Post 515 Quite a week

It's hard to know where to start in a week with so much happening. The highlight, of course was Christmas Day, which I spent with Katherine's family - a fabulously happy time with lots of laughing, connection and love. 

 

I am loathe to post photos of people's faces so will make do with our deserts - Carol's Yule Log in the foreground and Katherine's pavlova at the back. Both were delicious, and it will take me a day or two to lose the extra 0.4kg they added!

The hats went down a treat and the bonbons added to the laughter.

I got a lot of interest and joy from the numerous messages received from friends during the week. I am more than ever convinced of the importance of this annual effort to stay in touch.                                                 

I also had a couple of lunches with friends. Jennifer and I had several months of news to catch up on Wednesday. The Christmas biscuits she made with nieces were demolished pretty quickly on Saturday night at Katherine's place.

On Friday Lorraine and I wore our Frida Kahlo outfits to lunch at The Flying Pan. This was Lorraine's idea, and she had excitedly prepared flower bouquets for our hair, a purple one for me, a white one for her.  

I managed to convince her that it would be impossible to anchor these (right)  with either the bobby pins or the scarves she had brought along, and that we should use a couple of the florets rather than the bouquets. 

Hers was bolder and better than mine. Her dress was also a better choice (helps to try it on, rather than buying online on a good-idea impulse!). I might wear mine once more, for my Mexican Embroidery presentation, but that's it. It is a most unflattering shape for my figure. Be that as it may, we had a great lunch, after which I dashed off to the dentist for a filling. At their request I got there early, only to find my dentist had an emergency, and was running an hour late. I got away 2 hours later with the filling done and a referral to an odontist, which, of course, can't be followed up until mid-January. This is no one's fault. It is great that the emergency was dealt with. The woman concerned was unnecessarily apologetic. One day it could be me. 

On Thursday, prior to Pilates, I finally had my one hour appointment with the orofacial pain dentist. She was terrific. It turns out I have a displaced disc in my left jaw. More than 30% of people apparently have this without knowing. The jaw locking I experienced back in June occurs when the disc slips completely out of position as opposed to being misaligned. There is no cure but a range of management techniques, several of which she taught me.The first message is 'don't panic', which is, of course, what I did back in June! Understanding what is happening is half the battle.  I've been practising, and can feel the difference. 

Encouraged by the dental works, I made myself another batch of corn and zucchini muffins for lunch on Saturday, this time trying a recipe that uses buttermilk. It is a pretty good result, although I still prefer the last batch I made using feta.

One of the best thing about these, when you live on your own, is that they are good for a couple of days, either cold, or reheated.

I spent much of Saturday embroidering the wings of felt doves I had bought from the Leprosy Shop, another slightly mad project covered off in my embroidery blog. 

After picking up my grab-and-go bag of crocheted squares as I left on Saturday for dinner, when I got home I thought it time I sorted out the squares to see where I was up to with the intended baby blanket. I then spent Sunday joining and filling in. 

I now have 19 squares to go, plus the edge. I will probably continue to use it as a grab-and-go project, but now more purposefully. This was designed to use up my surplus of 4 ply cotton. It has made inroads, but there's a way to go. 

In the meantime, I have two friends about to have major operations and I'm hoping to knit prayer shawls for them. I also have fabric to make more tote bags.

The angels and mages have watched over various sunsets this week, and also, it seems, over me. There were plenty of storm clouds and gloom, but also colour, light and beauty. 

I have been blessed many times over and I am grateful. 

 

Post 355 All about friends and textiles

 I had a very slow start this morning, getting up late and finishing Clare Chase's Mystery on Hidden Lane, the first of her Eve Mallow series. I'm glad I didn't start with this one. While it has the framework of the later books in the series and the beginnings of the community, I found it a bit convoluted and over-detailed. I think she has improved as she's gone along.

