbon to the last one. I also stopped off at DK Fabrics on Thursday and bought some black zips, one of which I used to turn the embroidery from Christine Bishop's Romanian Braid and Needle Weaving workshop in March of this year, into a pouch. I found some raw silk, from a suit I once had, to use as lining, so it could be used for storing pearls, or other jewellery. 

It was a long weekend in much of Australia, our State included. My brother and sister-in-law arrived on Sunday for a week's visit - the first since COVID hit, so much of the early part of my week was taken up with preparations. They had a busy week (including two surprise birthday parties in 48 hours) before their (inevitably delayed) flight. 

It is fantastic to have them here. We have been catching up with each other and visiting the Kilkenny mob. Katherine hosted a family lunch for 10 yesterday which was fabulous in every way, from the conversation, shared experiences and empathy to Anthony's wonderful lamb roast, vegetable smorgasbord and Katherine's pavlova.  

I now have an advance copy of Jim's latest book, which is to be released on 30 October. I'll provide more details closer to the date.

Meanwhile, Margaret is making the most of the hap stretcher, stretching a navy shawl she finished a year ago for herself. It is even more complex than her last. I hope she will wear it to our December WES meeting when we discuss knitting.   

For those following the progress of my latest shawl,  I'm now on to the 7th of the 8 required 28 row patterns. 

Finally, two more books arrived today from Can Do Books. Textile Portraits looks a bit ambitious, but Japanese Knitting Stitches looks as if it has some achievable, interesting stitches - to add to my list of things to try!