Post 526 Mad, Mad March.

On Wednesday I went on a gallery crawl with a friend visiting from Sydney for Writers' Week, a chance to reconnect, catch up on a few years, and share our  interest in beautiful things. We began at Art Images Gallery at Norwood where, along with their current Leunig exhibition,  I discovered a few Jane Burbidge plates. 

I bought a bowl from her Lotus collection and a plate from her Seafoam collection. The bowl matches the mugs I already have and makes a useful addition to my breakfast crockery, while the plate will serve a tart or pie. From there we headed up to Crafers and Atelier, for very early afternoon tea and more browsing. 

We were tempted by, but resisted, some lovely damask dresses, but I did succumb to some coral earrings and an Erica McNicoll pot plant holder.

Our last stop was the longest, at Aptos Cruz Gallery in Stirling. There is so much to look at there and I haven’t been for a while. There are always treasures. 

I bought a portable LED light which sits at three angles and recharges via usb. I have numerous lamps, but no power near my stitching chairs. This can be positioned beside me to focus on my hoop. It is also elegant. 

To my surprise and joy, they had a new supply of the champagne flutes I had bought as oddments several years ago. Only one remains of the 3 I bought. I now have 5.

They currently have a very large stock of Japanese crockery.

My final purchase was a single dinner plate.  I now have 3 to use when, as usual, I dine alone - and before I need to run the dishwasher. 

Sadly the deconsecrated church building, in which Aptos Cruz is housed, is up for sale. The owners are retiring. It has been a very special place from which I have had a lot of pleasure.

On our return we met up with another friend for dinner at A Prayer for the Wild at Heart - a truly fabulous day.

As the temperature climbed, Thursday was a chance to catch up on washing, Pilates and to read Jane Casey's The Burning pretty much in two long sittings. 

Friday required a visit to an Endodontist in the cbd. He was detailed and thorough in his assessment. I have a weakness in a crown. Replacement is risky. Options are do nothing or an(other) implant. I see my referring dentist next month, so will talk it over with her.  I have huge respect for this set of dentists and their evidence-based approach. So professional. I caught the city loop bus both ways, getting home as the temperature hit 37C and made myself a ham salad in my new plate.

On Saturday I managed to get to Frewville Foodland before 10am, well before the temperature hit its 40C maximum, and buy plenty of salad stuff, iceblocks and prawns to keep me going through a hot long weekend. It has been Adelaide Cup weekend - and a lot going on, Festival, Fringe, Womad, Writers' Week - with temperature each day over 39C. I caught up with Kilkenny news at dinner on Saturday night, then bunkered down with books and the cockatoo bag, venturing out only briefly for petrol on Sunday morning, while the prices were at the low end of the cycle.

I had the aircon on for 3 days, something I haven't done for a couple of years. It will cost me - but less than going away for the weekend.

The plants are coping, with daily watering. Some, like the Durante, have bloomed again. A few need replacing once the heat has retreated.

I met my neighbour while heading out for petrol. Theo is recovering well with help from a visiting physio.  I've stayed out of their way but Di says he'd like a visit, so I'll see what I can do when it's a little cooler.

I finished the cockatoo bag embroidery on Sunday night and on Monday found lining fabric and blocked the bag. I’ve really enjoyed this one, in spite of stuffing up the punch needle. Detail is in my embroidery blog. What I didn't mention there is that in the construction I made good use of the elegant pincushion Niamh made for my birthday this year.

I found some glass pins that match her French knots and it provided exactly what I needed to create the gussets.

While at the machine I affected another repair to my friend’s orange leisure pants. Voila!

Our current heat is producing lots of cloud. Today, after a cloudy sunrise, and slow start,  I ventured out to Aquafit. I nearly didn't go. Although it's a little cooler (37C rather than 39C!) I was temped to bunker down, but I'm glad I went. It was lovely in the water, the exercises mild and flowing.

In spite of the heat, I've been working on the Kaffe Fassett Aztec cardigan. Getting the many colours right is going to be a challenge once the labels are removed from the balls, so I've set up a colour card to help me. 

There's still warm weather to come, so I might alternate with Sashiko.

