Remember When

I appliqued and embroidered this silk top a dozen or so years ago. When I could no longer wear it--we won't talk about weight gain issues here--I passed it on to a friend. She recently mailed it back to me--again no mention of weight gain. It was years since I'd looked at it and I wondered what I would think. I like it enough to keep it even if I never wear it again. It was one of my early experiences of thinking "outside the box" with my design--literally, as the gum leaf and blossom design spills out over the edges of the background floral cotton square. I'm still fascinated by gum blossoms and leaves, though I think I'd be a bit more adventurous in my colour choices these days.

Sorting

I've been slowly sorting through piles of stuff in what is supposed to be my sewing room. I say, "supposed to be" because it's been a while since there's been enough room in here to get much sewing done. I did managed to finish off three more baby bunny rugs on the weekend. That's six more metres of fabric ready to leave the house and hopefully some happy parents on the receiving end.

This was an unrelated find: It's a silk embroidery from way, way back. I designed the whole thing; appliqued the urn, embroidered the leaves and stems and just got started on the hydrangea flowers when I must've got distracted or sidetracked somehow--it's so long ago, I really don't know what happened. Anyway, there it waited, folded up in a little bag with all the threads and ribbons until the weekend. Now I've pulled it out and pinned it on my design wall. I'm giving it the opportunity to talk to me about its fate. I'm afraid it's doomed--I'm no longer enthused by it and can't think what I'd do with it even if I did get it finished. But I'm giving it a chance. Meanwhile, I'd better do some more sorting.

Delicious

I hadn't seen my friend V for weeks. It felt like way too long. So we arranged for her to come over for a coffee yesterday morning. The weather and other commitments were conspiring against us, but still she came--on her bike, in the rain . . . And here's what she brought to show me:It's her latest work on Esther Aliu's Red Delicious quilt. V normally favours machine piecing in her quilting, so watching her develop her skills in aplique while working on this quilt has been fascinating. I'm not the only one of her quilting friends who is subconsciously keeping count of the number of times she says, "Ouch" when the needle finds her way into a fingertip. But the result is far from Ouch, I really like it. And it's perfect to accompany a morning coffee. That's what I think.

As for me, I've had at least one appointment each day this week, so I needed a take-along project too. I've picked up one of my pet skeins of handspun wool-silk. It's been hanging around the house for a couple of months now and I had no plans for it. I've started a little capelet. If I knit from the top down, I don't have to worry about how far the yarn will go, since anything longer than a few inches will work just fine. So I have the pleasure of watching the colours appear on my needles. These aren't colours I wear, so it will have to find a home when it's finished. I somehow don't think that's going to be a problem.

Unidentified Visitors

My friend V came over for coffee yesterday morning. She brought her applique and stitched away while I threaded up my loom. It was great to have some company and the small amount of distraction was more than compensated by the large amount of motivation and good-will.

One of the distractions was trying to identify a little honey eater who has been visiting my grevilleas. There were two of them there the other day and I'd managed to get a fairly clear picture without scaring them off. Usually as soon as I move to get my camera, my dogs jump up. Since the grevillea is just outside their favourite sunny window, that usually means that my shy little visitors take off. But the dogs were particularly lazy the other day, so I got a couple of good shots at them before they saw me and flew away--the birds, that is, not the dogs.
Now V knows a lot more about identifying birds than I do. To prove the point, she just happened to have a Field Guide to Australian Birds in her car! We decided that my little visitors are probably New Holland Honey Eaters, though one of the identifying features--a white tip to the tail--doesn't match up with the details in my photo. I'll have to have another good look when they next come along. Observing little details like that is easier said than done, since the honey-eaters bob and flit and fly off quite quickly, but I'll have a go.