Post656 A few things need fixing.

 

It wasn't until Friday that I managed to get back to the pool. Perhaps it was the beginning to the day, waking to the balcony plants throwing shadows on the windows in the slightly golden light, that inspired me to plan my day around a pool visit. It requires both planning and disciple to be prepared to don bathers in the middle of the day, remove hearing aids, and pack all the necessaries for a pool visit. 

I managed to be in the water at 12.30 and out at 1pm. I even took enough clothes to respectably visit the Frewville supermarket afterwards. I usually make do with a cover-all until I get home. Hopefully I've broken the run of avoidance and can get back into a swimming routine.My body certainly needs it. I was tired by the end of the day and unusually asleep by 10.30pm.

After Pilates on Thursday I had lunch at the Queen St Cafe. I haven't been for a while. The Vietnamese  pork belly salad is still fabulous.

The remainder of my days have been spent either reading or advancing projects. The first Beekeeper's Cushion is finished and delivered. I'm now focused on the Bicycle embroidery for my neighbour. 

On Friday I finally had notification that the Japanese silk remnants I had ordered were waiting to be picked up at the PO. I'm still not sure what went wrong. I'd been emailing the retailer for over a week with no reply. She had, in fact, replied several times. These eventually turned up in my spam file, which I had checked. The Australia Post deliverer had left a card, but on the same day as another delivery for which i had a text message, assuming when I picked it up that it was the same parcel. Because both the retailer and the PO persisted, I finally got it. The silk is lovely, and should make 23 bags when I have a bag day.

On Sunday morning as  I watered plants on the back balcony, I disturbed a dove who had been hidden in foliage of the wall garden. It flew off as I watered the top row of plants. I was immediately suspicious - it was the same spot in which a blackbird had built a nest two years ago. Although I had added plants to the spot to discourage nesting, there appeared to be a space at the back of the tub. 

I do not want a nest on my balcony - especially at the moment when there is an infection affecting wild birds. It is not yet in city birds, but is expected. I placed an empty pot over the space to discourage a return. Over the next few hours the dove kept returning, investigating and trying to burrow under the pot. Eventually, around 4pm, when I checked, the dove flew out from under the pot, where it had managed to burrow! I feel very sad about this. I can't get up high enough to look into the space, but clearly there must be eggs. I'm confident there are not yet young birds. I have replaced the empty pot with one filled with soil that will be much harder to dislodge or burrow under. The visits appear to have stopped.

It reminded me that my mother, who was no lover of cats, and chased them out of her garden, was horrified that my maternal grandmother, a tough woman whose children found her hard to love, had drowned the kittens of stray cats found hidden on their plant nursery property (and home) in the 1930s when my grandfather couldn’t do it. I saw this as strength rather than heartlessness. What was the alternative?  Stray cats were destructive to the young plants their livelihood depended on. 

There are many reasons why hatching birds on the balcony is a very bad idea. I feel conflicted and sorry for the dove. I think, however, it was the best thing to do. Maybe I need to put some gravel in the pots at the top of the wall garden.

Today is the birthday of two of my granddaughters. We had a joyful time at dinner last night. I declined an invitation to their dinner tonight. I have failed to keep my 13 hour overnight fast  several nights this week, and my weight is edging up, so I got permission to stay home.  Nevertheless, my day did not turn out as I had anticipated. 

We had been notified of a fire alarm check of the whole apartment block, beginning at 7.30am, so I was up, dressed and ready. The technician works his way through the 27 apartments from one end to another, checking each alarm with a metre on a rod, before checking the sound alarms from the mains board in the basement carpark. As our pod is at the very end of the building, we are either the first or the last to be tested. This time we were last. The tester arrived at 9.50am, 20 minutes before the cleaners. The alarms sounded in sequence just after they arrived. No problem, all in order.

The drama, however, did not end there. For a while the flush on the toilet in my spare bathroom has occasionally failed to switch off. A gentle reflush has done the trick, but I've been aware I need to get it checked. Today it did not turn off when the cleaner  flushed it and he attempted to lift the lid of the cistern to fix it. Unfortunately, the cistern lid is not made to be lifted and dislodged the buttons completely, so the flush does not stop. I now have water running continuously into the cistern, into the bowl and down the drain. I immediately called my plumber who has rearranged work so he can get here at midday tomorrow. He was very helpful. I had tried to turn the stop-cock off, but can't do it. He says this is normal - they seize up due to underuse. So I am wasting water. Fortunately, I have my ensuite. I had a medical appointment at roughly the same time tomorrow which I hope I've cancelled by leaving numerous messages. 

