Post 519 Productive - but too sedentary!

On Wednesday I had lunch with friends at Balaboosta, a long block away from my apartment. I hadn't been there before, but it is highly popular, especially for wood oven pizza. Our carpark door was once again being repaired, so cars couldn't be moved in or out between 9.30am and 3.30pm - a good incentive for me to walk, rather than try to find street parking all day.

It was a chance to admire the gardens on the way. I especially liked this crepe myrtle. 

I loved our catchup lunch. We sat just inside - a bit noisy, but we managed to talk non-stop. 

The bookmarks I had ordered in honour of my Canberra trip arrived on Thursday before Pilates. I'm delighted with them. The water dragon one is spectacular.

I've been working on my presentation on Mexican Embroidery - which is, of course, a huge topic. I am attempting a very broad overview, with a general history of the culture - and a hope some WES members will be interested enough to take up specific components (or even plan a visit!). The Guild Museum has several relevant items, which I'm hoping the Museum team will have time to ferret out for us.

Friday was a roughly quarterly lunch with a group of long-term work-related friends, this time at Sean's Kitchen in a large, now unused, section of the Adelaide Railway Station.The company and the food was terrific. The service was good. The noise level, however, was disturbing. There are a lot of tables, and several large groups ( some associated with the West Indies test cricket match on in Adelaide at the moment) but none of them were talking loudly. The acoustics, probably related to the hard surfaces and the huge vaulted ceiling, would have been great for a choral concert, but terrible for a restaurant. It didn't stop us catching up on the numerous travels and adventures of each of us, I rarely have an entree these days but I couldn't resist the Whipped Cod Roe. I love roe, and rarely find it on menus. I wasn't disappointed, and my Orgy of Mushrooms, with ricotta gnocchi was fabulous.  The Maple ice cream (first ice cream in 3 years) topped it off.  I paid the price in a 1kg weight  gain the next day, which I have now managed to lose.

I went to and from lunch on the City Loop Bus, giving me a chance to photograph the hub of the Tour Down Under as we detoured around one of the road blocks it has occasioned. 

As we returned to the Square I could see that the young Norfolk pines planted a few years ago have thrived. It won't be long before they match the older trees.

Vivienne has given me these Sashiko table pieces over my last two birthdays. Last year we both bought the mats, while she has finished hers, I've been distracted. Inspired, I have now started on mine and have figured out how to create a full table setting. More will be revealed, but many thanks to Vivienne. 

I get by with a little help from my friends.

It's really lovely to see the change as you stitch Sashiko, It's like a landscape emerging and changing. Soothing.

In the early part of the week I remade a skirt into a bag for my daughter - the kind of project I love. Details in my embroidery blog.

Late on Saturday I paused my Sashiko (and my knitting) to take up, for the presentation, a Mexican-inspired sampler which is a free download on the V&A website. The design is by Xinyi Li, MA Fashion Curation, London College of Fashion University of the Arts London. Although the instructions are to transfer the patterns on to linen, they are clearly meant for even-weave counted work, so I used a piece of 25 count linen - producing a larger sampler than the instructions. I don't think I need to work all the designs for the purpose of my presentation, so I have made a selection. I marked out the space with tacking, not easy when the stitches on the diagram don't correspond to the graph lines! A pattern, however, is emerging nicely.

In an effort to avoid a completely sedentary weekend, on Sunday I finally unpacked the carpet shampooer I bought weeks ago. It has been sitting in its unopened box just inside my door. To my surprise (call me Prepared for the Worst) it assembled really easily and quickly and within about 20 minutes I had the water solution in it, rugs folded back, carpets vacuumed and was shampooing carpet! I didn't achieve the 20sq metres on one water tank it claims, but I was getting the hang of it and being thorough. I did the areas of my living room that get the most traffic - probably about 12 sq metres - on a tank of water. 

I had a sugarless lemon soda to recover, then refilled the water tank and did the most trafficked areas of my bedroom. Similar result. It was easy, the used water very dirty - and the carpet looks clean! 

