plodding

yup … that’s what I’m doing at the moment.  Here’s a wee confession - this last couple of weeks has seen some serious homesickness for Brisbane and my family and friends, lots of motherly worrry, and floods of tears - thank god for cold water, a washcloth and a bit of pretty lippy.

My time at the bookstore is an utter pleasure.  Walking through those doors three mornings a week fills me with a greatly needed sense of purpose and happiness.  In the evenings and those “other” four days - well, there’s a lot of plodding.  Being homesick, crying (when no one else is around), fretting and generally feeling sorry for oneself is really tiring.  Who’d have thought. I do have moments when I smile and laugh, chatter with Abby and Julian, put my best foot forward, so to speak.  But I’m having trouble focusing on those good bits.

As for stitching - blah.  I have resurrected this small quilt from last year - I truly love it - the treacly yellows fill me with sweet warmth, and the crisp white yo-yos inspire me to dedicate myself to yo-yo making.  After finally finishing the handquilting, I decided that simply anchoring each yo-yo with a couple of stitches in the middle was completely inadequate.  Each yo-yo needs to be hand stitched around it’s perimeter (is that the right word - or should it be diameter?)  Let me tell you dear reader how ploddy this is.  Glory be - it takes stitchy plodding to new heights - or should that be depths.  But I do like how they sit nice and firm and flat after their surgery - otherwise they were literally twisting about and losing their centre.

I’m a bit like a yo-yo with only a couple of stitches in the middle - how’s that for twee, homespun philosophising huh!  Yup, I’m here - newly attached to Melbourne.  I’m washing clothes, making beds, cooking dinners, shopping for food, cleaning bathrooms, vacuuming, hanging and folding washing, doing dishes, making lunches, ironing school uniforms, accepting invoices, serving customers, ordering books, alphabetising shelves (I seriously love this :-) putting away new stock, reading, dreaming, thinking … but I’m really a bit loose.  A bit out of shape.  Listen to this for alarming … on my days off, I’m too fretful and sad to put needle to fabric.  I sit and watch Miss Marple and Inspector Poirot.  And wait for Abby and Julian to come home.

There you go … just like so many other people, I like to make my wee corner of the bloggy neighbourhood a spirited place of energy, good humour and prettiness.  I’m sorry it’s not today.  That’s just not what I have at hand.  Unlike the poor poor children I saw on television tonight in Haiti, I’m not missing a leg, I am surrounded by those I love, I have a home, food, clothing, employment and a future … nevertheless, in spite of my amazing privilege, security and good fortune, I’m really glum and lonesome at the moment.

So silly. I need to rediscover my joy at simply being here everyday, to find delight in what is in front of me, to give thanks for all that I have, to use all that lays about me.  Hmmm …. I’m not sure how to go about doing this.  Maybe it’s just one baby step at a time.  Here’s hoping …

a day by the lake

We drove to Daylesford this weekend.  It is very beautiful - idyllic - and we are so looking forward to going back.  Especially to check out the lovely village centre which is so very old and picturesque.  Hopefully there is an overnight stay coming up at the old manse - I shall feel like Jane Austen :-)

I was particularly smitten with the berries.

There were trees to climb - with and without shoes - and my girl was delighted with the magic of the lake, its prettiness and the ducks and geese to feed.

The light was exquisite and the prettiness, around every corner.

We found our dream home - plenty of room for quilts, wool and embroidery, grunt pigs and buttercup cows, a lake in our back garden on which to kayak and rooms for guests that want to play with our quilts, wool, and embroidery, grunt pigs, buttercup cows and kayaks.  It’s a lovely dream :-)

And some quirky … I love quirky!

ahhhhhh … lovely day.

orange … amongst other things

I love orange.  So often, when I’m choosing fabric, or wool, or clothes, I find myself thinking oh look, there’s orange, I love orange and never choose it.  This happens so often, that when I fossick through the stash, look through my wardrobe, there’s a lot of orange.

Julian and I have fallen into the habit of going to bed very late - frequently after midnight - setting the alarm for 6am and then being utterly incapable of waking up properly. We bump that “10 more minutes button” over and over and finally stagger out to the kitchen at 7 to participate in a frantic rush to school and work.  Yes, it’s a cheerful, frantic rush with plenty of love and laughter, but it’s so contrary to how we should be starting our day - refreshed!

In an effort to improve, Julian and I went to bed last night at a nice and early 9.15pm.  Yeah, I might miss out on a couple of hours of possible needlework but usually, after the clock has struck 9.30pm, I am slumped prone and tired on the sofa, watching something on the television or browsing the internet.  They are not fruitful hours.  So to bed - we chatted, we read and then drifted off to sleep.  And when that alarm went off at 6am, I sat up in bed, awake, energised and ready for the day.  Oh it felt good! I made Abby and I our morning cup of tea and we didn’t have to gulp it.  We ate our breakfast slowly and with pleasure.  I ironed everybody’s clothes for the day and made the lunches.  Julian and Abby left for school and work and I still had two hours before I had to catch the tram to work.  Two glorious hours.

It was a cold morning so I put the kettle back on, savoured a cup of Ecco (peculiar Italian cereal beverage that I have loved for many years) and finally finished my scarf.

