Post 592 Flashes of colour.

A very pleasant lunch on Wednesday at my local, Cooper’s Alehouse at the Earl. While none of us took advantage of the only bar to have the full range of Coopers (Adelaide family owner since 1862) beer on tap, we really enjoyed our meal, the company, and our single glasses of wine. 

The rain held off. 

One of the Kilkenny mob has come down with COVID, so no family dinners this week. Fortunately the infection appears mild, will not interfere with her practice exams and hasn’t infected other family members. 

After all my stressing and planning around the monitor for WES, Margaret’s medical appointment on our July meeting day has moved forward, and she is now available for our meeting. We had a tentative plan to meet at the Guild today and test the positioning of power board, monitor and laptop. This didn't work out, but one way or another we'll manage. I also need to drop off my pink silk lipstick holder for the July Diamond Anniversary challenge.

Other than a bit of shopping and Pilates on Thursday, Saturday was my only activity day outside the apartment. Saturday began with a Certificate Workshop at the Guild, taken by Christine Bishop on Sue Spargo Style Applique. I had a great time messing around and getting carried away. As I had no other weekend commitments or preparation to do,  I kept stitching through the evening and all day Sunday, resulting in this pouch (which started out as a pincushion). The full account is in my embroidery blog.

I left the Certificate Workshop early to get to the St Margaret's Market before it closed at 1pm. I had some empty pots to hand over, and was looking for a couple of larger plants to fill two empty pots on the front balcony. Fortunately, when I arrived at 12.30, the plants, although packed up into boxes, were still available, so I nabbed two sword ferns. The two I bought a couple of months ago are thriving on the back balcony, so I'm hoping these will do as well. 

Yesterday I did a bit of planting and rearranging before running out of potting mix.  

Having completed the felt embroidery, I allowed myself the relaxation of knitting another beanie yesterday afternoon and evening. 

To find what I needed for the workshop on Saturday, I  spent around 3 hours sorting and organising threads, braids and a few beads - a good job jobbed. As a consequence, I have now cut out twenty drawstring giftbags from Japanese fabric I bought months ago, ready for stitching when the mood takes me.                        

I have also been progressing a Glazig design I had started, hoping to add it to the examples of Celtic embroidery for my upcoming presentation. It's finer work than I have done for a while.

Today continued a bit gloomy, but dry. A flock of Adelaide Rosellas descended on the trees behind the apartment at one point, but I wasn't fast enough to capture their flight - except for the flash of the last one to follow. 

A lot of noise, a flash of colour, and gone.

Post 570 Hands and Eyes

I finished last week with my bandaged hand, 

As you can see, I stitched the bandage layers together. They kept slipping apart, exposing the cotton wool padding, so I found a couple of threaded needles (threading being beyond me) and stitched crudely with my left hand. Rough and ready, but effective.

Friends phoned to see how I was going and family checked in. In the evening I had a go at stitching left handed. Before the operation I had threaded three needles for the next round of the evil eye mandala - a straight stitch round, which I managed to complete. With a seated hoop I could move my left hand below and above, my right hand resting on the hoop. Not entirely comfortable, but workable. My left arm muscles got a bit of a workout.

By Wednesday the pain in my hand had subsided. I washed my hair under the shower left- handed.  My right hand, in a plastic bag, secured by two elastic bands, remained outside the spray. Later, I sat for a few minutes in the car, testing my grip on the wheel, before driving about 1km to the dentist. I had no trouble, no pain in my right hand gripping the wheel with thumb and two fingers. The bandage bulk was a nuisance, but not an impediment. My new dentist was running late but thorough, pleasant and efficient when we connected. My new mouth guard should be ready in three weeks.

On Thursday I saw my hand therapist who cut away the clunky bandage, amused by my stitching. The gauze covering the excision remains in place until the stitches are removed next Monday. She made me a moulded cover which protects the dressing and wound. I can take it off if I want a break, or leave it on. It’s a little sore, but not painful.

On my way home I stopped at Gorman in Rundle St, to check out a dress I’d seen online, then called at the Jura shop. I bought the dress and discussed a coffee machine glitch at the Jura shop. As always, they were super helpful, working out the problem and a simple fix, which I tried as soon as I got home. It worked! 