By then it was too late to go swimming, so I went to the pub for a late lunch then sat on the front balcony in the sun. The nasturtiums are beginning to fulfil my hopes of coverage. 

I  managed to advance the cross stitch bicycle for my neigbbour. I'm hoping to finish it tomorrow. It is hard on my eyes. It will, I hope, make my neighbour happy. The beekeeper cushion is a success, and I am really looking forward to knitting the next one - much easier on my eyes, and relaxing.

Finally, my TV Internet connection has just failed. Restarting the router, as directed on the screen, has not worked, so I've sent a Help! message to my Geek. Not my best week!

Post 653 Books, birds, bags and a bcc.

This morning I set off with plenty of time to find parking for the 10 am BCC excision. The plastic surgeon’s rooms are on a major city road with no off-street parking. I tried unsuccessfully to park around the corner before discovering I could park easily right outside!  Luck continued with me. After some very thorough preparation by nurses, the surgeon found the BCC had receded somewhat, but another had appeared above it. As they are on my cheek, and scaring can’t be avoided, 

He opted to do biopsies rather than excision. As a result, I now have only two stitches and two small plasters, I can get them wet tomorrow, go to Pilates on Thursday, but not swim. The stitches come out next week, by which time the pathology results might be back. I may or may not need to proceed to excision. I’m delighted with this result. I don’t mind scars, but I much prefer only necessary surgery. I’ve rescheduled my 11th Covid vaccine to accommodate the removal of stitches. And, again, no swimming🤷

As you can tell, birds have featured strongly this week. It is that time of year, before the human eye can see them, buds must be beginning to swell and the lorikeets arrive to take advantage. I snapped some 20 photos.

I also spent most of Wednesday working on the Kingfisher Embroidery. Today I added the final touches, and the story is in my embroidery blog. I'm very happy with it.

After Pilates on Thursday I dropped into the Guild and got a report on how the Needlework Tour Group Guild visit had gone. It had been financially successful for the Guild, and participants had gone away happy. Also, one of the regular Guild visiting tutors had, apparently, been at my lecture and reported that it had gone down well.  

On Friday morning the Balvraid Hap reached it's owner who sent me photos (thank you!). I don't think she will mind my using part of one of them while protecting her privacy. I'm delighted - it so becomes her. 

From Friday to Sunday the Adelaide Anglican Diocese hosted Blessed in She,  a conference attended by 100 Anglican women from around the country. At the dinner on Friday the Bishop Bags were given to the  attending Bishops and the attendees toasted my efforts before the toast to St Dolly! It's awesome to be mentioned in the same breath as Dolly Parton, and I'm pleased the Bishop Bags have been welcomed as a useful tribute. 

On Saturday I finished the next Quaker kit and called at St Margaret's Market, picking up some plants, but missing out on the cake and biscuits I had hoped to buy for the Book Club meeting at my place on Sunday. The baked products had sold out, so I visited the Hutt St IGA and stocked up. The chocolate bar cake was the runaway favourite, but the biscuits also had a good run. It was a good discussion once again and we have the books for the next two meetings.

I will write more about the finish of the More Freedom kit next time. In the meantime I have begun the third, and last, of the Quaker kits I have, The Gardener.

The doves have also  been back most days, talking away to each other in cadences I'm tempted to interpret and try to join.

It's been an eventful week in a quiet kind of way. I'm still treating my eye with drops and hot packs and tonight is the first of my new ear spray. 

Because the excision was averted today I was able to call at Art Images Gallery on the way home today. They are in the middle of hanging a new exhibition - some very interesting paintings and some fabulous glassware.  

Deo Gratias.

Post 617. Christmas Wishes

I managed to mend (at least for now) the glass angel whose head had come away from the solder, so my nativity is now only missing shepherds.

I spent Wednesday morning at CMI Toyota, knitting and emailing while my car was serviced. Just before 7am, Couriers Please informed me they would deliver the bishop cushions that morning, but I managed to contact them and redirect the delivery to the Pack and Send down the road. All power to Couriers Please! 

