Post 390 Staying safe

Saturday night was a feast for Katherine's birthday. Fionn and Veronica made the lamb shanks, with potatoes, carrots and peas, Brigid bought and presented cheeses and Niamh made the meringues and chocolate coated apricots and strawberries.  It was a wonderful evening.

I managed to resist the cheese and meringues, although I do love meringues. 

I had, however, indulged in a lime milkshake earlier in the afternoon. It was a JEMS afternoon and I picked up Niamh as usual and we went to the Queen St Cafe for our regular milkshake treat. It's the first icecream I have had in six weeks. The after-JEMS milkshake will remain my special treat.

I finished the second shawl and blocked it. Not a very good photo, I'm afraid, but it worked well.

The Anglo-Saxon Horse I had bought last week seduced me. 

I was really curious to see how it would work up. It proved a lot of fun to work. I have written it up for my embroidery blog for anyone interested.

I made it into a pouch with a zip closure at the back and lined it in gold dupion silk.

I spent much of the weekend working on my final project for Design Online, the course run by Barbara Mullan for the Guild. I enrolled mostly to try the new online venture and have managed to adapt the assignments to things I've been working on. I could have used last week's Inuit project, but it felt like cheating. The assignment was to produce drawings with colours, rather than the finished project.

I decided to work on a design for the Italian boiled wool coat I made a couple of years ago. I've always intended to embroider the edges, and this seemed like an opportunity to progress it. 

I began with a series of Australian native flowers adapted from Annette Rich's book, choosing flowers from blues through mauve to red and arranging them in pairs on two long strips to fit on either edge of the coat.

Although I was pleased with the result, I decided, on reflection, that it was too fussy and the next day began again, focusing on Hardenbergia Violacea, a flowering vine found all down the East Coast of Australia.

This resulted in a much better design that I hope to work down both sides. My coloured pencils were badly in need of sharpening, and none of my sharpeners did the job, so the colours are not right,

but the threads will be better. They are a combination of Mogear and Cascade House - both Australian wools.

The Design Online course does not require making the design, but I will complete it - probably over summer when I don't need the coat!

On Monday I bought 4 new pencil sharpeners - I guess it's reasonable that the blades lose their edge over time. And not even I will sharpen the tiny blades of a plastic pencil sharpener! I also, however, bought new batteries for this one - which I certainly had in the early 1990s, maybe the 80s. I wasn't sure the C batteries were still available, but I was in luck. While I accept a battery-operated pencil sharpener is shameful, it is the best pencil sharpener ever and now works brilliantly.

Three more parcels arrived this week. The Sleepy Merino PJs are a treat, really cosy and comfortable and the possum merino socks from NZ Nature are very welcome. The alpaca yarn and pattern from Adagio Mill, which is, unfortunately, closing down also arrived.  I managed to get this package in their natural colour 'baby elephant walk' - a fawn. I think the pattern might also work for some of the leftover 4 ply green Sheepjies yarn  from my blanket.

It's an interesting brick pattern alternating with plain sections.

I've done a little trial on the  4ply green Sheepjies, and I think it's going to work too. 

The hand-woven linen from the Ukraine for my Viking workshop has arrived in Australia - presumably Melbourne. It could, of course, sit there for weeks, but there's a chance I might have it by next week. I'm curious to see it.

It has been a relatively wet week for Adelaide. 

Sunday night's sunset was lovely, if a bit threatening. However, both Sunday and Monday were sunny and pleasant. 

There is more rain on the way - unusual for Adelaide and always welcome.

Today I had the podiatrist appointment  (with mask, of course) postponed from lockdown two weeks ago. 

I was impressed with my podiatrist's P95 mask, which has elastics around the head, not the ears. My cloth masks have head elastic, as ear elastics dislodge my hearing aids. My masks work OK but better without my glasses. I'm going to investigate these further.

I bought some bread and brie for after-school snacks and took the girls to netball practice.

 It had been photo day at school, so they had several changes of clothes as well as their netball uniforms. Niamh, if I got it right, had 4 different sports team photos with differing uniforms, as well as her class photo in regular school uniform. A lot of clobber.

