Post 449 Down World Embroidery Rabbit Holes.

My week has been dominated by our World Embroidery Study Group activity. Junette told us about cloth and  embroidered quilts from Rarotonga and brought along examples she has gathered and tried out herself. It was interesting to hear about the community groups that make quilts together, and the quite particular way in which that is done.

It was a good turnout with plenty of sharing and discussion. 

Pat brought along  a Fair Isle vest knitted some 30 years ago. It's lovely - really even knitting. Pat is trying to work out how to alter it so she can wear it. I have no doubt she will find a way to do that.

Maureen, the group's oldest member who rarely makes it to meetings these days, turned up in a taxi with a suitcase full of folders for the group. The six folders hold the notes on World Embroidery that she has accumulated and organised over the years. She is giving them to the Guild, via this group.

She has given me carte blanche to deal with them - suggesting members take what they want.A small group of us got together on Friday to work it out. We have set up a database which I will explain when it's finished, but I spent much of the weekend and Monday entering data into a spreadsheet in relation to the 70 items in one folder. We are women on a mission to do justice to Maureen's work!      

 On Thursday I had bought 2 salmon fillets in an aluminium tray that went in the oven. I cooked both, ate one and then made salmon patties with the other, something I haven't done for years. They improved in the fridge on Friday so I had a quick and easy meal when I got home from our meeting. I might try that again sometime.

I got around to mending that sheet I washed last week. I decided the fabric was too flimsy to patch so settled for sewing up the tear on the inside, then taking a pleat the whole length of the sheet. It is quite a generous size and the pleat doesn't strain the fit. It will last a bit longer. In the meantime, the Lad's bamboo/cotton mix new ones are working well and feel good.

Veronica is on a school camp this week. There was a chance it would be cancelled because it now includes the public holiday to mourn the Queen, but it has gone ahead. The Day of Mourning public holiday also happens to be the twin's birthday. It's the first time they will be apart on their birthday - so quite a memorable birthday for them. We missed Veronica at dinner on Monday  - but the broccoli went further!  

I've begun the sampler of knitting stitches, marking out a piece of sheeting for the 16 samples. I have added another since the photo. I will attach each by hand. I can see differences already, but I'm not sure that at the end I'm going to feel wedded to one over another. Maybe.

I'm still knitting a shawl, and the wool from Virtual Yarns for Brigid's Aran jumper  has arrived in Melbourne. It should be in Adelaide this week.My brother's vest is ahead in the queue, but awaiting  a measurement!

Yesterday a friend (thanks Viv) drew my attention to a photo, on Portals to the Past, of the Ground Floor of David Jones Department Store in Sydney in 1963. This is a zoom in to the top left hand corner of that photo,  showing the Lady's Handkerchief Department where I worked for four weeks every Christmas from 1962 to 1968. The island counter ran between the two posts, on the side in the left of the photo was handkerchiefs and on the other side, obscured, were scarves - separate staff, and we stayed on our respective sides. The woman in the light coloured coat is at the counter, which was a display case. Behind the counter, between the posts, were drawers and drawers of handkerchiefs. At Christmas we did a roaring trade in nuns' handkerchiefs, 1/- cotton, 2/- linen. Teaching nuns must have had an endless supply.

 

On Saturday  I had a biopsy on my left eye. I spent a lot of time waiting, getting prepped, having anaesthetic drops in my eye, before the actual tissue extraction. I don't get the results for two weeks. The ophthalmologist thinks there is some underlying auto-immune disease causing, or contributing to, my eye problem. My eye was a bit achy and twitchy for several hours but now none the worse for wear.  

It continues to rain a fair bit. While it's grey and gloomy, the plants are thriving.

The cards and books from the Grazig School in Quimper, are now in the French postal system and on their way. I'm gradually putting together a presentation using the material I already have, in anticipation that some Guild members will be interested next year.  I've also been trying to draw together my November presentation on Anglo-Saxon Embroidery.  Happy in my obsessions!

Post 447 I stress out on 5G and take a dive into Glazig.

It was a big day last Wednesday.  I went shopping for meat and veg, swung past Big W to buy Ann Cleeves' latest Vera book then went on to Centennial Park to visit Jim's grave.

Spring is breaking out  and it is lovely to walk there, listening to the birds.

During that morning I took a phone call from my Internet provider suggesting I switch from the NBN (National Broadband Network) to 5G.  I've been getting these calls for a while now, and had decided they were a scam, because the emails I requested them to send didn't arrive. Last week I realised they were (not unreasonably) sending them to the email address that comes with the service, which I rarely access. 

 Feeling guilty, I agreed to the switch  (scary) and on Friday a new modem arrived for me to install. At the same time, a technician was due to arrive to connect the new video entry buzzer system to my mobile phone, so I can open the front door remotely. I was daunted by the effort involved to set up a new wifi network and change everything over (including the newly installed entry system). I unpacked the modem, connected it in two places that met the (quite specific) criteria only to discover that I had very good 4G reception, but - no 5G at all. I admit to being relieved. I packed the modem back into its box and notified my provider I wanted to remain on the NBN. It's been a bit of a saga and today Star Track picked up the modem to return to the provider in Sydney. I'm glad I eventually thought and researched my way through it - and I very much miss sharing that process with Jim.

Still back at last Wednesday, I began watching a DVD I had borrowed from Brigid, Series 6 of Brokenwood, which meant digging out the instructions on my dvd player which I had forgotten how to use. In this I was quite successful! 

I also discovered Glazig embroidery from a casual reference in a newsletter. Intrigued, I looked it up -  all sources are in French, but I did manage to find a couple of web pages with translations. It is a style from Quimper in Brittany, revived and developed by Pascal Jaouen at his School of Art Embroidery in that town. I ordered 4 books, 2 linens, and a set of threads. One of the  books  and a set of threads have arrived. 

This book is mostly full page examples, and I can manage the few pages of text in French. Surprisingly (to me) I found the threads at Inspirations in Adelaide. These still needed to be posted, of course, as the company doesn't have a retail outlet. 

The remaining books, all in French, (including the one on the left) and linens are coming from France. I'm quite excited about exploring this embroidery style - and reporting back next year to the World Embroidery Study Group and through my embroidery blog. It is going to challenge my schoolgirl French - but I still have a dictionary!

Last Friday, at our Sit'nStitch, Jennifer had made a magnificent, delicious, birthday cake for Susan 

and the Gymea had opened further for the occasion.

The celebration theme continued on Saturday at JEMS when three of the students were presented with awards by the Guild President, Mary, for their embroidery wins at the Royal Adelaide Show. I had called in to drop off some examples for the students and ended up staying to help out. Glad I did. It's uplifting to see their energy and interest.

There has been quite a bit of sunshine this week, and less need for heating. I'm still waiting for my Vergola to be repaired - staff shortages still impact. Mask wearing is on the decline, although we still had 441 new cases today and a weekly average of 2 deaths. Our next peak is predicted in November.

I wear a mask inside public spaces and remain cautious. Mostly this week I am relieved to have despatched the 5G modem and retain my NBN service,  pleased that our family meal of Osso Bucco went well last night and that my grandchildren's various sporting finals  and year level camps  are being taken in their stride. 

I'm also thankful that my friend Robin, ill in Sydney, has found a surgeon and hospital to further her recovery! Deo Gratias.  I think she will be really interested in my Grazig embroidery researches with their links to pottery, and I so look forward to sharing them with her. 

I am almost up to the shoulders of the Rowan vest and plan to slip in a prayer shawl before my brother's vest - and before Summer heat puts knitting on the back burner.