Post 271 Tutus, paintings and Oak Apples.

Isn't this lovely! It is a piece of traditional Sashiko, worked 10 years ago by Lori, a Guild friend and member of the World Embroidery Study Group, and recently turned into a craft bag with the addition of denim during Covid restrictions.  

I really like the colour and design - so rich and harmonious.  Lori is a persistent, bold and creative stitcher with a really good eye.

This is how far I got last night. I didn't include the photo in yesterday's post. The leaves and acorns take longer than I anticipate. They are, nevertheless, really enjoyable to work.

Today I went to lunch at my tutu-making friend's house, taking my supply of elastic to see if any of it would work for the tutus. It did. 

She had made a delicious prawn curry for our lunch. It was a lovely, relaxing few hours. Plenty to share and quite a bit to laugh about. 

Before I went home I swung past Elders Fine Art in North Adelaide to preview the works in their upcoming auction, which was scheduled for this Sunday. It has, however, been postponed by a week because of our lockdown last week.  I was still able to view most of the paintings. They have had people arriving all day, not knowing it was postponed. It made me realise how difficult these changes make it for businesses - especially ones that involve events.

There are a couple of paintings by Christine Lawrence in the auction. Really beautiful - but very large. 

Lot 139 left.

and (right)  Lot 242. Chris Lawrence was an Art teacher with the SA Education Department, in both High Schools and Primary Schools. She taught with Jim and then taught a couple of our grandchildren. A terrific teacher.

There are some interesting Bernard Hesling plates and a couple of Barbara Hanrahans as wells.

I arrived home to find Turtle on sentry duty and another missed parcel in my letterbox. I went straight out to collect it. Unfortunately. the postman had not yet taken it to the Post Office. Back tomorrow.  

It was 32C in Adelaide today, and building up to 41C on Friday and Saturday. 

I did a bit of checking for my brother, trying to find any family history for a Scottish painter named Victor Rolyat or an Australian painter M Rolyat. After searching Ancestry and finding about 100 Rolyats in the UK, all from 1830 onwards, and about 20 in Australia in the same period,  I discovered that  Rolyat is a name commonly used by people or families named Taylor, who spell their name backwards. Many use both, calling themselves, for example, Henry Taylor Rolyat. 

My brother had made the same discovery today. 

This is my progress this evening on the Oak Apple Tree. Tomorrow the Crewel Special Interest Group meets at the Guild and I am planning to go. I should make quite a bit of progress - perhaps getting close to finishing.

Post 258 Shades of purple

Before I left for Pilates, Turtle arrived and scoured the wet balcony for seed. He stayed a while on the rail, puffed up and looking like an old bird.

The third volume of the printed version of this blog arrived this morning. I was fortunately in, heard the courier buzz (just!) and retrieved the package. This takes the printed copies to Post 217. I plan two more, one at the end of December and the final at the end of February.

I managed a couple of rows of knitting before it was time to go to Pilates. I got to do some balancing on the vibrating circulation pad - very scary.

This is today's photo of the Jacarandas on Carrington Street taken on the way home. They make quite a good colourway with the grey sky.

The one below was taken later this evening on my way to friends' place for dinner. It's the Jacaranda at Adelaide High School.

I had another visit from Turtle late this afternoon. He watched for a while from the roof, ate a little seed (wet from rain) then took up a position on the rail for quite a long time. He's puffed up in the rain and relative cold. Just waiting. Or resting.

It took 39 minutes to drive to my friends' place just before 5.30, and 18 minutes to drive home at 10pm.  I guess I should expect that and leave home earlier, instead of photographing birds!

They have a lovely pot of pansies outside their front door.

I took my knitting with me and finished a couple more rows. I still have probably close to half a skein of wool left, but think I have done enough to make a reasonable size shawl.

At home I knitted one more row, then finished using an elastic cast-off. 

I then blocked it to about twice the size. I chose not to use the blocking rods. I think it will look better with scalloped edges. The trunk behind the shawl is about 90cm long.

We'll see what it looks like in the morning. 

I really need to go to bed - shouldn't have had coffee after dinner tonight! I'm hoping when I wake in the morning the Crewel Work Company's Aesop Fable kit will be available for me to order!