I was back to finish dinner - leftover lemon chicken with cauliflower rice- before 7pm so I can continue my 13 hour fasting routine. Quick and easy (but too much on my plate - ate about half). My weight has fluctuated  this week - down .2kg, .4kg. .6kg,  back up by similar amounts. I finished today the same as last week. I'm hopeful the drop will be consistent next week.

Our Covid restrictions in South Australia have been relaxed a little. Hospitality venues can now operate at 75% capacity. Masks remain.  Our borders are closed to all Eastern States. We are OK here - but on high alert. Friends and family in NSW, much in our thoughts, are having it much harder - hanging in, getting vaccinated, writing books and winding wool to revive almost forgotten knitting projects. Bravissimo!

Post 387 Deliveries - and a couple of completions.

I'm posting early this week to test whether Feedburner has ceased emails.It is not clear to me whether it stops from or after August.  I have a manual email ready to send. 

My post last Tuesday prompted calls and messages from Guild friends to tell me that the Certificate Workshop I thought had been  cancelled due to lockdown  had been changed because of the Guild's Country Conference  (which was cancelled) and was in fact scheduled for the following Saturday. Nothing lost. One good consequence of lockdown was that I didn't turn up at the Guild on the wrong Saturday morning!

I did a bit of shopping on Wednesday, to replenish my vegetables and meat, and call at Create in Stitch. I only saw one person not wearing a mask, and she looked as if she might have had breathing difficulties. 

I also finished the linen herringbone sampler I was working on and dug out fabric I thought would help turn it into a bag.

I had bought some fresh prawns while shopping, so had a prawn salad for dinner with corn chips.  

Thursday was back to Pilates. Great to be back. In the afternoon I was blessed with a visit from Katherine and a couple of the girls. Lovely to see them after 9 days absence. In between I constructed the bag. I decided not to use the Moroccan print as lining as there was just enough of the pinky linen to line it as well as complete the outside.              

This gives me four bags to put in the upcoming Guild exhibition at the Hamra Gallery.

While I had the iron out, I attended to a mending project that I dug out during lockdown. This is the batwing top that had developed tshirt holes back in March 2020. Last week I came across a motif I had saved from a piece of fabric years ago and thought it would cover those holes. I have now attached it to the top using Misty Fuse, and overstitched the edges by hand to control fraying. 

It will give a few more months of wear to a favourite top in warmer weather.

The first of my orders to arrive this week were books. Thee are background to some research I'm doing on Anglo-Saxon, Viking, and Celtic embroidery. The Women of the Celts has an interesting analysis of the story of Blodeuwedd, the woman of flowers, who's story underpinned my Alan Garner embroidery.

I bought a number of George Bain's books when working in Scotland in 1972, but lent them to someone in the 80s and didn't get them back. His work is detailed and fascinating. I'm not sure I will use any of the designs, but they are really interesting - and add to several more I already have.

I was so pleased to have a message on Saturday from Paul, in Oklahoma, the brother of my dear friend Diny who died on 29 September 2019. Diny's family held a memorial for her last month at the Garden of the Gods in Colorado, a location dear to Diny's heart. She took Jim and I there in November 2009. I dug out some of the photos - in memory of both Diny and Jim in a beautiful and other-worldly place.

I made a tentative start on the Anglo-Saxon Horse embroidery that arrived a couple of weeks ago., just to see how it works. The design is from  a metal piece, possibly a sword hilt,  in the Staffordshire Hoard, a find of mostly gold artifacts from the 6th and 7th centuries.,and uses 11th Century Anglo-Saxon Embroidery techniques, mostly couching and stem stitch, to create the sense of gold filigree.  It is worked in two shades of perle and some DMC metallic. I haven't attempted any of the curls yet.

The box of Northumbrian runes I ordered from Russia arrived too - beautifully and economically packed (bottom right) - tightly wrapped in foam sheeting and closely taped, then in a simple envelope - a packer after my own heart! What will I do with them, you ask. It's a good question without a clear answer. I want to learn about the use of runes in England and may use them again in my embroidery, as I did with the Icelandic bag I made.