It was then I realised that the shield was not on my finger! Panic! I grabbed the apartment key and retraced my steps to the lift and the carpark. Through the car window I saw it, sitting behind the steering wheel! Clearly I need to pay more attention!  The shield appeared to be firm, but could easily slide off.  In my panic I had not grabbed the car key, so back upstairs and down again, eventually reuniting finger and shield -  and having a coffee!                                                                         

I am able to stitch with the new dressing. Although I can't use the affected finger, I can now use the middle finger and thumb to thread a needle and to pull a needle through fabric. That's quite workable, I can touch type, with the middle finger doing double duty. I have added a plaster to prevent the cover coming off!

The first Guild Certificate Course workshop for 2025 was on Saturday and I made the effort to attend. I've missed the last few and I miss the stitching and the people.  This one was taken by Carol Mullan on Huckaback, Creating New Designs on Aida Fabric .

I have done quite a bit of Huckaback, and have a bit of Huck fabric in my stash, but I was interested in the notion of designing on Aida. The requirement for the workshop was an A4 piece of Aida and assorted threads. I had used up most of the Aida in my stash but found a piece I’d bought from the Guild trading table - mat sized, 35cmx42cm, already edged with bias tape and centre marks tacked .

It was an excellent workshop. I enjoyed catching up with Guild friends I haven’t seen for a couple of months and Carol is an inspiring teacher. The problem was, while others were experimenting with small samples  of designs, it seemed a shame not to use the whole of my mat-sized piece, so I began playing with a border, intending to keep working my way into the centre. Fortunately, Carol pointed out that a border might be sufficient to achieve the design goals!  I lasted until lunch by which time my hands were both aching. It is, however, addictive and I returned to working on it that night and on Sunday.in between proofreading for my brother.

It was a long weekend here, 35C-37C each day and 22C overnight on Sunday. We ate outside on Saturday night, I stayed in on Sunday, venturing out to stitch with a friend on Monday afternoon. She helped me decide how to fill in the border of the workshop piece. More on that next time.

Final story for this week is a follow-up to our robbery. The strata committee have now viewed the CCTV footage which shows a lone male entering through a narrow passageway behind the apartment block, separating fence panels to enter the carpark, then dodging behind cars and lockers to avoid people as they go to their cars.

His theft from my locker is not caught on camera. However, he exits though our foyer, which is on camera. He has a stolen trolley, now loaded with my boxes and someone's fishing rods. Outside our front door is a small entry area. The lock on the gate has been jamming in the lock position, so was strapped open. A confused resident, blaming a visiting tradie, had removed the strap, shutting the gate. The thief finds the gate won't open, The apartment door has closed behind him and he is trapped with his goods.

Having come this far, he throws the boxes over the railing (right) into the garden, followed by the trolley, and then himself - all caught on CCTV. He picks himself up, retrieves the trolley, reloading the now broken boxes and the fishing rods. All this, however, has made a noise, and further along the road, our Strata president has come out to see what's going on.  As the thief makes away with the loaded trolley, the President gives chase. Thief abandons trolley and runs away! 

That's how my stolen goods came to be returned.  A report, and CCTV footage will be supplied to the police following the proper processes. 

The neighbour who shut the gate by mistake is a heroine!

I finished the second Evil Eye Kit, and have started on the third. Details in my embroidery blog.

I apologise for so many off-putting photos and anecdotes this week. For me the experiences were alleviated by some very satisfying stitching.

Maybe the mandala is working!

Post 561 Plant material in various forms

The bougainvillea at the Pilates studio was at its best last Thursday, spilling over into the street. The road was marked out to be dug up yesterday, so parking will be difficult next week. I've used it as an excuse to cancel, so I can have lunch with a friend's son, working in Adelaide.

On Friday I dashed out to shop before logging into the funeral of a family member in Sydney. It was good to be stitching with a friend in the afternoon.

I opted for the last Certificate Course workshop of the year on Saturday, Cut Work with Carol Stacey. Carol has done a lot of cutwork and her notes are excellent. I have done a little cutwork but it was good to have the information about threads and styles. I enjoyed working bars and being part of the group, catching up with those who were there. 

When I got home, I found the Yukka I had brought in a pot from my Hindmarsh home, had collapsed across the Western balcony. The main stem had died long ago, with a strong pup taking over, in addition to the others now thriving in several other pots.

