Post 453 Birds, bougainvillea and 'broidery.

On Thursday morning around 7am two lorikeets were busy on what I think is a native frangipani tree the near my balcony.  They had a fine time. They are supple contortionists, hanging and bending to extract the nectar.

The two worked independently, in different parts of the tree, but stayed in touch by sound and left together. I now have quite a collection of lorikeet photos. I just click away, then edit for an hour or so  afterwards. 

Later in the day, while balancing near the window at Pilates, I noticed bees moving around on the lemon blossom, so detoured past the tree on my way out to get a couple of photos.

Better still, however, was the Bougainvillea - nothing quite like that colour.

On Friday an electrician came,  checked my outdoor powerpoint (all good) and put the powerpoint I wanted on the wall near my sewing machine. I've wanted that for so long - no more extension cord across the room!

He finished in time for me to have lunch at the Grange Hotel and a short walk before Sit'nStitch. We covered a lot of (mostly knitting related) ground and I got a whole cable done.  

           

The Gymea continues to fascinate. The bees have been at work, and the lily has expanded to fill the pot it sits in . You can now see the seed pods that will emerge under the pollen.

It is an extraordinary plant. This is one single flower head!  

On Saturday I got home from the Guild Certificate Course Workshop to find two Noisy Miners feeding on the nearby tree. They are harder to spot than the lorikeets but my patience was rewarded with a couple of shots. 

           

The workshop was on Needle Weaving on Perforated Fabric with Di Kirshner. She is a great teacher, and the session was relaxed, informative, friendly and engaging. Most of the time was spent setting up our piece ready for the weaving but I did get to begin before I left. 

I finished off the first motif when I got home. It is an inspired design that I look forward to finishing. I'm afraid there is a bit of a queue forming! I have finished the piece, but will write a bit more in my embroidery blog when it's constructed.  It has also given me an idea of my Christmas projects - there's a bit of a queue for those too!

The painting of Para Wirra from last weekend's auction is hanging now at Katherine and Anthony's place - and looks splendid. As Katherine says, it is exactly as Para Wirra looked in the 70s. I haven't been there for decades, but I imagine it is more bushlanded now.

Our Book Club met on Sunday and as usual, talked a lot. As well as the nominated books, there was much discussion of Marple: Twelve Stories  and the latest Ellie Griffiths.

My picks for our November discussion are  All That's Left Unsaid  by Tracey Lien, Better the Blood by Michael Bennett and Black River by Matthew Spencer. The first and last are set in Sydney and the middle one in NZ.

The doves have been visiting a lot - especially when I am out on the balcony. One, in particular comes to keep me company. 

Yesterday's family meal was very pleasant. I heard a lot about school dynamics and got some advice on the construction of my Saturday embroidery project. My brother also called with a request for some information - which occupied much of the evening and this afternoon. I had a lovely relaxed morning with Panayoula hearing all about her recent trip to the UK. I so enjoyed sharing experiences. 

When I got home, I had missed a parcel delivery. When I picked it up late this afternoon it turned out to be Genevieve's gift kit of Glazig embroidery. These are the contents.What I haven't captured in the photo is the wool felt that goes under the linen. I am really excited about this. I've got a couple of small projects to finish before I begin this - and a bit of preparation - but it's coming!

Many, many thanks, Genevieve.

I also, of course, have knitting on the go. I've got another 2" (about 2 cables)  to go before the arm decrease. My car is being serviced tomorrow, so I might get quite a lot done while waiting.

I had a bit of drama over the weekend, when, during the Guild workshop, someone found a tub with my name on it, and an attached note, in the office. It was the container of embroidery belonging to my friend Nelly which I had left for the Museum team to see if they would like any items to add to the Museum collection. The note on the tub simply said "Not accepted". I was shocked and upset but kept my reaction to myself. I won't go into all the details, but it turns out that 6 items have been accepted and accessioned based on the note and documentation I had provided (as opposed to the forms I was expecting to provide to Nelly once the team had decided). 

The team is impressed with the items. It is a large acquisition for a space-challenged Museum. Only the remaining items were in the tub. I had taken the note at face value without checking the contents! The letter of thanks to Nelly has been written, but not sent because the volunteer who wrote is has crashed her computer!. This was made clear to me by Monday night, but not before I had mis-informed Nelly and been through a lot of angst!. It is ultimately a very good news story Hopefully, all's well that ends well! Photos of the items will soon be on the Museum website.      

