Post521 As busy as...

February is going to be a busy month for me, so I'm glad to have the evening bat fly-by (to the left above the smaller pine) as the sunset fades to provide a sense of routine, calmness and beauty. They have been as regular as clockwork this week.

On Wednesday I did the worst chore early, ironing the fabric I had cut out last week to make bags.It took a while, folding and ironing in the seam allowances so  I can stitch them down on the outside.

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It is difficult to do this sitting, and standing aggravates my sciatica, but I did it in batches and ended up with 40 bags ready to sew. They include a few Japanese wrapping cloths I've had for a long time and am turning into wrapping bags.

To recover I sat and finished the Galaxy Dreaming panel and tried it out on table, along with the three panels I have from Vivienne. My thinking now is that I will complete 6 more panels and join them into a tablecloth. These 4 panels are placed for fit, not design, and I'm thinking it will look stunning when done. My arm was sore from the Shingles injection the day before and, between the injection and ironing, I was feeling very tired so I took myself to A Prayer for the Wild at Heart for a very late lunch/early dinner. On my return I began the Kaffe Fassett Inca Cardigan. I know it is hardly knitting weather, but I really wanted to see how it was done - and to try out my new ebony needles.

   Unpacking the wool I discovered that I didn't have a basket or bag that would hold all the wool with the needles and pattern. Given the number of colours involved,  the complexity of the pattern, and the time it is likely to take to knit, I thought it would be worth looking for a cheap basket at an op shop. As the first 4 rows of the pattern are all in one colour, I knitted that and called it a day.

On Thursday I stopped off at the Salvos and Vinnies stores conveniently side-by-side around the corner from Pilates. I soon realised that baskets are things that op shops use rather than sell! Eventually, in Vinnies, I found a large, if strange, basket in need of fixing.  The label has it as a product of  Aldi. It has a metal frame, with faux (ie plastic) canes woven in large loops around the outside. A number of these had come loose and been placed back willy-nilly. It was a good size, the frame was sound  and for $10 I thought I could make it work.

At home I lined it with a cloth before trying it out, to ensure the loose canes didn't catch the wool. It worked well, so I set about re-weaving the rods into their intended places. It took a bit of patience and logic, but produced a decent result. I doubt it's a durable, long-term product but is, I think, fit for this purpose - and I have an idea for using the frame with woven cloth strips in the long term.                

My obsession with using photos to create bookmarks took a turn on Friday morning. I went to the Vistaprint site to experiment with a couple of photos and noticed that they also print to tote bags. I had jokingly said to a friend who said she wanted one of my faces totes, that it would be great if I could print the embroidered design on to cloth. Bingo!

I then spent an hour or so, playing with photos and templates to produce a sample. It is only possible to print a 20x20 cm image, but we'll see how it goes. This is the photo of my finished template online. The printed product is due to arrive tomorrow.  If this works, I could try looking for a printer that can do larger images. Officeworks, I notice does print a larger tote surface, but only on one side of the bag. This one has an image on both sides.

A new way of making bags is hardly at the top of my to-do list. Experimenting and playing with photos and textiles, however, is.  

Late on Friday night I got a promotional email from the Innovations Catalogue that featured a small portable hose. This first hot summer in a couple of years had me thinking again of any way to get a hose to my front balcony. I had a tap installed on the back one, but putting one on the front balcony involves cutting several holes in my ceilings to feed the pipes through. The hose ad said it could fit any tap, which set me wondering. On Saturday morning first thing I examined my kitchen tap, which, it turns out, has a thread. It was JEMS day, so after I dropped Niamh at JEMS I visited Bunnings, found the same 10 metre long portable hose ($4 cheaper than Innovations and no delivery required!) AND an adapter for attaching a hose to an indoor tap!

 At home, it took me a little while to work out how to attach the adaptor.  The hose connection isn't perfect. There is a little bit of leakage, which increases with water pressure. The stream of water that comes through the 10 metres of hose is hardly gushing, but it is a lot better than carrying watering cans back and forth! It is slower than a regular hose, but I can attach the hose and water the whole balcony in 15 minutes. The bucket collects about half a pint of water from the leaking collection, which I can use on my indoor plants.

I can also leave the hose running to fill up the water wells in the large pots. I'll still need to use watering cans to fertilise, but this really does improve my front balcony gardening. An excellent innovation! Only took me 8 years to find it.

I made it back to JEMS in time to pick up Niamh. It looked like a good session with about 8 or so students. The Queen St Cafe owner was pleased to see Niamh and I and served our milkshakes and rhubarb friands without being asked. I caught up on school and holiday news. It was Katherine, Anthony, Brigid and I for dinner.  Brigid and Veronica had bought me a lovely Murano glass necklace for my birthday.  It seems to go with almost everything and I've been wearing it all week. 

This is a very busy family month, with school formal, Taylor Swift concert, several birthdays, including Brigid's 21st,  a bit of pressure on the school students regarding pending international visits and Special Projects. I got a sneak peak of formal dresses. Wow!  I have a number of commitments, including my Mexican embroidery  presentation and vaccinations.  

Today I got to AquaFit, the podiatrist and picked up my spare pair of glasses from the optometrist. In between I've been working on a canvas work cushion for a birthday next week. My original plan was to make it into a zipped bag, but on Niamh's advice I consulted the intended recipient, and, lo, she was right - he  prefers a cushion! Glad I asked.

I've ordered a ready-made zippered back, which should arrive tomorrow. It's a challenge to get it finished by next week, but easier than my original plan  - and I'm up for it . It's a long time since I did canvas work, and I'm not sure I've ever done one with the pattern painted on. It's quite challenging, with lots of hard-to-distinguish shading, but I am enjoying it. The texture is fabulous.

Better get on with it!