I had used the strong dead stem to hang pots and a driftwood mobile, given to me by Fionn. The weight had finally snapped it off at the base.

I spent the afternoon cleaning up the balcony, sorting out the containers of useful things on the table behind the Yukka - empty pots, insect repellant, fertilisers bottles and containers - repotting a couple of things and disposing of a couple of others, along with things that have not yet come in handy.

It was hot and muggy, so I stopped a couple of times for ice-blocks and finished by sweeping up, visiting the various rubbish bins and watering. 

The dead stem is light, but I don't have tools to cut it up, and I can't dispose of it in one piece, so took it with me on Sunday for help in cutting it up. Fionn is taking care of it for me.🙏🏼

I am delighted to see a couple of signs of life in the Almanda rescued from the blackbird. I thought I had lost it but keeping it flooded with water seems to have done the trick. Hopefully it will be back to its former glory in a month or two if I keep up the water out of sight of the birds.

I'm also  pleased to report I finished the vegetable bag. Details in my embroidery blog. I also worked a smallish Christmas present that I’ll report on later.

From the same greengrocer where I will mostly put the bag to use, I bought a small Christmas tree this week.  Since being in the apartment I haven’t tried a real conifer. This one looks promising so I’m giving it a go. As yet no decorations. Another week and I’ll work that out.

A lovely Sunday afternoon with family before Veronica was scheduled to fly to Cambodia very early on Monday. It included a phone-in with Alison for her birthday. Altogether the highlight of the week. Back at home I cleared all my plants and curtain from my windows ready for the window cleaner who arrived just after 8am on Monday morning.

By 9.30 my windows were clean. By 11.30 my Christmas cards had arrived and I headed out to pick up bread for dinner and a mug from the Jam Factory (bought with my member’s discount over the weekend). The mug was a bit larger than I had envisaged, but fits neatly under the new coffee machine, so all good. It has the maker (Hannah Varrath-Pajak)’s thumb imprints, and is lovely to hold. 

When students and their families arrived at the airport at 4.30am yesterday, it turned out that their 6.15am flight to Melbourne, to connect to a flight to Ho Chi Minh City, had been cancelled. With some heavy intervention by teachers supervising the 21 schoolgirls, they were transferred to another flight and airline and were on their way by 7.30am. Apparently many Melbourne runways had been closed because of weather. They are travelling without much electronic communication but we do know they reached their destination safely. 

The rest of us gathered for an easy dinner of vegetables, potatoes and pies from the Dulwich Bakery. Most of the family had been at the airport at 4.30am to get Veronica checked in and see her off, so it wasn’t a late night! 

The yucca has recovered but is not yet up to holding a driftwood mobile which is marking time on a wall.

Niamh and I met up again this morning for lunch and milkshakes at Queen St Cafe. I had to divert around several streets to avoid the road closure referred to above. It was good to catch up in a relaxed setting. I enjoyed but couldn’t finish my pork and fennel sausage omelet. I'm now used to eating much later.

On the way home I picked up a couple of parcels, one a Christmas game, the other some new swimming gear, including a water safe bag that I’m hoping will allow me to swim with a car key on my person.🤞🏼

I’ve now started the Very, Very Berry embroidery for the lid of one of the tea boxes. It’s Anna Scott’s design. 

I'm following the stitching instructions but have backed the fabric with cheese cloth for strength and added a strip to the bottom to fit it into a ten-inch, rather than 8" hoop in order to have the whole design visible. 

I’m finding it a joy to doing crewel work again. 

Post 525 In my little corner of the world

Still a lot happening. My windows were cleaned beautifully on Wednesday. Malcolm, the team member doing insides of individual units had the best job. The outside team varied their routine to avoid being in direct sun as the temperature rose to 39C. 

I now have clean views of the very pleasant landscape from the inside, both East and West.  

I will make good use of these over the coming week when the daily maximum is not forecast to drop below 30C.

                       

I visited OfficeWorks and bought a cork board and stand to hold the collage for Brigid’s birthday (photos are in colour, I have camouflaged for privacy), then stayed inside until 4.30pm when I headed off to friends’ place for dinner and a long catch up in the cool of their home, a really welcome and renewing interlude.