I was not as fortunate the next day, when I cancelled Pilates and waited in all day for a delivery that never came! While the courier left a delivery card, they did not ring. The system records attempts, and there were none. I have now learned from reliable sources that some courier companies tell couriers not to ring apartments because it takes too much time! I now have the bags. The account of the new merchandise is in my embroidery blog. 

As I was confined to barracks on Thursday, waiting for a courier who didn't come, I decided to wash all my woollens. I put the 9 merino ones in the washing machine  and the five possum merino in the sink to hand-wash. I dried the machine lot first, a bit of turning and bone dry in 3 hours. 

I then spread out the possum merino ones dripping wet. This, at least, is a very good job jobbed.   

I had tickets to the Messiah at the Cathedral on Friday night, but after a lot of thought, gave it a miss. The temperature on Wednesday and Thursday was 39C and 40C, and forecast as 30C on Friday. The Cathedral has no cooling system and the heat builds up over several days. The deciding factor, however, was the cricket. The Cathedral is within an easy walk of the Adelaide Oval, and when a match is on, all parking around the Cathedral is restricted Event parking. As the third Ashes Test Match was in it's third day, scheduled to finish at 6pm, parking for a 7,00pm performance at the Cathedral was sure to be challenging. I opted out.  The attendance over 5 days was 223,638 a record for Adelaide Oval, so a good decision.

Apart from a couple of big supermarket shops and visits to an Art shop and the Post Office,  most of Friday and Saturday was spent adjusting the print on the Bishop bags. On Sunday I ordered 6 more, this time in a paler background colour, in the hope the printing will be clearer. I've organised for these to be delivered to my daughter's home.🤞 I'm hoping this will now be enough bags for those interested.

Once that was done I put the cricket on the television and set to work to get my Christmas gifts in order. I'm missing some of the Christmas sacks with initials on them for each grandchild, but as they are all now adults, and I have no shortage of gift bags, I improvised.  The bags are slowly turning up in unexpected places and I will swap on the day.

I haven't watched a cricket match for decades. As a child I heard the cricket on the radio throughout summer - pretty much everyone listened, and my family certainly did. On Sunday it proved very entertaining. Both sides went all out, making mistakes, but nevertheless demonstrating enormous skill and tenacity.  It was cricket at its best, and uplifting to watch, regardless of who won.

I kept watching until stumps, finishing the second front of my cardigan while doing so. I think I rather overdid making it larger. It is more a coat than a cardigan - but that's good. I've started on the sleeves. I was tempted to knit the two together on the same needles, as my mother and grandmother would have done, to ensure they are identical, but decided to keep it simple. If I managed to match the two fronts working them separately I can manage the same for the two sleeves.

The Christmas emails, eCards and calls keep coming in and four more cards came in Monday's post. I do so love getting the updates. It really lifts my spirits. It's my community, connected strongly over distance.

Monday's dinner was a sausage and vegetable bake, the original recipe from Ken Cock, the dear friend who died this year. My version has many more vegetable varieties than his, but still holds his memory. The photo, of course, is before  cooking! 

As family began to arrive my buzzer failed to work. That heaven for phones! I could go down and let them in. I reported the problem to the Strata. This morning I checked with my neighbour, and placed a sign over my buzzer instructing deliverers to buzz her. Our Strata rep, just back from a 2 week holiday, checked with other reps (the key one of whom was on holiday in Thailand!), then came up and showed me how to reboot my connection. It worked!  My buzzer is now operational! A learning curve for all of us. 

Apart from 2 parcels I have re-routed, I am still waiting on a couple of deliveries one of which is a dress I ordered to wear on Christmas Day. It was meant to arrive yesterday by Express delivery, but appears stuck in Melbourne - no surprise at this time of the year. It is now at Melbourne Airport, so pretty unlikely to arrive tomorrow.🤷

The weather has cooled a little. and is forecast to stay this way until  the weekend. By that I mean 23C-26C  - comfortable for eating outside, not pretty snowflake weather. 

The doves were back today, finding spots where the tiles were warm, but not too hot, to groom and fluff up their feathers, managing to look a bit dishevelled but nevertheless helping each other  to get it together.

Let's shake out our feathers, and help each other to peace and goodwill this Christmas.

Post602 Laden with happiness and tears

Birds are active again, making lots of noise and moving around. I captured the doves through my newly cleaned window of the spare bedroom and snapped the honey eater through the balcony door.                       

