October 2020 Update

Much has happened since I last posted here in July. Many places have had second waves of Covid and various degrees of restrictions or lockdowns have been imposed. Here in Adelaide we currently have no known community transmission for several weeks. We are still, however, cautious, observing distance, hand hygiene and restrictions on numbers gathering. 

In that time, Blogger has altered its tools and coding for blogposts and I have struggled with the new text wrapping tool. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.  Apologies in advance for much less than perfect layout.

I am still posting my daily blog which has included the embroidery I have been working on since I last posted an update here in July. It is still my intention to continue the daily blog for a year - until 24 February 2021. It's a kind of Journal of a Covid Year. Once that year is over, I intend to return to more or less weekly posts here.                                                                                                                  I made some progress on my crewel chair adding a Jacobean flower, an acorn and  redwork rabbit.

Once I got these pieces on the chair, I realised I needed much more to fill the gaps, so ordered a series of printed linens that I thought would do the job from The Crewel Work Company. I have just finished two sets of Rabbits at Dawn to put in front of the tree of life on the seat.

  The embroidery is finished, blocked and ready to add. I am now working on a series of feathers to go along the top edge.

One of my daughters suggested I make some Covid masks, which were being mandated in some parts of Australia and recommended in others, so I spent a couple of weeks finding recommended designs, fabrics and patterns and made, in the end, about 45 masks.

I completed this alpaca shawl with a pattern and yarn from Adagio Mills in Orange NSW. Blocking was a challenge!                                                                                                            

This bag and the tools that go in it were also a challenge, the result of a class with Christine Bishop at the Embroiderer’s Guild. Surprisingly, I enjoyed doing it. I learned a lot, the bag has proved very useful and it has been much admired.

The bag in the composite photo above is the result of a study of Icelandic Embroidery undertaken by the World Embroidery Study Group of the Guild, which I convene. We don’t often undertake a stitching project, but a few of us tried this design published in Piecework Magazine. It uses long-armed cross stitch which I had never done and really enjoyed. I of course, turned it into a bag, working worked a runic pattern on the closure side.

I couldn’t resist the Italian Caterina project in Inspirations 107. The Catherine de Medici stitch on 8 thread count linen was a definite challenge, as were the tassels with, I think, 380 knots in each.

A Certificate Course workshop at the Guild in September with Barbara Mullan on Mola Reverse Appliqué resulted in my producing this little bag for holding tools.

I have also worked, on and off (more off than on as you can see) on a shawl from a ball of lovely 2 ply wool brought back from New Zealand for me by a friend.

Hopefully the shawl will be finished when I post my next update here around Christmas time.

Stay safe.