The postman called as I was finishing it. He had my package from Ink and Spindle. I had bought three bundles of remnants in their recent sale as well as a metre of their flax coloured eco-linen.

The remnants are really inspiring - and a complete indulgence. I have no immediate use for them but they fill me with ideas. I can see some of them embellished (colour on the wrens, or on some of the line-drawn plants for example) 

Or rows of stitching along the arced lines of the river bed pieces shown here. There are more, of varying sizes. None are large but I''m envisaging pouches and bags.

I'm putting them de for a while - I will not be distracted!

They are, however, lovely. Ink and Spindle use Belgian linen of superbe quality - I'm in thrall.

I did a little on my Owl Service in the vain hope I'd get the motifs finished before I left to Sit'n Stitch at Susan's place. In the end I took it with me and finished it there. There were various little bits of correction to do as will as what was left to complete on second small motif.

Now for the quote. The plan is to put a piece of tracing paper over it and trace the outline then practice writing on the tracing paper version to get the spacing and layout right. I'm thinking I might need to work through Solvi or

 tracing paper to get it even. Then I can use the gimp that is on its way from The Thread Studio to outline the edge of the 'plate'.

I'm very pleased with it.Susan and I had a productive and most relaxed afternoon. Her piece from Margaret Light's book is coming on beautifully.

Nelly sent me some photos of some clothing she has and did not include in the collection she has lent me. They are all embroidered by her mother-in-law, Vala Georgieva, who is now working on 4 tree of life embroideries for Nelly and other members of her family. 

I am going to take up Nelly's offer to borrow these as well for our World Embroidery Study Group meeting in April.

How beautiful is this? 

From Susan's I went on to friends' place for dinner. I do like the entrance to their place- the depth of blue in the pot and the thriving native plants. 

Barbara had cooked tray-baked pork sausages with roast vegetables from a recipe. It was not only excellent but has inspired me for a Monday night dinner.

While we were solving the problems of the world I finished another crocheted square. As you can see, I've moved on to a ball of orange cotton.

That's about it for today. Tomorrow I need to prepare the text for the WES Group entry in the Guild Exhibition. Margaret M has our pieces on Inuit embroidery laid out ready to fix. Brigid is also coming here after she finishes work at St Aloysius School before going out with a friend for her birthday. She's booked to accompany an orienteering excursion, which I'm hoping will be cancelled as the forecast is 35C and the exercise is in a State Forrest on the edge of the recent bushfire. 

Post 350 Asking the experts

Late this afternoon Black Tips paid a visit. I haven't put seed out for several days, but it doesn't put him off. He got jittery when I tried to open the door to give him the last of the seed in my container, so I let him be.Tomorrow I shall refresh the water and put out the remaining seed.

Half an hour before I was due to leave for Pilates, the postie delivered a parcel - my kit for the Inspirations Remembrance poppy project in the latest issue. It arrived in this box - 32cmx27cmx12cm. I buzzed the postie in. She left it in the entry foyer and I went down and picked it up. 

Inside was another box, some 22cmx16cmx5cm and inside that was the kit, some 15cmx10cmx1cm in a plastic bag.  Had this been delivered half an hour later, I would have been on my way to Pilates. The parcel would then be taken to the local post office where I could pick it up after 4pm.

I have emailed Inspirations suggesting they offer customers the option of postage in padded post bags that fit easily into letterboxes.

I finished Pilates at 2pm. I had arranged to meet Christine Bishop at the Guild at 3pm, to show her Nelly's Bulgarian embroidery collection. I filled in the hour between by having lunch at the Queen St Cafe, my usual Atlantic Salmon with salad and beetroot dressing. It is really delicious and very healthy.

At the Guild it was the change over period between the Open Day group and the Open Evening group. The half a dozen people there were very interested in the Bulgarian collection. I am in the process of putting together a document for Nelly so won't go into great detail here. 