Post 525 In my little corner of the world

Still a lot happening. My windows were cleaned beautifully on Wednesday. Malcolm, the team member doing insides of individual units had the best job. The outside team varied their routine to avoid being in direct sun as the temperature rose to 39C. 

I now have clean views of the very pleasant landscape from the inside, both East and West.  

I will make good use of these over the coming week when the daily maximum is not forecast to drop below 30C.

                       

I visited OfficeWorks and bought a cork board and stand to hold the collage for Brigid’s birthday (photos are in colour, I have camouflaged for privacy), then stayed inside until 4.30pm when I headed off to friends’ place for dinner and a long catch up in the cool of their home, a really welcome and renewing interlude.

The main focus of my week has been Brigid's 21st Birthday party on Saturday night. A party is a very rare event for me these days and I admit to nervousness. Everyone was going. Alison and Karl came over from Canberra. There were, of course, related catch-ups. I had a pantry to stock for any  visitor contingency, and, because there had been a leaking window in the guest room weeks ago,  beds to make up.  My haircut on Friday was coincidental, but useful, and I managed to keep it reasonable for the necessary 36 hours.

The party was a huge success. The venue, the Semaphore Surf Lifesaving Club, was perfect, with plenty of indoor space and a stunning outdoor and boardwalk area of which photographers took full advantage. Again, for privacy reasons, the only photo is a screenshot silhouette, which, I think, demonstrates the potential.

Brigid, her friends, siblings and parents are to be congratulated on an event which was enjoyed by so many, went so smoothly, and created so much enjoyment. My pleasure and enjoyment were extended through Sunday and Monday, with family around and rare time to share and reflect. It's a timely reminder of the importance, on many levels, of such occasions.  Jim would have loved it.

Last week in the midst of party preparation, I realised I needed to get organised for my Certificate Course Workshop on Glazig Embroidery in April as the looming deadline for a notice in the Guild newsletter couldn't be met without the detail of what I am going to do.  I managed to grab moments and meet the deadline. Details in my embroidery blog.

One of the moments grabbed was a visit to Spotlight around midday on Saturday. On my way back I  was caught in a long stream of traffic held up at a level crossing, where we waiting expectantly for a train to pass. Instead, two men in safety vests appeared on foot from either side of the boom gates, walked to the two reflector lights, wiped them with a cloth and retreated to one side where they activated the lifting of the boom gates. 

A Jacques Tati moment.

Today I skipped Aquafit. I needed a day of no commitment as a pause, to catch up on blogging, stitch a little, sit and stare.  Family are safely home. Jennifer has reached Northern NSW on her Queensland journey. I ran into Panayoula who did get to the Looms of Greece Exhibition and has joined the cause. Tomorrow is a catch up with friends who've driven over from Sydney for Writers' Week, the fridge is full of food; there's a growing pile of books to read and the cockatoo bag is progressing. 

Deo Gratias!

Post 524 A lot happening.

 

On Wednesday I had coffee with Panayoula and an early dinner with Lorraine. Lots to discuss with both. Lorraine and I went to Noi, Vietnamese restaurant at Glen Osmond and it was excellent. I want to go again.

With no causal connection, on Friday I spent a couple of hours at Looms of Greece , an exhibition at the Cowandilla Community Room of West Torrens Council, talking to a couple of the organisers about the weaving, Greek embroidery, community museums and conservation. It was a really interesting exhibition and there are lots of shared interests and concerns to follow up on. This example of the border of a weaving was a rare example of embroidery, done in satin stitch, some of it single, some double sided. I’ve promised to try to find out more. I sent Panayoula off to have a look at it on Saturday, its last day.

At Sit’nStitch we farewelled Jennifer, who is moving back to her home state of Queensland where she will be in the heart of her family. We’ll miss her, but now have multiple ways of staying in touch and sharing our interests..

Back at home, I plugged away to finish the Pulled Thread Mat from Christine Bishop's 2022 class, putting the last stitches in on Friday night and ironing on Saturday. I originally had the good idea of making 4-8 of these as place mats. As much as I like it, I will now settle for one.    

Appropriately enough, Friday's sunset drew a line in the sky. 