Also related to my Viking researches, the bone lucet I had ordered from Poland also arrived. I had a quick try at using it. It is easier than Naalbinding! I also discovered, in discussion at the Guild on Saturday, that someone in the past has given a class at the Guild using lucets, and that Peter Sanderson made a number of wooden ones at the time. I must follow up.

That leaves the woven wool fabric I ordered from the Ukraine as the outstanding order for my Viking Workshop next February. 

I was very pleased in the end that I was wrong about the Certificate Course being cancelled. We had a really terrific session on Saturday. Junette had done quite a bit more research since the WES presentation and had some inspiring examples of the work of modern Inuit artists.. There was a lot of energy in the group. I got carried away applying some of the Design Online lessons and using the concept of face silhouettes from one of Junette's examples - picking up on the Inuit notion of shamanism, those who can heal, watch over, care for souls and sometimes change into animals, especially birds.  I worked on this most of Sunday and finished it in between shopping and cooking on Monday. 

Of course, I turned it into a bag/pouch, adding my first Inuit embroidery to the back, with a zip at the top.

It's 25cmx20cm.

The red explosion was meant to be the midnight sun but ended up looking more like a volcano. I decided that's OK. There are volcanos in the Canadian Arctic Circle and in any case it is a fantastic, not a literal scene. 

I really had a lot of fun with this.

For Monday's dinner I put the spiraliser to the test. I made a huge stirfry with duck, bacon, broccolini, salami, beans, bock choi, chives, capsicum and noodles, and made a small version with spiralised zucchini instead of noodles for myself. It worked a treat. Obviously the spiraliser works better with zucchini than carrots. The meal was a success. Fionn and Veronica calculated the calories and were happy, as was I.

After my Pilates class on Thursday I took the plunge and ordered a vibrating exercise machine. Martine has had me using one at Pilates since I began losing weight. I found it hard at first, but also figured that it is a form of exercise that I might get into a routine to use at home. My order said it would be delivered on Tuesday, so I cancelled a podiatrist appointment to be sure I would be home to receive it. It arrived at 8.45am on Monday. Never mind. I only had time to unpack it and make sure it worked on Monday, but am setting up a twice a day 10 minute session to start with, three times if I am at home all day. Today's three sessions went well.

To complete a week of mail arrivals, the Zenbroidery design I ordered to add to my red coat arrived today. I'm in no hurry to start it, but it will be a good, grab-and-go relaxing project with a use at the end of it. 

I was back on transport to netball practice duty today.

As of this morning, I have lost 5kg in 5 weeks and 2 days. I also had another fasting blood test on Thursday. My doctor messaged me the results on Saturday, 'stable renal function; long term glucose test ok, not high enough for diabetes, good'. That's not the end of the journey - but I'm on the way.

Post 386; A week in lockdown

My first day in lockdown was spent reading a little, working alternately on two embroidery projects and progressing my knitted shawl. A couple of friends checked in. Panayoula was supervising her grandchildren’s exercise at the local park and Jennifer was settling down to Sophie’s Universe. I also tried calling the electoral office because my package of information for the upcoming Local Council election - now by post only - did not contain a ballot paper! The office is locked down, and only taking email. The Council  office is also trying to contact them on my behalf. They called me on Thursday, but were not allowed to email me a ballot paper. There isn't time to turn the ballot around if it's mailed, so no vote for me.

Thursday dawned wet, cold and miserable, but I was inside, dry and warm. I’ve been tracking the numerous purchases I’ve made, especially the three still outstanding for my Viking Embroidery workshop next year., one from Russia, one from Poland and one from Ukraine. The last two seem to have reached the point of export, but may or may not have left the country. The following, however appeared this morning against the box of runes I ordered

21 July, 2021 06:10

Released From Russia

, Rossiya, Russian Federation

I track a lot of packages, and haven’t seen the term ‘released’ used elsewhere, as accurate as it may be. However, tracking tells me it has now reached Australia - which is an advance on the other two, which have no information outside the original country.

The Nutmeg Mill I had ordered from Peters' of Kensington arrived, along with a Spiraliser. I had researched a nutmeg mill to replace one that had broken. Ikea had very attractive wooden ones, but when I checked, nutmegs didn't fit into the storage area. They store a range of whole spices, but not nutmegs. Left is the box they arrived in,. Right is the packaging.