Post 382 Feeling a lot better

One way and another this was an eventful week for me. My rib continued to steadily improve and I ventured to Pilates on Thursday. My 3 classmates had been concerned about me and welcomed me back. Martine, our instructor, listened to the whole sorry story before working out a program that took account of what now seems most likely to be a bone bruise. I was tired after (I also did some shopping) but pleased I’d gone.

 

We had a fair bit of rain during the week. The doves came looking for food and I obliged from the doorway. The dove scare less about getting wet than I do. They made a pretty picture.

The Adelaide Rosella also made a brief appearance late on Friday afternoon. It's been a while and I didn't get very good shots.

Earlier on Friday I had my appointment with a renal physician, following the recommendation of my GP in relation to my recent blood test results. I was quite worried about it. I knew my weight was putting me in the pre-diabetes range, and that diabetes is a significant problem for kidneys, especially if you only have one. From my GP’s reaction to my blood test though, I was concerned that there might be another unknown problem impacting. 

Dr Carroll turned out to be the nicest medical specialist I’ve ever seen. Apparently he organises all kidney donations in South Australia and has developed an interest in the ongoing health of kidney donors. After introducing himself (that put him ahead to start with!) he thanked me for my contribution to the community, and informed me he would bulk bill my treatment (meaning no charge to me) because “you’ve done your bit!”.  

I was very taken aback. He went on to go through my history and referral in an open, empathetic, evidence-based way, without a hint of judgement. It turns out that the whole issue is my weight, and the likelihood it will trigger diabetes. I now have a practical and achievable plan to lose weight. I see him in 6 months time and, if I haven’t lost 10kg, I go on to the Optifast diet.  I have lost weight before, and know (1) it’s not easy and (2) I can do it. I know, too, that this is vital. I am hugely relieved. I feared other unknown problems, but this is the only danger sign. I am not underestimating the danger. I had already modified my diet to remove much of the fruit on my breakfast. Now I have a target, a plan and support.  

Between Friday and Tuesday, as I write this, by returning to some first principles, reducing the amount of fruit on my breakfast, eliminating icecream, watching the size of serves, and not eating between 7pm and 8am, I have lost 1kg. I intend to allow myself one or even two icecreams a week if I can keep up the steady weight loss.

I've also got a couple of ideas from this book which I had bought since my GP signalled the problem. I am not following the diet (no 8 week fix for me) but there are some useful recipes and ideas.

On Saturday I taught a workshop on Icelandic Embroidery to the Guild’s Certificate Course. I’d been a bit worried about this too, but after the doctor’s appointment the weight was off my shoulders and I began to look forward to the workshop! My concern had been that some of the students might not be very interested in what is fundamentally history of embroidery. 

My fears were groundless. Students liked it. The kits worked, the PowerPoint went over well and everyone chose one of the projects to work on and got on with it. There were questions and loads of discussion. 

The stitches are pretty simple and did not need demonstrating but Christine used the camera to project my samples on to the screen to show the detail which was brilliant. Christine has asked me to give 2 workshops next year on Viking and Anglo Saxon Embroidery respectively, both of which I am researching for the World Embroidery Study Group. I'll need to think up stitching projects for both of them - which the WES Group don't need, but it's a nice challenge, and a compliment to be asked.

I had made 20 kits and have 6 left in case external students want them. I went home and on to Katherine's for dinner with a much lighter heart than I've had all week. Lots of youthful conversation was icing on my (entirely metaphorical!) cake.  There was, in fact a real cake. It would have been Jim's 74th birthday last Thursday and Katherine made his coconut cake.

Before I went to bed on Saturday, I blocked the shawl on the floor which had just been cleaned. I look forward to having a frame for blocking. Even when I’ve lost weight I will find blocking on the floor difficult, I fear. 

To give an idea of size, the trunk in the background is 90cm long. 

By the time I went to Grange for Sit'nStitch on Sunday afternoon, it was dry and I could try it on.I'm very pleased with it - better than I had expected to be. It has blocked well, and falls down the back well below hip level. It's very warm.  I wasn't planning to keep it, but I'm having second thoughts. In fact, I am sorely tempted to go to the Yarn Trader and buy enough wool to make one for each of my daughters....

Jennifer worked a bit more of Sophie's Universe at Sit'nStitch. It is looking truly fabulous. She was, I think, up to to row 93, with 20 more to go. The rows now, of course, are very long.

After seeing the specialist on Friday, I had managed to shop for Monday's planned lemon chicken dinner. I cooked the chicken on Sunday morning so I could skim the fat off on Monday morning and still get to Basics to Beyond at the Guild.  I was up in time to snap the sunrise hitting the trees.