The main focus of my week has been Brigid's 21st Birthday party on Saturday night. A party is a very rare event for me these days and I admit to nervousness. Everyone was going. Alison and Karl came over from Canberra. There were, of course, related catch-ups. I had a pantry to stock for any  visitor contingency, and, because there had been a leaking window in the guest room weeks ago,  beds to make up.  My haircut on Friday was coincidental, but useful, and I managed to keep it reasonable for the necessary 36 hours.

The party was a huge success. The venue, the Semaphore Surf Lifesaving Club, was perfect, with plenty of indoor space and a stunning outdoor and boardwalk area of which photographers took full advantage. Again, for privacy reasons, the only photo is a screenshot silhouette, which, I think, demonstrates the potential.

Brigid, her friends, siblings and parents are to be congratulated on an event which was enjoyed by so many, went so smoothly, and created so much enjoyment. My pleasure and enjoyment were extended through Sunday and Monday, with family around and rare time to share and reflect. It's a timely reminder of the importance, on many levels, of such occasions.  Jim would have loved it.

Last week in the midst of party preparation, I realised I needed to get organised for my Certificate Course Workshop on Glazig Embroidery in April as the looming deadline for a notice in the Guild newsletter couldn't be met without the detail of what I am going to do.  I managed to grab moments and meet the deadline. Details in my embroidery blog.

One of the moments grabbed was a visit to Spotlight around midday on Saturday. On my way back I  was caught in a long stream of traffic held up at a level crossing, where we waiting expectantly for a train to pass. Instead, two men in safety vests appeared on foot from either side of the boom gates, walked to the two reflector lights, wiped them with a cloth and retreated to one side where they activated the lifting of the boom gates. 

A Jacques Tati moment.

Today I skipped Aquafit. I needed a day of no commitment as a pause, to catch up on blogging, stitch a little, sit and stare.  Family are safely home. Jennifer has reached Northern NSW on her Queensland journey. I ran into Panayoula who did get to the Looms of Greece Exhibition and has joined the cause. Tomorrow is a catch up with friends who've driven over from Sydney for Writers' Week, the fridge is full of food; there's a growing pile of books to read and the cockatoo bag is progressing. 

Deo Gratias!

Post 450 Swiftly fall the days

Wednesday was marked by the arrival of the wool for Brigid's jumper. It seemed to sit at Heathrow for a week - then turned up in Melbourne and made it here overnight. I shouldn't have been surprised by the skeins, but I hadn't thought about it. I don't mind winding skeins into balls, and am happy to do the odd ball on the back of a chair, but 17 skeins is too much to do either that or to dragoon friends or family into winding.

I had organised to spend the afternoon at a friend's place 10km away, to transfer my scans of Maureen's articles to her database. I did a detour, 20 km to Port Adelaide to the Yarn Trader, then 19 km to my friend's place - and bought a swift.

We made good progress on the database - and also had a fine time. I stopped off for milk on the way home.

As soon as I got home I assembled the swift. I chose the ChiaoGoo Amish one. The Yarn Trader has several, but this is the only one that doesn't require clamping to a table. It sits comfortably on a table or the floor and rotates easily. I am hooked.  It is mesmerising. Each skein takes 8-10 minutes to wind and I love doing it. I resisted the temptation to wind all 17 balls at once, rationing myself. Today I have two to go, but I'm considering doing all the skeins in my stash!

Thursday was our Day of Mourning public holiday. I stayed in all day, did washing, read a book, wound 6 skeins and progressed my shawl. 

On Friday I zipped into the Central Markets to buy duck for Monday dinner, since my weekend wasn't going to allow for shopping. It was crowded, which augurs well for the Markets. On advice, I froze the duck and defrosted it on Sunday. It cooked easily on Monday, along with potatoes and broccoli.

Saturday was the Certificate Course Workshop on Russian Goldwork, taken by Jackie Denniston. It was well attended and a lot of fun.  I didn't finish it in the workshop, but got close. I finished off the stitching on Sunday afternoon.  This is just out of the hoop, in need of a clean and iron. The dressmakers carbon I used (bought, I'm pretty sure, in the 1960s!)  left a couple of marks which have faded with careful spot cleaning.

This morning I constructed it into a pouch. The account of the finish is in my embroidery blog.

It's a very nice design. 