On Saturday I was woken from a dream at 5.18am by the door buzzer. I scrabbled my way out of bed,  for a moment fearing it was Monday, when our Strata tradesman was coming at 8am to look for balcony leaks. By the time I answered there was no response. A passing hoaxer? A visitor looking for another residence? I’ll never know. I went back to bed but not to sleep. It did ensure I got to the supermarket in time to do a big shop, with just time to unload and put it away before having my 7th Covid shot, an easy matter at my local pharmacy, followed by a sore arm and bouts of overwhelming tiredness for a few days. 

I rested and read the latest Dan and Oscar book Murder at the Leaning Tower until it was time to meet up with family at The Red Ochre Grill for an enjoyable meal with plenty of discussion. Food was a bit slow coming, but we had plenty to talk about. I was shocked to discover Brigid and Veronica had only just arrived in Sydney, where they were staying with my brother and going to Monday’s Taylor Swift concert. Storms in Sydney on Friday had delayed flights all over the country and their Friday flight had been cancelled. They ended up flying via Tasmania (!!) on Saturday, missing an afternoon performance at the Opera House. So stressful!  They are clever, independent, resilient young women, now safely in Sydney in time for their main event. Still a shame for all concerned.

My drive home after dinner was interesting. The Festival and Fringe are in full swing: there are road closures, diversions and swarms of people out and about. Strange to remember the days when I would have been one of them! However, my arm was sore, my eyelids drooping and I fell into bed even as the moon lit up my bedroom balcony.

Sunday, fortunately, was recovery day, watering (still over 30C), a bit of food preparation and project organising.

          

Having finished the Botanical Bee cushion, I had dug out the Duftin Cockatoo punch-needle bag kit I had bought a couple of months ago. I loved the bold cockatoo and thought that, if the punch-needle didn't work I could embroider it anyway.  

  

I got going with enthusiasm. The cockatoo figure is printed on the inside of the bag and the flowers (embroidered) on the outside. I dug out needling equipment and got going, working several hours before I realised that what I was doing was needle-felting, not punch-needle! It was too late to go back, too hard to undo, so I had to work out how to turn what I had - a kind of fluffy crested alpaca- into a cockatoo. What an idiot!    Still hearing my mother's voice For an intelligent child you can be very stupid at times.

I did work it out, but had to finish needle felting the whole bird before I could stitch evenly over it. I must say it would have been harder to cover the dark blue background without the layer of white felting. I'm glad to have it almost finished (bit of repair needed on the tail feathers) so I can put it into a hoop and move on to the flowers. 

Christian, our strata tradie came as arranged on Monday morning, quickly deciding my balcony tiles needed re-grouting. It is a day’s work and they will do all the necessary moving, clearing and replacing of pots and furniture.  Hopefully this will fix the problem of water leaking through the ceiling of the balcony below - unless there is another unseen problem, like no waterproof membrane or leaking pipes. 

 

Monday dinner was a quiet affair. With 2 grandchildren in Sydney for Taylor Swift and 2 at football training we had a quiet meal for 3. I tried out the Chicken with Haloumi recipe using duck. Part of my second order from ArteOtomi arrived - the dress. It’s lovely, and very much a statement. It can be worn with or without the accompanying belt. Without a belt I need to wear a heel. 

Today I picked up a collage poster for Brigid’s 21st from the printer. I managed to repeat one photo in my haste to get it done on time but otherwise it’s pretty good. Tomorrow I will try to get cork board to mount it, but failing that I’ve worked out I can pin or staple it to my blocking tiles. I picked it up before Aquafit, which was again vigorous, and rushing home to reserve a parking space for the cleaner, then shower, dress, change the bed, wash sheets and grab food. It reached 36C by 2pm, so aircon now on. For privacy reasons I am only posting this view of the poster laid out for blocking.

Another busy week coming up, with Brigid's 21st Birthday Party, family to stay, friends visiting for the Festival and Writers' Week, window cleaners, JEMS - and temperatures in the 30Cs.  I also have a Glazig workshop for the Guild's Certificate Course coming up in April, which means I need to have a project and requirements ready for the Guild newsletter by 25 March. I have ideas but no firm project, so better get to it this week. 🙄

Post523 Sunrise, Sunset

I woke this morning, after an unusual nine hours of sleep,  to a brilliant sunrise. I have finally, after more than eight years of living here, begun to sleep without the blind closed in my bedroom. Even so, I do not intend to shift my attention from sunsets to sunrises.