On the way to the Guild, I detoured to get fresh vegetables. My version of lemon chicken is served with noodles, and I wanted to avoid eating too many myself so bulked up the meal with vegetables I like (turned out to be a good choice for everyone!).

At the greengrocer I bought a newly displayed product - popping corn still on the cob- to try with the kids this afternoon. This was the attached label. Unfortunately, instruction no.2 does not tell you how wide to make the fold at the end of the bag. I obviously made my folds too wide. The bag burst in the microwave. 

The popcorn tasted great once I'd gathered it from all over the microwave. I think the instructions and the bag need a bit more work.

At B2B I got some helpful advice on my latest bag. On the left are two of the remnant pieces I got from Ink and Spindle a couple of weeks ago, big enough for a shopping bag. I had intended to embroider on the lines between the pattern. Gay suggested embroidering along the lines of the pattern, rather than between. Others agreed and also suggested random, rather than regular. Collective intelligence really works. At the moment I am experimenting with a mixture of both options.

This morning I woke to find my dove friends making a pretty picture on my balcony rail, patiently waiting for some seed. Before obliging, I hung out the washing. They didn't immediately leave, but flew away when I moved to the rail end of the washing line.  I put down some seed, then resumed hanging clothes. To my surprise, they returned and cautiously approached the seed. By then I was hanging the last few things and could do so without moving closer to them. It's the first time they have stayed while I am less than a metre from them.

Later in the day I ventured to the post office and to Create in Stitch to pick up the Sewline Anniversary Box Kit I had ordered. It's a bit of an indulgence, but I've been caught a few times at classes without a fabric pencil. This kit is overkill (for a non-quilter at least!) but I figure having all options in one handy box might make things easier.

I checked the washing this afternoon. As soon as I began to take in what was dry, the doves arrived. I put out a little more seed - and they stayed, approaching the seed while I was still there. I didn't venture close to them, but they continued to feed as I busied myself 1 metre away from them.  I think this is a bit of a milestone. 

My day was rounded off by taking the girls to netball and cooking myself vegetables with smoked salmon for dinner. 

I have only managed a small advance on my Baby Boomer Teachers book this week, and I now have the necessary Admin password for my blog and an arrangement with Nelly for updating. I'm very content with that. 

South Australia's borders are now closed to 5 of the 7 Australian States and Territories because they have active community cases of the Delta variant of Covid. There are no community transmitted cases in South Australia at the moment. We have 2 square metre per person limits indoors, seated service only in hospitality venues, and masks recommended in public transport and events. Family in Sydney and Queensland are locked down. Our vaccination program is slow, largely because supply is slow. 8 days to my second jab. 

Note to email subscribers.

Feedburner, the service that provides the email version of this blog, has notified bloggers that the service will cease from July. It looks as if it will run to the end of July but in preparation I have set up an email list of those of you who have subscribed so I can manually post the blog to my list, using bcc so that your email address is not revealed to others. If anyone wishes to stop getting the email version, just let me know. Once I send it manually, my email address will be visible to recipients. As this blog is in the public domain, I don't wish to publish my email address here. Most of you have it anyway.

post 371

The Guild's Crewel Work group was due to meet on Thursday this week, but there is still not much interest so I worked this next section of the Aesop Frame at home. It was an interesting one to work, with Renaissance Wools as well as Appletons and a little silk.

 I think I can say that the World Embroidery Study Group meeting on Bulgarian Embroidery was a success. People were very interested in the background information and in Sheila Paine's books, but mostly they loved the chance to see a collection of genuine examples of such high quality. 

There was a lot of discussion and engagement. We rarely get the chance to see so many varied examples of what we study and members made the most of it. I'm so grateful to have had this opportunity.

After the meeting I went to the Tennyson Centre for a bone density scan, my first in eight years. I have the preliminary results which mean little to me. I will get full results when I see my doctor early in May.           

On Thursday some rain was forecast and my feathered visitor was bunkering down in a few rays of sunshine when I left just before nine to get my first Covid vaccination at a Respiratory Clinic opposite the Frewville Foodland Shopping Centre. On the advice of my doctor, I parked in the shopping centre car park and walked across the wide, busy intersection to the clinic. It was very organised and controlled. Patients are told not to arrive until 5 minutes before. Signs on the door warn not to touch the door. On cue, the door swung open, a young man appeared and called my name. Inside he inspected my Medicare card and drivers licence and put a sticker on my poncho. 

