Post 131

I promised to write a bit more about the book on the Australian Quaker Narrative Embroidery Project that I have borrowed from Junette. It tells the story of the Project from its conception in 2005 to the completion of 20 panels in 2019.

Usefully, it outlines the debates and discussions within the Society of Friends about committing resources of time, money and energy to a project of narrative embroidery.  There are lessons in here for any group considering a major community project.

The section on the process of producing the panels - deciding on and sourcing fabric and thread, design, the concept of ‘cartoons’, limiting stitches, sharing the work - is really interesting and helpful. I am still not sure how the design is transferred from the calico backing to the wool fabric, but in every other way the process is thoroughly outlined. 

The second part of the book outlines and shows the 20 panels completed by 2019 and the 12 panels under production at that time. I found the latter especially interesting. It's really helpful to see the outline, some background and a detail of embroidery.

Also of particular interest is the discussion to the completed Cotton panel, which enshrines a view of Frances Cotton’s recording of Aboriginal stories in Tasmania. This was believed to be true when the panel was stitched but is now known to be untrue. All credit to the compiler for detailing and discussing the issue. Hopefully, when the 40 panels are finished, the book will be updated and include a further discussion of the issue and a way of resolving it. It is a really important issue which can’t be avoided in projecting a view of history. I'm keen to know how the Society works it through.

Meanwhile, I finished the Muncaster Oranges. It is currently being blocked.

















I had postal success today. The missing books were delivered (no explanation - but I'm not asking) and  Rabbits at Dawn, not available when Phillipa sent my package of linens, arrived.




Another job today was fixing my boot, the sole of which I noticed was coming away from the upper at the toe.

It didn't seem to need a trip to the repairer, so I have glued and clamped it. I do hope it works - they are so comfortable and useful.





I have many projects to choose from as my next one. Do I go back to the Nicola birds, continue with the Crewel linens, finish the Owl or do some knitting?

For the moment knitting has won.
I've been itching to work on this Adagio Mill kit I bought last year. Adagio process alpaca for local producers in  Orange NSW.  It is lovely to work with. The kit is in natural greys. It's also a chance to work with the new set of circular needles I bought with birthday money from a friend in January.



Tonight I finished the first stage- 70 rows to establish one end of what is an irregular triangle. Tomorrow I get to change colour!

That's when I get back from the hairdresser,

Post 128: nature and nurture

Warrawong Sanctuary, at Mylor, in the Adelaide Hills, posted this photo to their Facebook page this morning. It is Jon Snow, their albino carpet python.

I really like the coiled shape and the markings. It seemed to me it would make an excellent embroidery pattern. Could it be turned into a hat? I'm going to have a play with it one day. The patterns would work well in counted thread - but it doesn't sit symmetrically on the fabric.

Jennifer called me this morning. She has seen a physician who has ordered numerous tests to check on all organs that are known to be possibly affected  by Covid - 11 tests in all. She is very pleased with this. Her well-being is going to affected by for quite a while and knowledge and expertise is going to be key to her long term recovery.
I had a message from another friend who is following Jessica Grimm's Imperial Goldwork course. She tells me that Jessica is about to publish an ebook and also that Natalie Dupuis is about to begin a course in goldwork couching.












Myrtle and Turtle paid me a visit this morning. The rain didn't deter them.

They drank and ate a bit, then took off.

I went to Pilates, which is not restored to it's old equipment configuration. There is still at least 1.5 metres space around each piece of equipment,  There were 9 of us there, including the instructors. We largely stay on the same piece of equipment.

Our sessions are ten minutes shorter, to allow the instructors to wipe down each piece of equipment.

I enjoyed the session.

After Pilates I went to a friend's place to stitch. I worked on my Muncaster Orange and she wound wool. She also provided a delicious lunch and coffee.

I had been notified of two parcels arriving today. One was my cloth face masks and books I had ordered.  It is a nuisance if they are delivered when I am out. If they don't fit in my letterbox they will be taken to the Post Office for me to pick up. I was watching my phone all afternoon for messages that they had been delivered. I was notified by email that one, the masks, had been left. Eventually I had a message that the Post Office had tried to deliver the books, but couldn't get access to leave them. Usually the message says where and when the package can be collected- usually the Halifax St PO after 4pm. This one had no such information.

