Another busy week, on way or another. On Thursday morning I had a morning tea/brunch for Adelaide family and partners before they set off on a family holiday adventure. It was a happy time, with lots of laughter and stories. I hope they are all enjoying their time away. I had lots of food left over, so didn't do much cooking until Sunday, when friends who have been travelling came for lunch and I tried out a new recipe - Chicken Maryland with haloumi, honey, and lemon. It was a success and will join my Monday night repertoire. It’s lovely to have the friends back in Adelaide for a while and the hours sped by.
I had primed myself to take photos of the table for both meals, but, as always, when I get into a social situation, photography fades from my consciousness. It seems it is a solitary preoccupation. Saturday night's sunset will have to do as a lead photo.
I worked pretty steadily on a couple of tote bags, finishing Women's Voices ( as usual detail in my embroidery blog) and starting on Botanica in Rust - a remnant I bought from Ink and Spindle. It is a beautiful heavyweight Belgian linen dyed and printed in Melbourne. The Australian native flowers printed on it are bold enough to embroider and the remnant will cover both sides of a tote.
My idea is to embroider just one, or at most, two flowers on each side, that way emphasising rather than colouring in, the work of the designer. The Waratah lends itself easily this treatment, using bullion knots.
So whereas last week was a Quaker stitch binge, the current binge is bullion knots!
I finished this side last night. I don't want to do more to this piece. It is a work of art in itself. I am taking the second piece (the other side of the bag) with me to maybe work a grevillea on the plane. Yes, by the time this is posted I will be in Canberra for a few days, my first trip outside Adelaide since March 2020.
It has taken a bit to orient myself again to preparing to fly. Once I did this on autopilot. I've had to focus to remember, and check, luggage allowance, what I need (all those chargers), what I can't take, what I need to turn off at home, how I will post his blog. I figured I had time to swim today before going to the airport, but abandoned the idea in favour of triple checking my preparation.
A few months ago I saw this book advertised and was interested, but decided against it as it was expensive, I have a pile of unread books and have again run out of bookshelf. Last week it came up in a listing in The Book Grocer at $20 and I bought a copy. I'm guessing it was remaindered stock, as they have multiple copies. It arrived yesterday and I began reading straight away. It has me hooked. It has the irresistible element of uncovered detail that shifts accepted viewpoints - and includes women who wrote, or scribed or made parchment. It has already given me another idea for the next women's faces bag.
Pat Manser, you might want a copy!
I am, however, intrigued that the author either published the same book under a different title with a different publisher, or wrote something very related in the same year under the title of Hidden Hands.
I made time during the week to improve on the display of my mother’s unfinished horse embroidery. The transfer pattern and stitching instructions were with it, so I have stored them underneath the embroidery. One of the linen mats Vivienne gave me for my birthday a couple of years ago makes a nice frame and I’ve turned it lengthwise.
Now it does justice.
Hopefully my plan for posting this from my iPad at the airport will work. It will be a bit earlier than usual and next week I can report on my Canberra adventure.