The tank is now empty and clean. The whole machine is stowed in the back of my wardrobe out of the way until I use it again. I reckon if I do the main areas every 2 months the carpet will look (and be) clean. So much easier than getting in carpet cleaners and moving all the furniture at once. Thank you Pat for assuring me it would work!

While Saturday was very hot, Sunday was pleasant at 27C and a breeze. The Mandevilla is looking splendid (a lot of water). It kept me company briefly on Sunday while I read a little more of The Gilded Page. I'm enjoying the stories of the workers behind the earliest English manuscripts, especially the women, whose contributions have been lost, ignored or, in some cases, deliberately erased from the record. I've ordered a copy of The Book of Margery Kempe and am considering pre-ordering a copy of the paperback version of The Posthumous Papers of the Manuscript Club which it seems will be available in August.  Seems I'm down a manuscript rabbit hole.

While I've really enjoyed spending so much time embroidering this week, I've been getting pain in my back and thighs, related to sciatica, and I suspect piriformis syndrome, partially caused by sitting too long, so I have been using my Everfit vibrating plate, cold compresses, and made an effort to get out yesterday, 

visiting Barrow and Bench hardware for a stick-on hook to replace one that fell off (after 8 years) and to buy a few replacement balcony plants, in spite of 32C. 

 

I was fortunately home to receive the delivery of wool for Kaffe Fassett's Andes cardigan. It's a bit hot to begin it at the moment, which will give me time to finish the projects I'm working on.

Today it reached 42C. I managed an 8 minute session on my Everfit vibration plate and an Aquafit session. Before driving home from the last, I got  a message telling me our apartment lift wasn't working.

I was expecting a parcel in the mail and didn't want to walk up and down the stairs twice, but fortunately, as I parked at home, the postman arrived with the first of my ebony knitting needle sets, so I walked up the stairs prepared to stay put for the rest of the day. Within ten minutes of my getting into my apartment the lift was working again! 

Je ne regrette rien! I'm in the cool, I have the latest Inspirations magazine, my lovely needles in their Khadi silk case (a handwoven cotton/silk/wool blend  trademarked by the Indian Government and lovely to hold),  I've done more exercise than usual and the temperature is forecast to drop tomorrow. In spite of the heat  I've  almost finished the knitting the prayer shawl - about 10 rows to go.  It will look a lot better when blocked - hopefully in the next day or two.

Post 392 Bird, books, blooms and bookmarks

Last Wednesday I did a quick trip to Unley to get a few supplies. Niamh and Brigid were staying overnight at my place because they needed to be at school early the next morning to travel with the football team to Tintinara, a two and a half hour drive to the southeast. Niamh was playing in two matches and Brigid organising equipment etc. The stay went smoothly. They won one match and lost the other.

While this was all going on, my friendly dove had found a comfortable perch out of the wind in my empty balcony window box (or is it a balcony box?) I grabbed my DSLR and took some shots. When I came to download them there was no connection to my laptop. Changing the cable didn't help. 

Eventually (2 days later!) I remembered that I could take out the memory card and somewhere I had a card reader. It took a while to find and remember how to use it, but I was eventually rewarded with some terrific photos. 

Still haven't worked out why the direct download doesn't work. Out of practice and out of touch - but still able to drag stuff out of my memory and figure a workaround!  

Back to Pilates on Thursday, where I got a lot of attention because two of our group were absent, leaving only two of us. 

Over Wednesday and Thursday I got quite a bit done on a bookmark I had ordered from the Fox Collection. I thought these would make good Christmas presents for a couple of friends. I ordered three designs I liked and began almost as soon as they arrived. I hadn't expected to enjoy doing it quite as much as I did. I finished the first one off at Sit'nStitch on Friday. Jennifer has made good progress on the crocheted shawl she started last week, and Susan is progressing an appliqued floor rug for a friend's baby. 

Before Sit'nStitch on Friday, I had coffee with a couple of  friends I worked with ten or more years ago. We had a good Covid catch up.  I also bought all the ingredients for a moussaka, which I spent much of Saturday making. I wanted to go to Basics2Beyond on Monday, so cooking needed to happen in advance.  It takes me a good four hours to prepare moussaka, and I usually do it in relays.  