I knitted it last year in Brisbane, but frankly, it was never cold enough to wear it, and thus I had never woven the ends in.  Well this morning I did.

And wore it to work ’cause it was darn chilly.  I swear the wind gusting in from the south west was express from the Antarctic!

Ah it was such a good morning.  Slow, peaceful, happy and productive and full of my favourite orange.  It’s amazing what a few extra hours of needed sleep can provide.

comfort stitching

It is well documented that sitting in a cosy armchair, in your flannel jammies doing some handstitching with your muma and dada sitting across from you with their books, and your puppies snoozing lazily on the sofa is the best medicine for the angst that can accompany a day at high school.

Oh my sweet Abby - she does struggle sometimes with the social minefield that is a school of girls - I would once have said teenage girls, but now know that it starts WAY earlier than that.  And my Abby, she’s a quiet, shy soul.  When she settles into her niche, she is cheerful, witty and well-loved.  Until she finds that spot, she is a wee bit fragile, easily buffeted, nervous in new social situations.  And today was one of those days.

As per our new routine, Abby hops off the train from school, walks up the street to say hello to us in the bookstore, has a browse to see what new titles have arrived, drops into Aviv’s (the most awesome bakery) next door for afternoon tea, then heads home.  Today, there were a few tears so I suggested as a soothing balm for a morning’s awkwardness, she design and stitch a new outfit for Dollie.  I arrived home shortly after to find a very cheerful, very relaxed, very satisfied girl.

My girl creates such prettiness with her needle and felt - I am in awe of the wonderful designs she comes up with.  I’m especially pleased that when our world needs some righting, we have learnt to turn to soul nourishing things - a family game, stitching, reading, cooking together, re-building bikes, snuggling up on the sofa, cuddling the doggles.

And this dear little creature is what I found nestled into my pillow on the morning of my birthday last week - my heart sang.

a handsome princeling

The nice thing about needlepoint is that once you’ve got it underway, it pretty much looks after itself.  All it needs is a few hours of film or audio book each night and merrily it rolls along, no matter how sleepy or slow I feel.  Which is usually how I feel after dinner and dishes and child to bed.

So whilst the sun is out, the light is good, energy and brain levels high, and the kitchen table is not needed for anything else, there’s a little portrait I want to capture …

I love the portraits of old - especially those of children.  They so rarely look at ease or cheerful.  Mostly, they look a bit stricken and stiff!  I love the symbolism - the careful placement of the artefacts that will reveal to the sitter’s importance, history, wealth, and passions.  As for the costumes, I’m always so amazed at the clothes these poor people are shoved into!  The layers upon layers of detail and decoration.  Again, especially the children.  My goodness, this poor little soul looks like he couldn’t move his arms if he tried!

Yep - it’s a he.  The offspring of King Charles I and his wife Henrietta Maria - Prince Charles.  What a handsome princeling!  Flipping through the exquisite pages of my latest “The World of Interiors” I came across this wonderful portrait - you can’t see Big Charles - he’s way off at the other end of the table.  Hmmmm … what is that saying about his tolerance for family life?  I could just see a Little Charles in felt - pink and white felt with this dear little piece of ladybug fabric.

The way I put these felt and embroidery pictures together is very ad-hoc.  I start with the wooden hoop and a piece of paper.  I outline the hoop on the paper and then draw my picture inside the outline.  Once I’m happy with the composition, I trace the elements onto vlisefix, cut out each element, iron it onto the wrong side of my fabric, cut it out, and then starting at the bottom layer, carefully add each piece, ironing as I go, until the picture is completed.

Then I begin the embroidery.  Each element is whip stitched around its edge and then I embellish it.  I don’t plan on what I”m going to do - I just see what looks nice and how much something needs.  I cheerfully rip out what doesn’t work and will often go back and add more detail later.  I often become terribly excited about the details of a particular element and then, whilst working on them, think of what to do to another part of the picture.  I know from experience to stop what I’m doing and just get stuck into the next bit - then I don’t forget my ideas.  After the initial drawing, I don’t put anything down on paper.  It just happens on the fabric.

As I worked away at Little Charles today - Abby thinks ’cause we’ve dressed him in pink, we really need to accept he’s a girl and rename him - it dawned on me that he was kind of suspended in mid air.  This was a wee bit distressing, but I reminded myself that things usually work out - if I just relax and enjoy the stitching something will come to me.  And it did - there’s a simple repeat pattern wallpaper in the offing, followed by a richly decorated rug for the royal bottom.

I’m pleased with the curtain - that took a few hours - the first tie back was revolting and had to be ripped out - made tricky by all the stitching that was done post tie back, thus wodging the dodgy stitches in place.  And Little Charles looks nicely stiff and worried - he must have had a premonition about his father’s execution.

Oooh and Abby - I’ve just read about Oak Apple Day - it was once celebrated on the 29th May - Little Charle’s birthday - as a commemoration of the oak tree he hid in during the civil war.  Now here’s a day we could celebrate in Melbourne and strangely enough, we could tweak it to be seasonally appropriate - the oaks will be shedding the last of their leaves, with which to decorate the table, and the apple season will be drawing to a close with all the apples picked and ready for pies and crumbles.  Too silly!