In between all of this, I have been entering data into our Maureen Holbrook Document Collection. Its use and structure is revealing itself as we go. I've got a bit of negotiation to do with the Guild Library Team, but it looks as if we will have a database of around 400 items, covering articles on a wide range of countries and their embroidery traditions, searchable by country, technique, author and title, with publication details and whether the Guild holds the source publication. How we make it accessible is still to be determined, but there are promising options.

Sunday was Book Club, and once again, the discussion was wide-ranging and dynamic.  Of the three books we read to discuss, I really liked The Murders at Fleat House by Lucinda Riley. Unfortunately, this was her venture into crime fiction, which has been published posthumously and the only one we will ever get. It would have made a great series.

On my way home I stopped at the Victoria Park Wetlands for a walk. It's looking good. 

There were ducks on  the pond, enjoying whatever is beginning to collect in the reeds. The ponds are quite full - a cause for celebration in Adelaide.

The plantings are slowly taking off and you can begin to see how rich it will be in the future.

The Sulphur-Crested Cockatoos were feeding. Not much is allowed to get in their way when foraging!

Yesterday some coffee arrived from Jaques Coffee plantation in Mareeba, Queensland. I had read about the pioneering efforts to grow coffee in North Queensland and thought I should try it. My coffee machine is currently full of East Timor dark roast, so I'll put this away to try later.  

It pays, I think, to diversify one's coffee sources!

On Saturday night  we had the birthday cakes delayed by camp and Mourning Day. Both spectacular, and I had small pieces of each in defiance of my diet. Both delicious.

After finishing off the pouch this morning, I headed off to our special Sit'nStitch. Jennifer is heading to Queensland later this week to spend a month with her family so we had a session. to wish her bon voyage. Her crocheted shawl is looking very good. 

Susan has harvested her Gymea lily, which is enormous. It needs to sit in a large pot or a bucket. It's still not fully open 

but these buds will hopefully continue to open as the weather warms.  I'll keep you posted.

I now have my brother's chest measurements, so his vest is next in my queue. In the meantime, I'm off to wind another skein for the St Brigid jumper.

Post 446 Evidence of Spring, and I win a raffle

The highlight of my week was the Certificate Course Workshop on Bulgarian Embroidery on Saturday. I have written about it in my embroidery blog, so won't go over it. It was however, a lovely, relaxed and shared time. Maybe the Great Goddess was present in more than the embroideries we studied.  

What I didn't say in the blog post, was that during the workshop I was presented with a basket of goodies, which came my way as the winner of the Guild's SALA raffle!

I was blown away. The last raffle I won was a set of Tupperware jelly moulds in about 1977. While I bought tickets, I didn't even examine the prizes, assuming I had no hope of winning. I saved the packaged prize to open at our family dinner on Saturday night. 

It turned out to be a basket containing a biscornu, a scissor fob, a cutting tool holder, a linen bag and lavender pillow, a really fabulous hexagon tote and four reversible placemats and serviettes.  

I was blown away.  I will get a lot of pleasure from it.

On Thursday morning I had an Xray on my right index finger, I have a follow-up appointment in 3 weeks with the surgeon who might operate on it to remove a couple of spurs. I'm hoping this can wait. It aches infrequently, and will be very inconvenient when healing.

I had the Xray at Wakefield Hospital, on South Terrace, and took these photos of the trees in front of my parked car. I love the contrast between the elegance of the trunks of some and the messiness of the leaves and seed pods. 

Susan's Gymea survived the wind. It seems to be getting even taller as the lily is slowly opening to reveal the inner leaves.

The potted gazania I bought last week is doing really well, producing some fabulous blooms at eye level as I go out to the balcony.

On the back balcony the pot of euphorbia I bought back in March has turned into a riot of bloom - Spring must be just about here, although it's still chilly, overcast and still raining a lot for Adelaide. 

Not too much, I hope, in the Flinders Ranges, where Niamh is on her Year 9 Camp.

I am progressing the Calico vest. On Wednesday night I ordered an extra ball of the pale colour and emailed Morris & Sons to say I thought the yarn requirements were wrong in the pattern. I can't see how this colour could only require one ball when all other colours have 2 or 3. Morris were, as usual, terrific. They refunded my postage and have contacted Rowan with a query. The yarn arrived on Friday. I have started the steeks. 

So far, so good. The moment of truth will, of course, come when I take to them with scissors!

Finally, a shout out to my friend Robin, in a Rehab hospital in Sydney. Hope your recovery is steady and smooth.