I stopped at the PO on my way home. They did not have the parcel - told me to check for a card in my letterbox and try later. Sure enough there was a card in  my letterbox saying the parcel could be collected after 4pm from Halifax St PO. I went back to the PO with the card. Still no parcel. They think it is still in the van and will chase it up and ring me on Monday. Disappointing, but I imagine it will be sorted on Monday.

The masks look good. They are in case I need them in specific situations, so no plan to use them at the moment.






By the time I got home the sun was setting. I quite like these dour sunsets.

Garden of the Hōjō

I did more on the Muncaster Orange tonight while watching Monty Don's Japanese Gardens on TV.  There was much on the Japanese concept of Mu - nothing- and its manifestation as negative space. 

I also really  the Garden of the Hōjō, which is a Zen manifestation of  movement from ordered, predictable precision to space, growth, softening and nature. 

It might be a metaphor for our time.

This is where I am at the moment with the Oranges. 

Jennifer commented this morning on the lovely colours, especially the leaves. I agree. It is a most harmonious design. Somehow the colours are calming. It is lovely to work with, inducing relaxation and wholeness.

I should finish the second orange tomorrow. 

Post 127: Mostly birds and sky.

There was a news item in my inbox this morning about the research of Associate Professor Amanda Ridley of the University of Western Australia into the behaviour of Australian Magpies.  Amongst other things, she has established that the females make more noise than the males, and that they can sing up to 80 decibels, and for periods of 70 minutes at a time.

When I emerged from my dental appointment around 11.30 am, there were a couple of groups of Magpies feeding on the parkland in front of my parked car. They were not making a noise.

There was a very promising hole for a nest right in front of my car.  This is the beginning of their breeding season which peaks in August with nesting and swooping on intruders. I shall take care when I return to the dentist in September.

There was also a rainbow lorikeet keeping an eye on the Magpies from a nearby tree. It isn't that often that you see a single lorikeet. Perhaps this one was the sentry.

My dental appointment was for a small filling on the edge of a crown. The clinic has efficient, thorough and well-managed Covid precautions. Very reassuring. I went on to Unley shopping centre to post a parcel. I also bought some lamb cutlets, lamb shanks - and blueberry scones. 2 scones kept me going most of the day.

Yesterday I had notification from Beating Around The Bush that my refund had been processed. It hasn't arrived in my account yet, but I'm impressed with the efficiency of their processes once the decision to cancel was made. I look forward to seeing the offering for 2021 and 2022.

I was getting concerned about Myrtle and Turtle. I hadn't seen either of them for 3 days, so hadn't put out any seed. Around 1 pm Myrtle turned up, staying less than a minute. She is always nervous. I put out some seed. She returned a  couple of hours later, ate some seed and had a good drink.

I'm pleased to see her.






The moon had risen, long before the sun went down. It is a bit easier to capture a moon image in the daylight.


I have a backlog of books to read - for Book Club, but mostly for interest. I started Death in Transit, a Keith Moray murder mystery set on Uist. This is delaying my reading of a Robert Gott historical Australian crime on Overdrive and a pile of hardcopy embroidery books. The three books I ordered from the Old Girls Union newsletter are also on their way. My father used to say, when we put too much food on our plates "Your eyes are too big for your belly".  There must be a book equivalent.

I have, nevertheless, been focused on working on the Orange while watching the news of our Covid progress/regression unfold. 

I went one shade darker on the lower centre of the far right leaf and also kept the stitches a bit sparse.

I need to do a bit of repair on the rope stitch stems. These were the last thing I worked on tonight and my eyes are giving out.

Nevertheless, it's coming along nicely.

While working on the Orange have been using the chatelaine I bought in Stratford from Phillipa. It works well. However, if I bend down for any reason, the scissors are inclined to fall out. Last night, when I bent down to take my dinner out of the oven, the scissors fell into the oven. I couldn't see them and was worried they had fallen into the gap underneath the open door and into the space underneath the oven. This morning I pulled all the shelves and trays out of the oven and lo! the scissors were at the back of the bottom tray. While this was a relief. I like those scissors and didn't much like the idea of them lost under an oven. The downside was that I ended up scrubbing all the oven trays and racks!

Post 124: Mostly dinner

Today's post is short. Although I had a fairly busy day, I didn't think to take photos.