Unsurprisingly, I didn't pay them much attention on Wednesday when I was up before 7 to reserve a parking space for the electrician. He arrived at 10.30, discussed my problem, pulled out the kitchen extractor fan, and at 11.20 set off  with the old unit, to buy a replacement. It took about 2 hours to find one that fitted & with which he was happy. It took ages to install and when it was in, the unit projected 2mm over the door clearance. I suggested shaving the door. Garry wasn’t happy. At 5.15 we agreed to leave the doors off for 12 days until he can return, dismantle the unit and remove the row of tiny tiles that are causing the problem.

I so admire the problem solving process and determination to get it right. It was a long day’s work requiring diagnosis, problem solving, meticulous measurement, consultation, product sourcing, purchasing, installation, adaptation, testing. At the end of all that, seven hours later,  it works, but near enough is not good enough and it must come out again. I dips me lid.

I returned the things we removed from the side cupboards, and also found another home for my supply of toilet paper. I don’t mind looking at it for 12 days, but it would invite jokes - and my mother would have disapproved of such display.

I had my 10th COVID shot on Friday morning - and have booked the next one for March next year. Back at home for a recovery coffee, my coffee machine showed the sign for cleaning. I got out the book and a cleaning tablet, and followed the steps. Once again, it didn’t work. I rang the shop. The serviceman who had offered to pay me a visit next time it happened was not there (Friday afternoon, POETS day?) but they promised to organise for him to come after the weekend. In the meantime I can still use the machine ignoring the ‘clean me ‘ signal. I haven't heard from him yet,and have kept making coffee. 🤷🏻‍♀️ It makes up for the slightly sore arm and tiredness from the vaccination.

When I finished the felted bag last week I had most of a 200gm ball of pink 10 ply left . It occurred to me it might make beanies for the JusticeNet walk next year. While I have made, and continue to make, white beanies for the AGJusticeNet team, I’m happy to use up coloured wool for beanies the charity can sell. The pink ball yielded 3 beanies with a bit left over. I do have another pink ball but instead I used up red left over from making slippers. In the process I worked out a better design for 16ply. 

I'm planning to move on to one of the larger knitting projects I have waiting, but as a break from knitting I retrieved one of the Ink and Spindle totes I cut out months ago and worked on it for a couple of days. Details in my embroidery blog. I'm pleased with it.

Beneath these activities has run a great deal of emotion and communication because a reserved, very private, widowed uncle in Canada has terminal cancer and had moved into a palliative care unit. Finding this out has taken a lot of detective work by my intrepid  English cousins. I helped where I could. 

The time difference between here and Vancouver makes synchronous communication tricky. He can no longer use email, which is how he mostly communicated over distance. He likes snail mail, so I’m giving it a go, in hope. It  feels as if cancer is taking over. I’ve started wearing my pin again. 

Tomorrow, however, is World Embroidery Study Group - and Fionn has invited me to the dinner he's cooking. Definitely a bright side.

Post 599 Family, Friends and Textiles

Taken just before midnight, on Wednesday, through the glass of my eastern window. It seemed an appropriate finale to the day. 

Our WES Group meeting had been a stimulating and cooperative effort. Keryn prepared a well-researched presentation on the Huguenot Silk Weavers of Spitalfields, while Margaret facilitated its display on our 27” monitor and everyone pitched in to help out, discuss, contribute and ask questions. 

Keryn had made a bag, and embroidered a design from a 1712 design of James Leman, one of the leading Huguenot weavers.

I spent most of the afternoon writing up and emailing the summary of the meeting. I think, from the response, that we were all on a bit of a high.

On Thursday morning I began thinking about books for our September Book Club meeting. I’m the chooser, and need to have 2-3 titles by our August meeting. I now have one, published in April this year, ordered from Melbourne and another, from the just released Australian Crime Writers Ned Kelly Awards shortlist, borrowed from the library. I  need to read them before 30 August. I’m intending my 3rd choice to be the Richard Osman Thursday Murder Club #4 to be released on 23 September - hoping our meeting date will be after the release!

When I returned from Pilates I noticed  that some soil had been dislodged from my eastern balcony wall garden on to the newly swept tiles. There has been quite a lot of calling and cooing from the doves of late. I put words to their calls - echoing the rhythms as we were taught to do when reading Latin poetry. I’ve heard conversations like I want icecream! No icecream! Can’t do it! It drives me a bit nuts but I can't help myself.