It's been another busy week.

Wednesday's WES Group meeting went really well, in spite of an unusual number of apologies due to illness an ill-fortune.  The 10 present were engaged and interested. Margaret stepped in to help out when the  Monitor was ill, and she and I managed to grab lunch together afterwards at a local hotel. A couple of people asked if they could photograph my top, and Andie sent me this one.

On Thursday before Pilates I called at the upholsterer's and asked them to  quote for my chair + a cushion cover. The quote arrived on Friday. I have accepted and paid the deposit. Once they have the fabric, they will pick up the chair and begin. In the meantime The fabric I ordered to recover the dragon cushion arrived. Unfortunately, the paisleys are not identical to those on the gold fabric, so I won't be able to match the replacement as I planned. This may prove a blessing in disguise. It occurred to me that i could simply swap the dragon cushion for two dark red Mola ones I keep on the Men of Skyros chair I embroidered, a much easier solution. 

The two Mola cushions are either side of the black. The green cushion almost  out of sight far left will be reworked using the cushion cover ordered in the upholstery fabric. Veronica approves, so that's it.

I now have some spare batik fabric to play with. 

Because I had moved the bee cushion to a scroll frame and my Lowery stand, I took sashiko panels to Sit'nStitch on Friday and to Katherine's on Saturday. I've finished stitching my third panel and started on  another. 

Saturday was JEMS and also Brigid's 21st birthday. Niamh and I had our usual post-JEMS milkshakes at the Queen St Cafe and I caught up on the Year 11/12 Formal which had been on Friday night. It appears to have been a success. I am not posting photos here for privacy reasons. We had a family dinner for Brigid at PappaRich restaurant in Gouger St,  followed by ice cream cake back at Kilkenny.  Gouger St  was closed to traffic for Chinese New Year celebrations. The street was jam-packed with people and dragons. I wish I had taken a photo, but was too focused on navigating the crowd.

Sunday morning was Book Club at my place, giving me a chance to use my birthday Sashiko runner and mats, but too busy hosting to take a photo! We had another lively discussion. I had read only one of the three recommended books, and one other in the month - most unusual. I blame the bee.  In the afternoon friends recently returned from 20 years living overseas called in for coffee. We had a good 3 hour catch up.

I had managed a visit to Bunnings on Thursday, and bought a  well-established Zamioculcas (left) for the last of the large pots I got last week. It should be undemanding while doing well in this spot away from direct light. I also bought another Peace Lily, to go near my Western window, but it needs protection from sun and  twice daily water in the current heat. 

I usually cook on Sunday for Monday family dinner, but this week I left all the cooking till Monday and just got stuck into the needlepoint bee in the time remaining after my guests left. I finished the project at about 11.30pm and couldn't wait to construct the cushion, so did it before I went to bed. I also made a bag for it to go in, which I finished off on Monday morning. I'm very pleased with the result (as is the recipient). Details, are, of course, in my embroidery blog.

Yesterday I got the dinner (lamb shanks) going early, waited for the postman to bring me the paisley fabric and (thanks Pat) a book on The Celts ( my next WES Group obsession), before shopping for vegetables and bread for dinner and working out my next embroidery project. In spite of a temperature of 35C, Niamh still had footy training. 

I have returned to the Christine Bishop mat, begun in April last year, which has a few hours of reverse faggot stitch and a few more of button hole edge left to finish. It took me a bit of experimenting and undoing before I got into the swing of it again, but I'm progressing.

After a slow start today I got myself to Aquafit, where a stand-in instructor worked us harder than usual. Still, I was home, showered, wet things on the line and a coffee in hand (feeling smug) 35 minutes after the class finished.    

The promising morning sky soon clouded over but the day still reached the threatened 32C. It was clear and still 30C after sunset when the bats arrived. 