Just as I finished my breakfast I caught the Noisy Miner out of the corner of my eye - back to sample the Aeonium flower. I managed to take a photo, but it was through the fly wire screen, so pretty terrible. It's a shame, because it was a clear view of the bird.

I didn't see the doves at all today, but then, I was busy shopping or in the kitchen.

The kids were coming here after school. Although I had bought the main ingredients for dinner yesterday, I had bread to get and some sort of savoury snack for after school. Frewville is the place for these and, inevitably I bought a number of other things.

I made eggplant parmigiana, potato and bacon and roasted chicken Marylands.

I had intended to take a photo, but forgot. It worked quite well.


In the evening I concentrated on the Muncaster Orange. I was falling asleep by the end so there is a bit of tidying to do tomorrow, as well as the centre.  I think this week I should be able to work consistently on this. It's lovely to work on.

South Australia had three cases of Corona Virus identified today after 28 days of no cases. The three are a family in hotel quarantine after returning to Adelaide from India - so not community transmission. Victoria is having a hard time with localised outbreaks and massive hotspot testing regime. They had 75 cases identified today.  They are doing a great job of testing and isolating. Mobile testing vans are parking at the ends of streets in hotspot suburbs and 800 testers are going door to door to ask people to take a test.  They are running short of contact tracers and South Australia has sent a team to help.  Here's hoping they
get on top of it. They should - it's a very concerted team effort.

Post 123 Oysters and Eider ducks

I wanted to go to North Adelaide this morning to get the ingredients for tomorrow night's family dinner. I was about to leave when the doves arrived so I stopped to provide their seed.


At North Adelaide Village, Romeo's had some fresh oysters, so I treated myself to half a dozen. It's the height of the oyster season and Streaky Bay oyster farmers have lost a lot of their usual market because restaurants have been closed or restricted in numbers.

They were delicious.


In her email to me a couple of days ago, Sandra, my embroidery friend in Manchester, England, told me that her brother, who lives in Norway, had recently visited an eider collecting island off the coast of Norway. From her description I think it might be Lanan.  It's a fascinating story. Norwegian eiderdown, unlike Icelandic eiderdown, is still collected and processed by hand.  A couple of families build and maintain nesting boxes on Lanan. The eider ducks arrive in Spring and build their nests. The families protect the ducks and their nests from predators and collect the eider down shed by the ducks. It takes three weeks to collect 1kg of down - enough for a quilt - which is then cleaned by hand. Hand-made quilts sell for $15, 000. The 2-3 families who live on Lanan during the Spring and Summer allow visitors on a very limited basis.  Pretty amazing.

It had started out pretty cold but warmed up during the day. I managed to spend an hour or so on the Western balcony catching the afternoon sun and embroidering.

The frangipani are losing their leaves, but all other plants are looking lush.












The sunset was gentle, but too beautiful not to take photos as it changed.

I made progress on the owl, and also on the Muncaster Orange. Small steps.

Self-isolation Day 9: easy does it

Today I took it very easy and focused on the Muncaster Oranges. I also had a lovely long Facetime discussion with a good Guild friend - so much to catch up on. I registered for online Pilates classes and discovered that another supermarket I use has a home delivery service for self-isolaters. Might use that next week, so I can get my regular meusli.

The oranges were dry and beautifully flat. I took the plunge and cut them out quite close in order to applique them to my chair cover.

It's a tricky procedure. Just getting the cover off the chair is a bit of an effort. It fits very snugly, so has to be eased off. I wanted the oranges to cover the seam joining two of embroideries already attached.












I am pinning through two quite heavy layers of large and awkward fabric

and it is very easy to find pleats on the underside, which will result in puckers when the cover is on the chair.














The larger panels I have machine stitched to the cover, but this one needed to be hand-stitched. My machine skills are no good with curves on bulky fabric!



Then came the job of putting the cover back on. It takes quite a while to manipulate it. There is no zip, and it fits quite tightly.


I'm pleased with the effect, but it does draw my attention to the need for pieces to fill other gaps. I dug out the redwork rabbit - another job for my isolation! What I need is a mirror image of the Muncaster Oranges!




It is good to see people using the square to exercise well away from others. One of my neighbours was also knitting in the park this afternoon.