In summary, I think I established that 

(1) the older pieces of embroidery by Vala Georgieva are worked on hand-woven hemp

(2) 3 or 4 of those older pieces are very beautiful and collectable

(3) they include a range of traditional stitches and motifs

(4) the collection of Miche Todorova is all crocheted and displays a high level of skill. The patterns are not common.

This piece of crochet was much admired by those with knowledge of crochet.

There was some debate about how it was achieved, and whether it was knitted or crocheted. It was established that yes, it is crocheted and Christine explained how.

There was a lot of admiration, too, for this border. 

I think I have enough information to do a reasonable job of documenting. I have more photographs to take and a bit to add to the PowerPoint. Christine also suggested a couple of reference books on the stitches. 

It reached 33C in Adelaide today, below the 38 forecast. After lunching out I had crackers with cheese and tomato slices for dinner. I washed the champagne flutes this morning, so thought I should try one out. 

It works fine.  

I got a little done on the Owl Service. It's slow work because I have to work it out as I go, but it's a fun challenge.

It might be a bit focused for Sit'bStitch tomorrow. I may revert to my crochet squares.

Post 345 Mostly getting organised

 

Cleaning this morning - for a short while there are no threads on the carpet, or chairs.

It was the first Junior Embroiderers meeting of the year, but Niamh had for not put it in her diary and had arranged to catch up with a friend from last year. That left me with an unexpected whole day free, so I decided to use it to do some preparation for the workshop I've committed to give to the Guild's Certificate Course as well as constructing the bag with the Western Spinebill.

I used as lining a piece of snake fabric I bought from Aboriginal Fabrics in Alice Springs a while back.  

I used it for the sides as well as the lining. 

I think it blends well with the spinebill, and works well in a pocket on the reverse side.

Once again, I haven't ironed it yet. I figure I'll do that when I'm ready to enter it into the Guild Exhibition. It's only going to need to be done again then anyway.

I read all the books I have on Bulgarian Embroidery and made notes on each of them. I need to get some background context before I start to examine the collection that Nelly has lent me. So far the most interesting bits relate to the layers of historic migrations and the persistence of symbols and beliefs from pre-Christian times.  

This symbol, for example, according to Daniel Montiglio, is a Katanitza, an ancient symbol of family strength, harmony and balance.

From there I returned to my Icelandic Embroidery workshop and reread Elsa Gudjonsson's Traditional Icelandic Embroidery.   I modified the PowerPoint a little and played around with some examples of designs from old Icelandic embroideries that I might be able to use for students to work in the original stitches.

I ran my printer's cleaning program which restored it to print. This enabled me to enlarge a couple of the examples in the book and trace out the shapes. I think these will provide enough for students to get the idea. They can use these, or components of them, or design their own.

I now need to diagram the stitches and put it all together into a set of notes. 

Yesterday I contacted the Adelaide City Libraries, to see if they could obtain a digital copy of Margrethe Hald's book Ancient Danish Textiles in Bogs and Burials  for me from Flinders University Library, which holds a hard copy.  After much transferring of phones and emails, they told me they do not have an arrangement with Flinders. It looks as if I will need to contact Flinders directly and hope they will deal with a non-member of the University.  I want this for the session I have promised to take on Viking embroidery for the World Embroidery Study Group, but it would also be useful for Icelandic Embroidery. I'll follow up on Monday.

I'm pleased, however, with the progress I made today. I'm beginning to feel a little organised.

Anthony barbecued pork chops, meat patties and sausages tonight along with roast potatoes, carrots, parsnips and broccoli. I caught up with the netball news and a lot more. Fionn has football assessments tomorrow.

Katherine is making progress on her Adagio Mills shawl and I now have 5 pale blue circles to work with. 

Progress.

Post 333 Time out

I spent the morning on my chair near the Eastern balcony, reading. It was pleasant weather - 23C maximum.

I read the whole book - the second in a detective series new to me. It is set in Wales, although the landscape is not integral. I really enjoyed it. The characters are well drawn and the team concept is particularly well developed - respectful.

