Skirt takeover, apricot stuff, and nature winning again

 I didn't make it to the knitting group yesterday. The day started cloudy and cooler so I got all ready. Then things changed

Too hot to drive and park, for me. Heavy sigh, and I had attached the pockets all ready for the reveal of the batik skirt, oh well.

Two patch pockets, hard to see because the print's so busy, but very useful immediately. 

So pleased with this and the return of skirt wearing that I looked around and found this sari silk-lined skirt I got as a remnant ages ago. 

The outer layer is all bling, but the lining is not only a nice color, but with some alteration at the waist, will be a handy skirt.

And the remnants of the remnant will go into something else, maybe artist book covers, maybe that latest batch of paper will be a small artist's  book. In both senses, since this artist is shrinking, now down to 5'2" from my original towering 5'5".

Since summer is here, I made it official with sun tea

And chopped the peppermint picked by handsome Son, to make a carafe of peppermint black tea

Speaking of summer serving, that ill-fated apricot jam that turned sort of solid has proved to be a lovely crumbly addition to yogurt, honey and walnuts for breakfast 

And while I was fumbling about with the upcoming skirt fabric, I looked up to see this natural artwork, afternoon sun through the plants casting a great shadow design

And about skirts, I remembered the charcoal grey fleecy fabric I planned for sweatpants, but now wonder if it's going to be a long skirt instead.

And that gave me another idea about the woven and knitted skirt in progress. Maybe the knitted wedges could be fleece instead of knitted. I'll think about that. There's enough for both skirts.

I can see this skirt is probably going to end up as an organza hand embroidered tiered gown suitable for the opera at this rate of redeciding..

Happy day everyone, when you get an idea use it. There's more where that came from!

You'll notice I've been adding in a human rights flag now and then, with my Ukraine support. That's because both represent brave people under pressure. Least I can do is let them know I'm aware and an ally.

In which. I finally get around to a small job, survive the heat and find a rose

Yesterday being exactly as hot and humid as forecast, I did a couple of things outside then it was an indoor day.

I spread the pillowcases over the seedling crates, as you see, note the sage flowering now.

This idea worked fine. When I came to uncover them after sunset, the seedlings were perfectly happy. My, uncovered,  curry leaf plant however, died. It's a tropical, Indian in origin, but it simply burned up. So I've stripped off the leaves and put them in the freezer, and will use the pot for something else. 

I've now replaced the coverings before our second hot day. Simple but it worked. And somebody liked yesterday's hot weather, new bud

Then, one of the consolations of hot weather, sun tea, was called for.

Seen out brewing next to the lavender. It's now in the fridge. 

On the subject of knitting challenges and patience, or pigheadedness, let me show you this.

It's an artist trading card, 2.5"×1.5"  I made long ago, and the motif you see took possibly thirty or more iterations to accomplish. It's an old design, and very complex. 

I was doing this in the living room, while Handsome Partner, completely disabled at that point, watched with interest. He was astounded at my perseverance and said he'd never realized what art making entailed. 

He pointed out that he was used to seeing works come out of the studio ready to exhibit, and assumed since they looked spontaneous, they were pretty easy to create.

Now he could see the work in action.  I'd given up doing studio work two floors up, since his disability had progressed to where he couldn't be left alone, moving on  to textile art downstairs, so as to continue making art,  and he was entertained, also  learning.

Here's one of an exhibit I did way back, in studio days,  of watercolors of orchids

One of the viewers said, oh, it's lovely, was it just random, it's so flowing! Yeah, right.

Anyway the knitted motif above, to return to another art form, is an eighteen line repeat in which no two lines have the same stitch count. And the instructions, ancient ones, don't mention how many stitches on each row.

Modern patterns usually assume the same stitch count on every row unless you're decreasing for shaping. But without the safety net of counting stitches, much more difficult to keep track. So, much more satisfaction when you manage it. And a lot of either patience, or dumb doggedness, is used in the process. Also the inability to stop till you're done.

I don't use patterns a lot. Here's a freeform knitted mask, which was bought within minutes of the textile solo opening. No, no advance notes or drawings, just worked and designed as I went.  Ancient blurry image from pre cellphone days.