On Saturday I did it in one go, which takes a bit of a toll on my sciatica - and makes a mess in the kitchen. The result, however, is well worth it. My new nutmeg grater got a good tryout. The Monday meal worked well.

In between cooking bursts, while waiting for things to cook or cool, I found some Solvi and copied my Design Online final design so I can attach it to my purple coat. This became my project for B2B on Monday. It's too hard to transfer the design directly on to the wool.

On Sunday our Crime Book Club met at a new venue, the Dulwich Bakery next to Heyne's Nursery on The Parade at Norwood. We had another good discussion. I hadn't read the recommended books - it's been a lean reading month for me. This group is very accepting and the discussion proceeds easily regardless of who has read what.

Again, there were lots of good ideas and recommendations shared. Next month I get to choose the books to discuss in October. I have a couple of ideas.

I was pleased to meet next to the nursery, which is a good one. I was looking for a wide, shallow bowl in which to place or replant the flat basket of plants on my back balcony. The basket has rotted. I realised, in looking at the nursery offerings, that most of the available bowls (designed, on the whole, as birdbaths) would be too heavy for my balcony. So I ended up getting a huge, 5" deep saucer. I'll let it sit for a bit before deciding whether to put holes in it and add more soil - or just add more soil.

I also bought another small pot of primula to add to the back balcony. It's smothered in buds, so should look good very soon.

The dry stalks of the Mandevilla I bought last December have burst into buds. It too should look lovely fairly soon. 

I also bought a punnet of blue cineraria, which I planted in a large empty pot on the front balcony. 

Sunday was 22C in Adelaide, sunny and breezy. I made the most of it - opened up the front and back doors to get a pleasant breeze through. Monday was back to 13C and rain. I watered the plants in, but they might get a little water in the next few days, although rain doesn't often penetrate the front balcony.

Not long after the sun set we had a few showers, then a bit of a storm. 

Monday brought showers between bursts of sun. I left early for Basics 2 Beyond, so I could pick up some carrot, cucumber, apple and a couple of Lebanese loaves for snacks for the kids on the way. Unfortunately the bakery had only just put the bread in the oven, so I had a coffee, picked up the bread and arrived late as usual at B2B. No matter, it is come and go as you need. I worked on the edges of my coat - applying the design I did for Design on Line.  I got the stem and a couple of leaves outlined, which is a good start.

I'm planning, at the moment, to keep this as my B2B project.

In the meantime, I progressed the Delft Blue bookmark - and loved it. It does, however, require concentration, magnification and holding in hand - not great for RSI. It looks quite good without some of the stitches. I finished the embroidery on Monday night and the construction this morning. 

I have also progressed my shawl knitting - but not enough to make a good photo!

I've enjoyed the bookmarks so much I dug out some Aida band I'd bought a couple of years ago to embroider for towels. It turns out to be about 17 count Aida. I prefer 14 count (which I can see!), so went searching online and found a really good collection of 14 count Aida at the Crafty Frog in Canberra. I've ordered a variety of pieces and dug out  my copy of Celtic Backstitch, which has a range of suitable patterns.

Wouldn't want to run out of things to do in a pandemic.

Today I had lunch with Jennifer and a past work friend who has just moved to the Adelaide Hills from Victoria. So much to talk about. Both she and Jennifer are thinking of joining the Guild. 

I took Veronica and Niamh to their final netball practice of the season. Brigid is in the Flinders Ranges helping on a school camp. We remain a bit of an island here in SA while the Covid Delta variant rages in NSW, spreads more slowly in Victoria and makes an appearance in Queensland. Here we have mask mandates, vaccination drives and 75% capacity in hospitality venues.

Feedburner appears to be still working. Their message says the email subscription service will be discontinued 'in August' .  I am ready to send manual emails if and when the automation fails. It's a bit 'test and see' at the moment. I hope no one is inconvenienced.

My final offering this week is the basil I bought yesterday at the greengrocer. As well as helping the Greek salad along, it is pretty attractive on the bench - and cheering.