The venue was, until last year, a physiotherapy and pilates studio - part of a very large medical practice on the site. The studio has been moved out to another venue to accommodate a dedicated Covid clinic. There are 3 small injecting rooms (or, in the afternoon, testing rooms) each staffed by a nurse who asks questions, checks ID, gives information, then waits for the doctor who circulates between the three rooms. The injection is only given in her presence after she has checked and asked more questions. It was friendly, helpful, cautious and professional. On leaving the injecting room, you go to another desk in a large waiting room to be given  information about the next steps before taking your seat and waiting to be timed and called with permission to leave.

I noticed the photo board which no one was using. The assistant was only too happy to take my photo as I left - sanitising his hands before and after touching my phone. 

I went on to Officeworks to get some acid-free tissue, to Create in Stitch for a frame, North Adelaide for some fruit and lunch before going to Pilates. I got home to find the letter with my $634 fine for using my phone while driving last week. I paid it straight away - hope that is now behind me.

It wasn't until 12 hours after the injection that I felt suddenly tired, then achey and shivery. I couldn't get warm in bed, so put on socks and took a couple of Panadol. I slept well and woke up a little achey but fortunately that passed because I had arranged to meet Jennifer for lunch at Louca's Fish Restaurant two blocks away. I took this photo of the next door building work progress on the way.

We had a very nice lunch and a good catch up. Jennifer is back from a month in Queensland visiting family - and says she has come home for a rest! She is now on a roll with a book about the 

acre of land on which her family reunions take place. 

In between this activity and the Aesop I have finished  examples of Icelandic embroidery for the Certificate Course workshop in June.                       

I finished the sample of 18th Century Icelandic embroidery and removed the Sulki. It worked really well. 

I have included a counted design, although the workshop is not focusing on counted work. Some students may wish to practice long-armed cross stitch, so I worked the examples for good measure.

This workshop is now, I think, fully organised and I can pack it away until June.

I spent much of the weekend researching on two fronts, more family history and my next embroidery study on Viking embroidery. On the latter  I have begun my PowerPoint as a method of getting organised. I have quite a lot of information, but am  trying to figure out how to borrow Margarethe Hald's Ancient Danish Textiles from Bogs and Burials from Flinders University library without having to drive there and navigate the sprawling, outsider-unfriendly parking. No luck so far, so I might have to plan an excursion. In the meantime I ordered this book and another on Anglo-Saxon embroidery. 

Small steps.

On the family history front, my fellow researcher Melanie and I have hit a bit of a wall in my grandmother's mystery. We  have a lot of it worked out but our newsagent ancestor seems to disappear around 1935 with no death records fitting. Melanie is still in pursuit. We've had more success with the 1820s connections of my paternal grandmother Ada. We now have numerous links between my 3xGGrandmother Sarah Attlesey and the Isaacson gang, 7 of whom were transported to either NSW or Van Diemen's Land between 1798 and 1840. Melanie is doing more of the heavy lifting on this than I, but we continue to work and share our finding in relays dictated by time zones.

I've also done some proof-reading for my brother, had dinner with family on Saturday and tonight with friends after having my hair mercifully permed this afternoon.  It has become lank and oily, needing to be washed every day. The strange stare is the result of taking a photo in the hairdresser's mirror.

 

Perhaps my biggest achievement this week has been to reduce the emails in my inbox to 25, from around 270 a fortnight ago. I've attended to overdue subscriptions, read articles waiting for a rainy day, filed useful embroidery bits, unsubscribed from numerous retail companies, replied to way-out-of-date emails and requests for family tree information. 

I read Dr Basil Willing Golden Age book by Helen McCloy for NetGalley. It's a fairly engaging read for Golden Age tragics. I also finished Campling's Devonshire Mysteries series, which I like a lot .  I'm now reading another Ann Cleeves Ramsay series mystery.

I've had notice from Feedburner, the service that manages the email distribution of these blog posts that they will be discontinuing their email service in June. As recommended, I have downloaded all the email addresses of subscribers and await information about a replacement service. I'll let you know as soon as I have more information.

Till next week.

Through the download exercise I discovered over 1000 spam subscriptions to my embroidery blog, all taken out in 2017 when I was not paying attention to it. I have deactivated all of them - one at a time! Fortunately it  has a good spam filter.

Posr 365 A long weekend, birds, and research.

It was a bit of a bird week. These were all taken just after sunset, the top two of birds returning to roost in the many trees in the city parks and gardens. From their flight direction I suspect they were headed to the Botanical Gardens. The lower two were lorikeets descending on the Square to have a final feed before nightfall. They made a lot of noise and fought each other for the best positions to get the opening seed pods.  

This was Sunday's sunset (right)

and this Monday's. Monday was a public holiday in South Australia - for the running of the Adelaide Cup, which went ahead with 5000 attendees, rather than the usual 14,000.