Post522 Hotting up

It took a few minutes to find a parking space at Frewville on Saturday morning. The dragons had arrived and were dancing outside the entrance to Foodland, gathering a crowd. My hopes of getting my shopping done while others were distracted were thwarted when the dragons came inside and danced amongst the fruit and veg. 

It was, of course, joyful fun, not the least of which was seeing a motorcyclist with red pants and dragon legs driving away as I was loading my car.

Some plant pots I had ordered from Yarn Marketplace arrived and were a bit bigger than I anticipated. While the tops fold over, they are still a generous version of the advertised 27cm. 

I decided they called for some larger indoor plants. So far I have found and installed two, one in my bedroom

and one in the dining area.  I need a visit to a nursery to find a plant for the third pot.

On Thursday I made a visit to an upholsterer to discuss recovering/repairing my comfortable, but now shabby leather arm chair. I love its shape, but can't find another and the arms now have holes as well as general wear. Re-covering seems to be the best way. I don't want leather and now have 3 samples of likely fabric. While I was about it, I ordered a stretch cover for my 3 seater lounge, which is too big to go in the lift, so  re-covering is too big an operation. 

Today the stretch cover arrived from the USA. I missed my Aquafit class to open it and struggle to fit it.  This photo shows a tiny corner of my 2 seater in the top right corner. The new cover is a shade darker and brighter, but it’s a good match. The lower left corner shows a bit of the damaged armchair. On the whole, I’m really pleased. 

After talking to family and friends last week I think the pale pink fabric will work on the armchair and I will use the same fabric to remount the Kantha-embroidered cushion (far left with green surround). I will also remount the gold dragon cushion with a pink/purple version of the same fabric (ordered today). I think it’s going to work! Thanks to my interior design advisors. 

There were 6 of us for dinner on Monday, thanks to the 38C temperature cancelling Niamh's football training. 

I was lucky to witness her Math's Eureka homework moment and to get  Veronica's advice on the sofa. 

I've spent most of this week - probably about 50 hours so far, working on the Botanical Bee needlepoint cushion I mentioned last week, which is for a birthday (today!). I'm aiming to have it finished by Friday. The backs I ordered have arrived, one black, one white. I've settled on the black. This is where I am up to. 10-15 more hours should do it.

There's a busy week coming up, Mexican Embroidery at WES tomorrow, JEMS and a 21st birthday dinner on Saturday, Book Club at my place on Sunday followed by a visit from friends recently returned from 20+ years living in the UK, not to mention projects on the go - and temperatures over 30C on most days. The girls also have their school formal on Friday.  I look forward to hearing all about it on Saturday.

Post521 As busy as...

February is going to be a busy month for me, so I'm glad to have the evening bat fly-by (to the left above the smaller pine) as the sunset fades to provide a sense of routine, calmness and beauty. They have been as regular as clockwork this week.

On Wednesday I did the worst chore early, ironing the fabric I had cut out last week to make bags.It took a while, folding and ironing in the seam allowances so  I can stitch them down on the outside.

. 

It is difficult to do this sitting, and standing aggravates my sciatica, but I did it in batches and ended up with 40 bags ready to sew. They include a few Japanese wrapping cloths I've had for a long time and am turning into wrapping bags.

To recover I sat and finished the Galaxy Dreaming panel and tried it out on table, along with the three panels I have from Vivienne. My thinking now is that I will complete 6 more panels and join them into a tablecloth. These 4 panels are placed for fit, not design, and I'm thinking it will look stunning when done. My arm was sore from the Shingles injection the day before and, between the injection and ironing, I was feeling very tired so I took myself to A Prayer for the Wild at Heart for a very late lunch/early dinner. On my return I began the Kaffe Fassett Inca Cardigan. I know it is hardly knitting weather, but I really wanted to see how it was done - and to try out my new ebony needles.

   Unpacking the wool I discovered that I didn't have a basket or bag that would hold all the wool with the needles and pattern. Given the number of colours involved,  the complexity of the pattern, and the time it is likely to take to knit, I thought it would be worth looking for a cheap basket at an op shop. As the first 4 rows of the pattern are all in one colour, I knitted that and called it a day.