However, on Friday I finally noticed that a pair of doves were hanging around the balcony, and only when I photographed them did it dawn on me that they were showing signs of nesting - in the same spot as last year’s blackbirds, which I thought I had filled in with extra plants!

I was out there like a shot, in my slippers. The doves flew off. 

I grabbed the hose and watered the plants (not sure if that’s a deterrent, but worth a try), placed two pot plants where the two birds sat and a flat stone over the soil in the relatively empty planter on the right hand side. You can just see the stone circled in purple in the photo.

There followed a lot of bird communication, but none ventured back to check it out. One perched on the roof above and called several times what sounded like Our spot’s gone! and maybe She’s a b——. I, however, have no regrets. I don’t want to rear any more birds on the balcony.

Two doves (not sure they were the same two) returned on Saturday and Sunday but didn’t seem to approach the nesting spot. Phew!

I shopped at Frewville on Friday because they have large free-range chicken, which I wanted for Monday dinner. While there I indulged in a startlingly marketed fresh, uncooked pizza. i don’t do pizza often because of carbs. It served me for 3 meals and tasted fresh. I’m not sold on sausage and truffle flavour, but would try another in the range one day.

I was up early on Saturday, getting organised to pick up my old Sydney Uni friend who had returned from his trip to the Flinders Ranges and had about 5 hours to kill between hotel checkout and flight. We drove to the beach, walked the jetty and had lunch before I dropped him at the airport. We had a good time, reflecting rather than reminiscing, on our time at Uni, our naivety, backgrounds, learning and subsequent directions. There are few people with whom I could have that conversation, and having it is health-giving. That we are still on much the same wavelength 60 year later is a gift and blessing.

After dropping him at the airport I had dinner with family as usual, spending some time complying with a school directive that Veronica’s winter school uniform be let down. We gained 5cm in length, hopefully enough to satisfy authorities for the remaining 27 days she has to wear it. Not a battle worth fighting, but one worth remembering. It will make a good and bonding story for decades to come.

That left Sunday to cook lemon chicken for Monday night and progress the left-over-Rowan-yarn-shawl. I started the day with 582 stitches on the needle and ended with 598, so 6 rows added. It’s a long way to the end of each row but I’m persevering to finish with a colour sequence.

The dinner went well. Somewhat to my surprise, the lemon chicken was a hit. The slightly defrosted carrot salad much less so (I really like it!).) The tablecloth was admired and discussed., fulfilling its purpose. 

Today I finally paid my second visit to the Dangerously Modern exhibition at the Art Gallery, this time focusing on the beginning pieces, notably the miniatures. It’s still fabulous, and I’ll go again if I can. 

I also had a look at the Ramsay Art Prize entries, intrigued by the People’s Choice Award I had read about, a huge wall hanging, The Pool, by Emma Buswell. It was amazing. While described as a tapestry, it  is in fact knitted! 

This is not obvious at the distance needed to see the whole composition, but very clear up close. Astounding! It would certainly have my vote.

I spent the rest of the day finishing the shawl. 

 It doesn't compare with the People's Choice example but I'm pleased with it. 30 minutes ago I finished casting off the final 615 stitches. The ends are not yet stitched in. At this stage I don't think I will block it. If I do, I will need to assemble  the hap stretcher. The table is 2.4 metres long and a metre wide.  I don't think I need it any larger!

The purpose was to use up left-over wool - and it has used a fair bit. I will write about it in my embroidery blog over the next few days. 

I may just keep this one for myself.

Post 528 as Autumn Leaves Start to Fall.

 

The sunflowers I bought in the heat are finally spent. The last two put out a lot of cheer before they graduated to compost.

Before that happened, I spent Wednesday morning at the hairdresser and in the evening went back to Noi with friends for a very early dinner. We took advantage of their Feed-me and out-by-seven options, both of which worked well for me. It was an exceptional meal, and I'll be returning.

On Thursday, before Pilates, I rushed off to BigW  to buy a copy of Foul Play by Fiona MacIntosh, a Book Club pick, but after much searching through the strange shelf organisation, with no assistant in sight, I gave up and bought Dead Tide, the next in the series ( I was, of course, late for Pilates). 

After Pilates I went to Bunnings to get plumbers tape and some potting mix for succulents. I exited with a trolley full of plants (yes, including a pot of sunflowers!).