Eventually I remembered I had intended to put on a load of washing. I hung it out around 2.30pm.  It was, fortunately, dry by 8pm.

The wall garden, on the opposite side of the balcony to the washing line, looks much brighter following yesterday's rain - quite perky.

I finished the last two of the ecru circles, then swapped the ecru ball for a pink one, worked an outside square on one ecru circle then began a series of pink circles. I think this scheme is going to work for me. 

Today is Australia Day, and a public holiday. The date is controversial, since it is the Anniversary of the arrival of the First Fleet in Sydney Harbour and the planting of the British Flag - i.e. colonisation of a country that had been inhabited by indigenous communities for what we now know to have been 60,000 years. It has only been a national public holiday since 1994 although the name and date were recognised in all individual states from 1935. 

It is not a day that was of significance in my family as I was growing up. Although my proudly Australian mother, who came to Australia from England before her 4th birthday, knew and told us a lot of the history of colonial Sydney,  the day had no relevance. August 1st, Wattle Day, was what my mother had celebrated at school, and she stuck to it. 

In my working adult life Australia day was primarily the marker of the end of the long summer school holiday and last day to prepare for a new school year.  Jim occasionally attended and appreciate a citizenship ceremony as part of his job. In the early 2000s when one of our neighbours often marked it by a boozy, noisy barbecue I came to dread and dislike the day. 

Voices for either a change of date or a change of concept - or both- grow stronger year by year. I'm sure change will eventually come.  I hope so.

This helicopter made a lot of noise coming in to land in the city around 6pm tonight. It looked and sounded as if it were going to land very close - perhaps on the police headquarters two blocks away. I think, however, it went beyond that, probably to the Royal Adelaide Hospital.  

140 fire fighters today contained the Adelaide Hills fire. As I understand, it is still burning but within containment lines. Two houses, 19 outbuildings  and 2 cars have been lost - and unknown numbers of animals.  Yesterday's rain, 30mm in the city in the 24 hour period to 9am this morning, was the most that has fallen in a January day in 44 years.

I didn't do any work on my chair, or on the Nicola bird, both of which were on my plan for today. It was very good to take things easy. 

Posr 332 Fires and Farewells

 I had posted yesterday's blog a little before midnight, temperature 28.5C, when this arrived in my email, just taken by my friend Christine in Watford. It didn't, as she had hoped, make me feel cooler, but it did help me imagine feeling cooler,  She was rugged up inside, with heater going full blast.

I left the aircon on all night, which I hardly ever do. That made two nights in a row. We also had fans going in both bedrooms. It finally got down to 24C at 6am which was about when I heard rain, which didn't last. 

I was very surprised, then at 8.30 am to  look to the West outside and see, not rain clouds, but smoke haze over the city, and , when I checked, also over the Hills in the East. Within minutes the smell of smoke had penetrated the apartment.

Fire fighters had been working all night to contain the fire that started in Cherry Gardens, in the Southern end of the Adelaide Hills. It had spread north to Mylor and residents were being asked to  prepare to evacuate. Rain this afternoon reduced the danger to property and lives, but the fire is now burning deep in bushland hard for firefighters to access and is expected to take 4-5 days to extinguish.

I have been trying to find a way of working the crochet squares that doesn't involve either winding off smaller balls from the 200 gram balls or carrying several 200gm balls around with me. The trouble with the latter is obvious, and the former ends up with joins because lengths are difficult to judge efficiently. 

Today I tried a different approach. I made a square using a small ball of blue I had wound off and a full ball of ecru. I then made eight circles from the ecru. I have 11 different colours in 200 gram balls. I'm going to make two more circles from the ecru, then swap the ecru for another 200gm ball in a different colour. I will use the new colour to work the outside square of one of the ecru circles, then work 10 circles in the new colour - and repeat the process. If I don't get bored, this method will give me a full suite of all possible colour combinations without my having to carry more than one 200 gm ball around with me.