The Embroiderers Guild Exhibition is now running. I visited on Saturday. It looks good. There are some stunning entries, but photography isn't allowed. I am on duty there tomorrow, so will try to get a general shot or two of the room to show include next week.

There was a bit more development on the Bulgarian Embroidery front. 

Genevieve sent me a link to a really interesting article published in French on the National Bulgarian Radio website.about martenitsi -  tokens given on 1 March, the first day of Spring, or Baba Marta Day, signifying renewal. This photo (left) of embroidered martenitsi is from the article.I found photos of these tassel figures,  which are  traditionally given in pairs, one male, one female.

Nelly dropped in the embroidered clothes she had found in her wardrobe, including this dress. I can't wait to show the World Embroidery Study Group  .

On Friday the Sheila Paine book on Amulets arrived. I have browsed a little but not read it as yet. It's going to be really interesting. While there are several referenccs to Bulgaria, the main interest for me will be much wider.

One of my three frangipani trees is blooming. It is lovely to see. Regretably, it doesn't have a strong scent. I will need to wait another year or so for the latest one I bought to bloom for the scent.

In a moment of madness in January, I enrolled in an online design course being run for the Guild by Barbara Mullan. It is the first online course the Guild has run. It trialled last year. I think it's a great idea and wanted to support it, so I enrolled. The second assignment arrived last week - and I hadn't done the first, which focused on beginning to think about a design. I dug out the project I began a year ago - to produce a narrative embroidery about the Bushfires we were experiencing - before Covid hit. I had sketched a design and purchased a hand-woven scarf to use as a canvas and sourced a good range of Australian-produced threads (not easy). As 2020 progressed, the project seemed less and less appropriate. I have now revived it as the basis of my project for this online course. I want to simplify it. The course should provide me with a framework.

The major achievement this week was the completion of the new edge on my winter hexie quilt. The detail on how I got to this point is covered in my embroidery blog.

A couple of family history puzzles occupied me for a number of hours over the long weekend.  One was a straightforward request for information I had about the marriage of one set of my paternal 3x GGrandparents, both of whom made their separate ways to London from Ireland during the famine. It's a while since I researched this, so it took time to refreshing my memory.  I had concluded that they either did not marry, or married in a London Catholic Church whose records have not been digitised. Probably the former. The enquirer turned out to be an Australian currently in the UK researching and hoping to visit Ireland to follow up on research. Pretty amazing. I hope she succeeds. 

I also spent a number of hours following up on the enquiry I received last week. Melanie, the researcher who contacted me has come up with an alternative ancestry for a shared ancestor in the 1820s. We either have a 2x GGmother who was the sister of 2 convicts transported for larceny, or a 3xGGmother who had 2 children by one of those convicts. I had traced the line to the latter, but after hours of checking and digging, I think Melanie might be right.  I need to do more work and then spend time adjusting my tree.

I have begun a Turkman pouch. This is the one I cut out a couple of years ago, because Jennifer was wanting to make one and I was going to help by working one alongside her. She didn't need my help and is now helping a group in her apartment block to make theirs. I've agreed to meet with them to help with stitches, so thought I should revive mine.        I'm making good progress. The pattern calls for button-holed circles in the marked squares, but given my lining I thought I'd do Ghiordes Knots.  It seems to be working.  

Also over the long weekend, I did an early proof-read of a chapter of my brother's next book. Always interesting.

I've also done all the usual things - shopping, mostly for fruit, Sit'n Stitch last Friday, dinner at Katherine's on Saturday. Niamh had a friend to sleep over. There was lots of animated discussion of school activity and interactions. Katherine's front garden is beginning to look terrific.

Today I picked up a parcel of books from the Post Office. These are from Can Do Books. I couldn't resist these small handbooks of textile patterns from the V&A. So many beautiful patterns. I don't have any immediate practical use for them, but they are lovely to hold and to browse.

This one might prove very useful when considering the 3 drawers of wool I have to use up.

Jennifer is flying to Queensland tomorrow night for 4 weeks, visiting her family and attending an annual family reunion, so we had an extra Sit'n Stitch today. I still haven't photographed Susan's Margaret Light square. It is beautifully fine. Jennifer is taking her Sophie's World with her to work on in Queensland. It is amazingly textured - crocheted stumpwork!

This is where I finished up today on the pouch. 9 more Ghiords knots to go.                    

Finally, the wall next door rose by one more panel this morning. It was great to have a break from building work over the long weekend.

It hasn't deterred the doves.