On Friday morning the fire alarm went off as I was getting dressed after showering, around 9am. threw on my clothes, grabbed phone, handbag and, as I was leaving, my hearing aids and watch. I went down the stairs, increasingly carefully, as the stair lights were not on below my floor. When I got outside, Maureen, our pod rep, was there before me, in her dressing gown. The alarm had stopped as I reached to bottom of the stairs. A man from another pod joined us. At this point I realised my hearing aids were not in my hand. When nothing happened, we went back into the building. Maureen and the neighbour came up the stairs with me, looking for the hearing aids. I searched in my apartment and then retraced my steps once again up and down the stairs. Nothing. 

I phoned my audiologist and made an appointment to be fitted for new hearing aids before heading out to the supermarket.  As I was getting into the car, my hand brushed against my trouser pocket; there was something in it. Yes, in the stress of evacuating the building via stairs without light, I had dropped what was in my hand - watch and hearing aids - into a pocket so I could use both hands on the stair rail! I felt like an idiot, but was delighted to have found them, and to cancel the appointment for replacements!  

I’ve no idea what set off the alarms. I suspect a neighbour who did not evacuate set off a smoke alarm and managed to turned it off while I was descending the stairs. 

I ended up doing a big shop for Monday night, then spending the afternoon gardening, planting what I had bought the day before, removing spent flowers, dead plants and empty plastic pots, fertilising, watering, repotting and sweeping up. The plumbers tape made absolutely no difference to my hose fitting. It’s still a weak stream, and still leaks. It nevertheless works and is more efficient than watering cans. 

I considered going to the pub for dinner, but settled for a cheese and salami salad and a long talk to my brother before getting organised for Saturday’s certificate workshop. A tiring day. 

Saturday's workshop was a counted stitches sampler. The group was small and friendly, the task interesting and requiring thought. I worked a simple grid sampler, varying thread over 5 basic stitches, so far wool and Danish thread in a similar colour. I intend to add colour variation as I go. For the moment, however, this is parked.

Requirements for the two Guild classes I’ve booked into later in the year have arrived and I’m busy finding, cutting and preparing linens for them.

On Sunday I picked up Lorraine at midday and drove up to Mt Barker Summit for a Ploughman's Lunch and Ukaria concert, our first for the year - the Australian String Quartet with Andrea Lam. It was fabulous. We had front row seats with a good view of the pianist (thanks to Lorraine's walker and disabled booking options).  We were a bit taken aback by the number of mobility devices in the audience. We all seem to have aged substantially. 

Since all the fuss about a certain amateur photographer altering a photo, I decided to have a go with the photo I took of two doves early in the week. I didn’t like the background wall behind the dove on the right of the top photo, so I experimented (using only Apple photo tools) in removing her from the background and re-pasting her into a cropped copy of the photo. While I have removed backgrounds before, I had to learn how to insert the result into another photo (lower photo). The perspective doesn’t quite work. While one bird (presumably the male) is genuinely larger than the other, moving them even slightly closer creates too great a contrast. I haven’t worked out how to enlarge the pasted image. I’m pleased to have tried it - and I promise to always declare if I do it again! 

There were seven of us for dinner on Monday night - really good to catch up with everyone. It is a busy and potentially stressful time for both school and university students, but all seem to have it organised and more of less under control. I feel for them. I remember the stress. Does it need to be like this? While I'm sure I learned from it, I'm not sure it's a necessary part of learning. There's  surely a better way.  My educator’s itch needs scratching.

Last night was the Pascal Full Moon, the first full moon after the March equinox and the signal that next Sunday is Easter. I happened to see it rising over the hills. A privilege. 

Today I skipped Aquafit. I had a few jobs to do and didn't want to be rushed. I got organised for the cleaner, dropped a set of pearls off at a jeweller to be restrung and called at a bookshop for a  colouring book I had read about and thought might provide useful embroidery designs. I have quite a few of these, and no, I haven't made much use of them! 

The Kaffe Fassett cardigan is, however progressing. The weather is cooling and Easter has been a time for knitting since I was a teenager.

It's an interesting mind that can create this set of colours. I am now on row 42 of an 80 row pattern that then repeats approximately 3 times on the back and fronts. I'd like to make significant progress  over Easter in between the family rituals and some reading. I have a pile of hard-copy books I need to tackle while making notes, so I can develop both embroidery ideas and a couple of presentations.  There's also 2 samples to work for my Glazig workshop in April. I won't be bored.

May you be uplifted at Easter!