My visitors and I had lunch today at the Queen St Cafe, then, on the way to the airport, dropped in briefly on Brigid, Fionn and Niamh who were home today. It was raining by now. The airport was relatively quiet. The visit was short - but fabulous from my point of view. I'm so grateful to them for making the effort to come. 'Catching up' is an important process. I'm a fan of electronic communication, and know how effective it can be. I have to admit, however, the benefits  and nuances that come with being physically together. and able to integrate all senses.

Tonight's sunset was a contrast to this morning's view. It rained solidly for a couple of hours this afternoon. The smoke has cleared after the rain. The temperature was down to 24C. Tonight's minimum is 18C. 

That's a big improvement from my point of view.

It still leaves the fire fighters with a big job to extinguish the fires burning in the Hills, even if there are no homes in its path. 

Post 314 Running around

It was a running around kind of day. In between my various appointments and tasks I was, of course, checking news bulletins to follow what was happening in Washington DC, as well as the latest Australian Covid news. I have chosen to focus the 314 posts of this blog on daily life rather than current affairs and don't intend to change, but it IS a record of a Covid year and the significance of today's events did reach Australia and needs to be acknowledged.

It was the day of my six monthly dental check up,  even though I had seen both dentist and hygienist three months ago. Unusually, I had been unable to get adjacent appointments, so saw my dentist at 10.00am but the hygienist at 2.30pm. My dentist is expecting her baby on 1 February, so her appointments were a bit tentative. 

She ordered some Xrays to be taken this afternoon by the hygienist.

From there I went on to Create in Stitch to get the extra threads I needed. I'm afraid the sale won't make their day!

At Unley Village I called at Taking Shape. Yesterday I received a $65 loyalty voucher from the shop, so thought I'd use it to offset the cost of this top I saw last week. In a pandemic there doesn't seem a lot of point holding on to an unexpected gift horse.

 My car purchase three years ago came with free monthly car washes. I haven't been for several months, so headed there on my way home. It was a bit of a wait today but I had my Kindle and the coffee is good - and the precautions are in place and monitored. 

The attendant who washed my car kindly adjusted the clock to daylight saving time for me - which shows how long it is since I had the car cleaned!

I managed about an hour at home for lunch, then headed back to the dentist. The Xrays were helpful and the hygienist took nearly an hour. We are all happy about the extraction I am booked for with a periodontist in February.

I just had time to call at Frewville for milk, watermelon and some prawns before heading to the optometrist. He is happy with the progress of my damaged eye surface and I need to keep the treatment up for another month. 

My computer/embroidery/distance glasses were ready and the fitter had clip-on magnifiers for me to try. I settled for the 2.5x magnification clip-ons which seem to work well with these. This is for embroidery, especially in group situations.  I have spared readers the sight of the clip-ons.

I finished up most of the carrot salad with the prawns and fresh bread for dinner.

Around sunset, I heard the distinctive call of the Adelaide Rosella and grabbed my SLR. It was a single bird, sitting on the very top of a tree some 10-15 metres behind the apartment building. There was an answering call some distance away, but I didn't see the second bird. 

The long tail isn't visible here, so the rosella looks a bit smaller than it is.

I haven't seen one in these trees for a while.

With all the running around I was lucky to get two squares crocheted today.  

The blocking is now complete. I will roll it up tomorrow so it doesn't get crushed while I'm finishing the last two pieces to complete the chair. I won't take the cover off the chair until all three are finished.

Tomorrow I head for Normanville for a week.  It's only about 90 minutes drive and I'm can't book in until 2pm so there's no hurry.  I haven't done any packing, although I have thought about it. I also need to soak the plants before I leave tomorrow, and get petrol - which unfortunately is on the expensive end of the cost cycle. It will be a fairly busy morning.