I covered a few more hexies, but am now working on the Marie Wallin scarf. It's taken a bit of concentration to get back into the rhythm, but I'm just about there.

I'm thinking I might work on the scarf for a bit and then add in the Mellerstain Parrots.

From my grocery largess I had a couple of Jamie Oliver lemon pepper chicken fillets with salad tonight. After watching the last of the current ABC Agatha Raisin series, I discovered Series 1 of the Repair Shop on iView - one of my very favourite shows. I can just manage to knit the scarf and watch!

Self-isolation Day 7: Halfway; oranges following the sun

Yesterday I listened to the Gesualdo Six while stitching in my living room in the afternoon. I saw them perform at Ukaria, in the Adelaide Hills in February and bought two of their CDs which I hadn’t played. I love the music they make, both the familiar and the less so.

This morning, inspired by Phillipa Turnbull's video in her garden, I decided I would take my stitching outside. I was on a roll with the ribbon on my Muncaster Orange - the topic of Phillipa's video. I rarely sit outside on my back balcony, although I often sit just inside. It was lovely there this morning, very warm without being too hot -not that usual in Adelaide. 

I was stitching happily way when I received a text message from Woolworths, telling me I had been accepted for home delivery from online ordering! Yah! I was so relieved. This had been my major cause of concern in self-isolation. While I am OK for food, I will run out of fresh fruit and veg before the end of my isolation. I have family and friends who will shop for me, but they all have quite enough on their plates without needing to service me as well. If the home delivery works I know I can manage.

I went inside and finalised my order immediately. My first delivery is scheduled tomorrow between 2pm and 7pm. I could take a wide delivery window because I know I'll be here!  I have left instructions that it needs to be brought upstairs and left outside my door. I can't go outside my door, so need it right outside.   Here's hoping it works.

Back on the balcony, I continued stitching - and took another photo of the tree to get closer to the branch structure for a future embroidery.

While I was contemplating the tree,  my immediate neighbour rang. We had a great catch up, the birds, the bats, our concerns, our hopes.  I was pleased to get her husband's opinion that my vine from yesterday's post is indeed a passionfruit. Theo knows this stuff. I've decided the obvious future of the vine is in the garden of someone who likes passionfruit. When we are out of lockdown.

As the day progressed I moved with the sun. It was great light for stitching. I discovered gaps in the rope stitch stems that had not been obvious to me under artificial light. I filled in all the gaps and finished off the stems. By 3.30 I was stitching on the front balcony.

A helicopter seemed to take off from quite nearby in the city and gain height as it came past. Checking helipads in the city, it had to be either from the Royal Adelaide Hospital or AECOM - a private infrastructure company that apparently has a helipad in the CBD - seems a bit upmarket for Adelaide!

There is still a bloom on one of my balcony frangipanis. It isn't a really strongly scented one, but it is lovely.









In the continuous sunlight I made excellent progress on the bow. I went over several bits until I was happy. I was struggling to balance shading for distance (edges behind and in front) and shading for light. It isn't always the same thing. It took me several adjustment to be happy.

There was plenty to look at, including the exhaust trail of the Perth plane from Melbourne - a site we won't, I imagine, see in coming weeks.







I almost finished the bow as the sun went down and the birds came home to roost.

I stopped to call my brother. He's working from home. My sister-in-law is refining her technique of teaching PE to 24 junior primary student via video link in their individual home. 24 separate little screen faces need some getting used to !  There are processes and protocols for online communication that have to be identified and learned. Many people, not just teachers, are on a steep learning curve - but getting there quite quickly. SA is moving to learning from home from the end of term, preferably immediately.

In the hope that my supermarket order will indeed arrive tomorrow, I allowed myself an extra serve of salad tonight. Susan's pasties are delicious. I'm so lucky to have this generous supply!

I finished the bow off quite quickly after my meal. I'm very pleased with it. I think it will fit in nicely with the other pieces on my chair.











It's now out of the hoop. I will block it  tomorrow.

I'm wondering whether my Sydney friend, had her cataract operation or not. I will hopefully find out tomorrow- before or after my groceries arrive!


I am now half way through my self isolation, and doing well thanks to my family, friends and neighbours - not just here but in distant places.  It is heartening to be so connected. I look forward to welcoming Woolworths to my support network!