It drives me up the wall. These items are not that fragile!

I came across the spiraliser while searching for the nutmeg mill. Some of the recipes for sugar-free meals use vegetable spirals, so I thought I'd give it a go. At the moment, in lockdown, carrots are the only suitable vegetables I have in the fridge, but I'm looking forward to trying zucchini. There is a finer setting but I didn't manage to get it working on the carrots.

I spent much of Friday on the Moth and made good progress.  Anthony kindly dropped some bacon and broccolini into my letterbox so I can try another recipe from the Low Blood Sugar  book. 

That night  I cooked some mushrooms with French cutlets and a salad.

I also caught up with my brother and spent some time working out how to chart a couple of pieces of Vala Georgieva's Bulgarian embroidery pieces ready for next year's workshop. I haven't charted anything before so it's a challenge.

Saturday turned on rain and storms. It should have been a Certificate Workshop - Junette on Inuit embroidery. I was supposed to do the report. Of course, lockdown saw it cancelled.

Around midday, in a brief pause in the rain, I noticed an Adelaide Rosella on the bare branches outside my back balcony. He/she stayed long enough for me to grab my DSLR and take some shots. 

Most were blurry but one or two hit the mark before it flew away. A lovely moment in a cold and wet landscape. 

I tried another recipe from the 8 Day Blood Sugar Diet book for dinner, using the bacon and broccolini that Anthony delivered the day before. It was very simple and very delicious. I look forward to repeating it with the remaining broccolini and some of the bacon.

I kept working on the Madagascan Moon Moth and went to bed with the fourth wing well underway.

Jennifer has finished Sophie's Universe. Here is is spread out on a bed before it is packed and sent to her niece once we are out of lockdown. That, incidentally looks like being on Tuesday night, so I will know before the blog is posted. Another two cases were reported on Sunday, out of some 23.000 tests, both linked to existing cases and both in quarantine. Health authorities here in S.A. have done a terrific job of finding and isolating cases - and the community has been diligent and cooperative. It's hard, however, on the kids, who are at home trying to keep up with schoolwork.

I finished reading A Deed Without a Name by Dorothy Bowers, one of the Golden Age of Crime writers. She wrote five books before her death in 1948 aged 47. It has an interesting scenario, some well portrayed characters and a a police procedural plot. It is a bit convoluted and verbose, but I'll probably read more. I am now following up a  suggestion of my daughter on Goodreads and reading Alice Roberts' Ancestors: a prehistory of Britain in seven burials..

My major lockdown achievement, however, is finishing the Madagascan Moon Moth embroidery. I did enjoy it. It felt, however, like a reward to stitch the sequins to the 'eyes' with French knots - using two strands of cotton, after working the rest of it in one strand!

It is now set aside until (hopefully, if, as Hank Williams used to say, the Good Lord is willing and the creeks [= the Covid numbers] don't rise) the second, and construction, day of the course in August.

Today, Tuesday, dawned very windy, with a forecast of rain and possible storms in the afternoon. I risked hanging out the towels I had washed and they were dry in a couple of hours.

One of my dove friends turned up while I was there in the hope of seed, and, I suspect, shelter. Before long the pair were there. The wind had blown over the seed container, and some had spilled under a chair, close to the window to my sewing and office room. 

Interestingly, neither would venture under the chair, even when I had gone inside. Once I swept the spill clear of the chair, they came back, cautiously approached and ate some of the seed.

In between the Moth, I've been playing with herringbone stitch on the next bag for the Guild's Exhibition at the Hamra Gallery in September. I've had a lot of fun with it. There's a lot of variations to play with.

I’ve finished the embroidery tonight. Now all I have to do is turn it into a bag.

Our lockdown ends at midnight tonight. Masks are mandated and 4 square metre space requirements in shops, public spaces and hospitality. I haven’t been out all week, so might do a shop tomorrow and have another blood test on Thursday. I have now lost 4.1kg in 30 days.

This, I think, is the last time Feedburner will send an automatic email with these blogposts. Next week, hopefully, I will manually post to those who have subscribed.