Post627 Looking Up!

I picked up my lost bathers late on Wednesday morning without hassle, did some shopping (began with a list of 3 things and filled two shopping bags!) and rewarded myself with lunch at A Prayer for the Wild at Heart. I haven’t been for several weeks, but the waiter remembered my order. It was hot and windy, so I sat inside, looking over the Square.

The kingfish was very good but regretfully I didn’t think to photograph it until I had destroyed much of the design artistry.

The early part of the day had been spent checking my  presentation on Mexican Embroidery for the Monday Guild General Meeting - finding notes and source books, reminding myself of facts, and working out how I could present the material if the projection fails.  I ended up working out how to save a set of slide handouts as a pdf (since my printer is now black and white, direct printing won’t work) then sending it to OfficeWorks to be printed in colour. I ordered two copies so, if projection fails, I could work from my iPad mini and pass my laptop, regular iPad and two printed copies around the audience. Crude but just about adequate.

On Thursday morning, after an auspicious sunrise, my printed Blue Bird linen arrived from the Crewel Work Company, so after  Pilates I picked up the colour prints and stopped at the Guild to show the linen to some of those who had helped me find threads. We also tested the projection using my usb with Monday’s PowerPoint loaded. There were significant problems, which we  eventually narrowed down to the inadequacy of Internet connection in the Gallery when the Microsoft Office subscription apparently requires it. We found a solution- use a pdf version which will work directly from a laptop. It began to look as if I wouldn’t need my emergency paper versions. I did, however, have two backup usbs carrying both pdf and PP versions.  It didn’t come to that. After a bit of manipulation yesterday, the projection worked. The talk went off smoothly and there was a lot of positive feedback. Phew!

I don’t usually accept Monday commitments because I’m preparing dinner for family, so I’d made moussaka in advance, had ingredients for a Greek salad ready to assemble, and stopped of at my local IGA for bread on the way home.

They had bunches of white daisies, perfect for my empty ceramic vase. A little celebration. It was good to hear positive accounts of the first teaching week of university from the girls.

The Guild had passed my name, and a list of the presentations I’ve given, to the organisers of an Embroidery Retreat in Adelaide later this year and the organisers rang me on Friday morning to discuss possibilities of a lecture at their retreat. The pleasant, lengthy discussion resulted in my agreeing to roll aspects of Anglo Saxon, Celtic and Viking embroidery into a presentation on Embroidery in the Early Medieval Period.

While this will involve a bit of extra work, it is within my knowledge base and is within the scope of what I have already agreed to do for WES later this year. I’ve begun the work. 

Later in the day I called at Create in Stitch to pick up the remaining 25 skeins of Appleton’s wool needed for the Blue Bird linen. I found 22 of them. The remaining 3 are out of stock, but won’t hold me up. I’m sure I can work for several months before I miss them.

  

Back in January I enrolled in the new RSN Online Course on the History of Embroidery, scheduled to begin in February. The link to begin the course arrived early on Saturday, greeting me when I woke up. I have opened the link and read the introduction. Serendipitously, the first module, designed to take I month, is on The Early Medieval Period! Even the introduction has provided a piece of information that will help shape my August presentation to the tour group! Deo Volente!

I finished reading St Brigid of Kildare, and moved straight on to The Full Moon Coffee Shop, since the yarn skeins to go with the book are now ready to pick up from The Yarn Trader. Having read the book, I went looking for a pattern and found one that fits - a shawl with stars.   The projects are mounting up.

The Nomad Farm birthday wool is turning into a shawl. When it’s done I will need to decide whether to start the book shawl or the Blue Bird linen. There’s no urgency, since I’ve barely made inroads into the three balls of wool. This is going to be an enveloping shawl!

Today I visited the podiatrist and later picked up the garment the dressmaker has completed for Brigid and I. We are delighted with it. I will post a photo and explanation some time in the future. I discussed a garment for myself, from another of the lengths of silk I bought in the eastern Silk sale. I need to find lining fabric before we progress. It is not my usual colour, but I like it a lot.

I missed swimming today - a combination of tiredness and the timing of the dressmaker. I plan to make it up tomorrow before a late lunch with friends. 

There's been a lot going on this week. And to cap it off, tonight's blood moon is now well underway. 

I have some writing tasks I'd like to get on with, some family history and a tribute to my deceased friend Lorraine but for the moment Early Medieval embroidery takes priority. I'm unlikely to be bored!