On Thursday I stopped off at the Salvos and Vinnies stores conveniently side-by-side around the corner from Pilates. I soon realised that baskets are things that op shops use rather than sell! Eventually, in Vinnies, I found a large, if strange, basket in need of fixing.  The label has it as a product of  Aldi. It has a metal frame, with faux (ie plastic) canes woven in large loops around the outside. A number of these had come loose and been placed back willy-nilly. It was a good size, the frame was sound  and for $10 I thought I could make it work.

At home I lined it with a cloth before trying it out, to ensure the loose canes didn't catch the wool. It worked well, so I set about re-weaving the rods into their intended places. It took a bit of patience and logic, but produced a decent result. I doubt it's a durable, long-term product but is, I think, fit for this purpose - and I have an idea for using the frame with woven cloth strips in the long term.                

My obsession with using photos to create bookmarks took a turn on Friday morning. I went to the Vistaprint site to experiment with a couple of photos and noticed that they also print to tote bags. I had jokingly said to a friend who said she wanted one of my faces totes, that it would be great if I could print the embroidered design on to cloth. Bingo!

I then spent an hour or so, playing with photos and templates to produce a sample. It is only possible to print a 20x20 cm image, but we'll see how it goes. This is the photo of my finished template online. The printed product is due to arrive tomorrow.  If this works, I could try looking for a printer that can do larger images. Officeworks, I notice does print a larger tote surface, but only on one side of the bag. This one has an image on both sides.

A new way of making bags is hardly at the top of my to-do list. Experimenting and playing with photos and textiles, however, is.  

Late on Friday night I got a promotional email from the Innovations Catalogue that featured a small portable hose. This first hot summer in a couple of years had me thinking again of any way to get a hose to my front balcony. I had a tap installed on the back one, but putting one on the front balcony involves cutting several holes in my ceilings to feed the pipes through. The hose ad said it could fit any tap, which set me wondering. On Saturday morning first thing I examined my kitchen tap, which, it turns out, has a thread. It was JEMS day, so after I dropped Niamh at JEMS I visited Bunnings, found the same 10 metre long portable hose ($4 cheaper than Innovations and no delivery required!) AND an adapter for attaching a hose to an indoor tap!

 At home, it took me a little while to work out how to attach the adaptor.  The hose connection isn't perfect. There is a little bit of leakage, which increases with water pressure. The stream of water that comes through the 10 metres of hose is hardly gushing, but it is a lot better than carrying watering cans back and forth! It is slower than a regular hose, but I can attach the hose and water the whole balcony in 15 minutes. The bucket collects about half a pint of water from the leaking collection, which I can use on my indoor plants.

I can also leave the hose running to fill up the water wells in the large pots. I'll still need to use watering cans to fertilise, but this really does improve my front balcony gardening. An excellent innovation! Only took me 8 years to find it.

I made it back to JEMS in time to pick up Niamh. It looked like a good session with about 8 or so students. The Queen St Cafe owner was pleased to see Niamh and I and served our milkshakes and rhubarb friands without being asked. I caught up on school and holiday news. It was Katherine, Anthony, Brigid and I for dinner.  Brigid and Veronica had bought me a lovely Murano glass necklace for my birthday.  It seems to go with almost everything and I've been wearing it all week. 

This is a very busy family month, with school formal, Taylor Swift concert, several birthdays, including Brigid's 21st,  a bit of pressure on the school students regarding pending international visits and Special Projects. I got a sneak peak of formal dresses. Wow!  I have a number of commitments, including my Mexican embroidery  presentation and vaccinations.  

Today I got to AquaFit, the podiatrist and picked up my spare pair of glasses from the optometrist. In between I've been working on a canvas work cushion for a birthday next week. My original plan was to make it into a zipped bag, but on Niamh's advice I consulted the intended recipient, and, lo, she was right - he  prefers a cushion! Glad I asked.

I've ordered a ready-made zippered back, which should arrive tomorrow. It's a challenge to get it finished by next week, but easier than my original plan  - and I'm up for it . It's a long time since I did canvas work, and I'm not sure I've ever done one with the pattern painted on. It's quite challenging, with lots of hard-to-distinguish shading, but I am enjoying it. The texture is fabulous.

Better get on with it!