Horse

This book has come highly recommended and I am looking forward to reading it.

Just the blurb on the website has wetted my interest.

WINNER OF THE FICTION INDIE BOOK AWARDS 2023
WINNER OF THE ANISFIELD-WOLF BOOK AWARDS 2023
SHORTLISTED FOR THE ARA HISTORICAL NOVEL PRIZE 2022

'He tilted his desk lamp so that the light fell on the image. The head of a bright bay colt gazed out of the canvas, the expression in the eyes unusual and haunting.'

A discarded painting in a roadside clean-up, forgotten bones in a research archive, and Lexington, the greatest racehorse in US history. From these strands of fact, Geraldine Brooks weaves a sweeping story of spirit, obsession and injustice across American history.

It has been some time since I had a good book to read so I look forward to this one.  I hope it lives up to expectation.

 

WIPW

I doubted that I would get to this point, but, I have finished my sweater, just in time for winter.

I have made the body and arms  a bit longer, to keep my backside  and wrists warm.   I also didn't make my garment as tight as Kate's original.  I just can't stand tight clothing, even if it is in fashion.  The other modification was to change the needle size to a smaller gauge for the yoke and then smaller again for the neck band.  This gave me the fitting I wanted in these sections in relation to my larger hip size. 

There is now the whole world of twisted stitches to explore.  My children have given me that  Nora Gaughin book I wanted and I think that I will explore the patterns using swatches that I will then join into a rug.  A hat for my daughter is next on the  knitting list.

A few more stitches on the table runner, in fact I have made good progress but I do have to replicate this one on the other end.

And I have made a little progress on the backing for the quilt.  I have found this really difficult.  I ended up allotting a certain number of letters each day and I finally found how to keep my stitching consistent.  But I wanted there to be a bit of messiness, just as there is with spray painted graffitti on a wall.

Now for the cat.

 

When re-organising my files...

I came across an old collection of images of work done by Tara Badcock, who is a Tasmanian embroiderer and artist.  Most of her work is machine embroidery and she has mastered the art of using her sewing machine as a drawing implement, just perfectly.

Most of the images that I have saved are from back prior to 2012.  Now that is some time ago.  I did find that she had a Flickr account so I have started my search here.  Then I found an instagram account  and it would appear that she has moved her work more towards fine art.

And I also found a Facebook account.  Here there are quite a lot of images of her work.  I think it is her birds that I am most attracted to.

And I see she has added hand embroidery to her skill set.

I just love this piece.

 

There is such a French influence in her work.   I am going to have to keep on eye on her sites to see what she is doing. I'm glad I found those images.

Mother's Day

I had a lovely morning with my family.  We breakfasted in the park and my daughter and daughter-in-law did all the cooking and arrange everything.  I was given a whole swag of loot.

The book I wanted,

and a teddy from Monique with "Best grandmother ever" on it's T shirt and a lovely scarf from Jasmine.  My husband gave me a gift voucher, which I will put aside until the sales at the end of the season, and I also was given some flowers.

The other gift was to see my grand daughter Jasmine crocheting like a true craft person.  She is making covers for water bottles and just churning them out.

What a lovely day.  I am blessed.

 

 

Lara Downes - Tiny Desk Concert

I subscribe to the Newsletter from NPR and most of the music it features is Jazz, Hip Hop and the like, but really it concentrates on featuring new music and one is always learning.  But, every so often you get something like this.

 

Look what Julie is designing

Here am I looking at the end of my knitting and a rest for my wrist and Julie is about to publish a new knitting pattern, horses!!

She says she will also have a unicorn.  My grand daughter loves unicorns.  I am really impressed with the number of horse she has knitted to perfect the pattern and she is still not quite ready to release it.

I hope she holds off till I finish my sweater.

WIPW

Still not a lot of progress on anything except the knitting.  Only 6 more rows of the pattern and the neckband to go.  I should have this finished by next week, then I think I will need to give my aching hand and wrist a bit of a rest for a little while.

My table runner has a few more stitches added.

And I am still stuck trying to finish the quilt back.  I'm not really sure why I am so slow.  It might be all that time spent at the doctors or in hospital. and, I have spent days organising all the photos on my desk top into folders.  This took days!!  Now I have to go into each folder and delete all the unwanted items.

On my wish list.

I have been a fan of Sue Vickery for some time now.  I was first introduced to her through her work about Jacques- Julien Houtou de Labilladiere, the citizen Botanist.  (Do visit her web site to look at her video presentation of this story.  The embroidery and tailoring of the garments is just beautiful.)

I bought the book written about his life and travels and that was one of the instigators to my learning French.  Those early explorations of the French around Australia and the pacific are quite fascinating and not a lot has been translated into English although his writting about this trip have been.

One of the things that I also admire about her work is her ability to say a lot with very few stitches.  Her portrait of her mother is an example.

I am going to have to try her methods in my own work.  I have a feeling that it isn't as simple as it looks.

Citizen Botanist

Cheesecake

One forgets that dogs have lives that are a lot shorter than us and this week we said goodbye to 'Cheesecake'. 

He was my friend Hayley's dog and everyone knew him.  (Hayley owns the small farm a few doors from my home.)  Cheesecake had been abandoned on the island by his owners.  They brought him to the island and left him.  He was heartbroken.  He used to sit and wait for the barges or ferries for their return, but they never came.  Hayley took and cared for him and named him Cheesecake.

Hayley's little farm is a refuge for abandoned animals.  There is Lollypop the donkey, who turns 21 this year, plus sheep, goats, chickens, ducks and guinea pigs, cats and a parrot.  Cheesecake used to keep them all in line.  But it was the sick or injured animals he cared for.  He would sit outside their enclosure and keep guard, whether it be a duck or cat.  His death wasn't unexpected.  He has been having trouble walking for a while and had to be pushed in a stroller when the animals went for their walk.    For such a small dog he had a big personality.

R.I.P. my little friend.

Fazil Say

I  do love You tube for music.  I stumbled upon Fazil Say when looking for something else and found his rendition of the Mozart Rondo Alla Turca.  This reminded me of a night in Huston in the USA.  There was an outdoor festival at that time and on the stage they had a traditional Turkish band.  I couldn't believe that the music was so similar to this, as were the military uniforms worn back in the 1700's that I had seen in illustrations. 

Fazil also has a great video were he experiments with Beethoven Piano Sonatas as Symphonies.    They are beautiful and he is a very talented composer as well, I can't get this ballad out of my mind.

I can find a translation of the lyrics for this in English but I haven't been able to find a performance.  I wish someone would record the song in English.  He really is a fascinating character. (read about him here.) Then recently he recorded another version of this piece with Cello, which sings the melody.

To top all that he is also a great Jazz pianist.  His Paganini variations are mind blowing.

A true musical genius, both composition and performance, of our own time.

And I was on the wrong side of the world when this concert played!!