Then, maybe the other side,  there's procrastination. I finally did one of those simple jobs that you put off for weeks and weeks, that take about ten minutes when you get around to them. I refer to The Oiling of the Furniture.

I need to do this every few months after my cleaning family has cleaned so vigorously that the wood is looking dry and thirsty. I use olive oil on a cloth. All it takes is a couple of minutes rubbing with the grain, then across it, then with it, done.

The sum total of pieces being, to wit, one teak dining table, one oak coffee table, one walnut small table, one walnut chest of drawers, one maple butcher block top. Just the tops  That's it. Now done and looking so much better that I wonder what took me so long.

If anyone knows why we do this putting off, please explain.

And here's a lovely take on the Ukrainian flag theme of golden wheat stretching to a blue sky

Happy golden day, everyone! Fight a bit, rest a bit, enjoy both.

Abbrs. + Othr pzls

Today being very hot, too hot to go out, it was hot enough to brew sun tea. Which I did. Loose tea in the container, out in the sun, infusing and infusing. 

It's the subpar tea that I got the refund on, maybe this will be a good use. Worth a try. I strained it into a carafe. With the handmade Mickey stirrer, present from a glassblower friend.

Here it is, just cool enough to handle. The lemon slices are from the freezer so they're acting as ice cubes as well as flavoring. It's in the fridge now. I'll check it when it's cold.

Lunch was several small pasties, leek, potato, Thai basil, parmesan. Little sprig of the basil, for garnish, now that it's growing fast enough to pick 

Same sprig flavored the leek and potato soup later for supper. Yes, heavy emphasis on leeks since I accidentally bought enough to supply a small commune.

And today, speaking of ordering leeks, was Misfits box building day, where I order up and find I've gone way over the minimum, no fears I won't qualify. Posh name greeting from them, only because I have to use the name on my credit card. The order will arrive Friday.

Also it will soon be fireworks for the Fourth, and handsome Son and I go every year to a great spot he found where we can bring our chairs and see the show without needing to be in the crowds. 

It's a little grassy area a street away with a sky view and the company of a few other clever people who don't like crowds much either. Parking is right there, no crowds to navigate when we leave.

So I asked him to check when the show will be. Usually not on the fourth, that's a prime expensive booking time for the fireworks people, townships tend to fit around it, so you have to check each year which night they got.

Now, he has the same frugal gene as his mother's side of the family, and it shows up in his texting.  Not a wasted syllable when you pay as you go.

This just arrived and after a few tries, I broke the code.  I think it means he's on it.

Not that this took a lot of the day. That was mainly spent doing laundry just in case there's a power outage, listening to a Christie,  Murder is Easy, while I Tunisian crocheted tiny mitered squares, just because I like doing them, no other aim. And catching a bit of Sarah Millican on YouTube. And waking with a jolt to realize I'd been sleeping.

Very leisurely day, really. Maybe a bit of Persuasion this evening. 

Summertime..or smrtm, as the case may be.

Sun tea cooking

I only have loose tea, so I improvised a teabag with cheesecloth. 

Afternoon tea will be iced today. Splash of lemon juice, chunks of fresh lemon. NO sugar, can't drink tea with it.

Blistering hot, so sun tea, hot biscuits for afternoon teatime with blueberries

The weather this week is all about blistering heat and storms, well, they do tend to go together around here.  I watered my flowers anyway, just in case.

And figured it would be hot enough to make a batch of sun tea, to have iced, very ladylike, with my newly baked hot biscuits with sunflower seeds in them, 

to be spooned over with blueberry sauce of some kind, not yet made. 

The tea will probably be ready tomorrow, if I remember how this is done.  No rush. It's summer..

Reading a lot as well as all the other stuff that goes down chez Boud, and I'm noticing too many refs to bucket lists.  I really object to this, oh oh, here comes a hobbyhorse from the paddock, neighing and prancing and ready for me to jump right up.

For one thing it tries to make a game of dying, and older people see little to laugh about there (!) and it makes life into some sort of exercise in list making, frantically crossing things off before you go, as if any of us every know when that will be.  Can't help thinking it's a kind of Facebook mentality, or Instagramming to the nth degree, sounds a bit sad, really.  I know people who are fine with it, good for them, really, but I find it works against the notion of allowing life to come in, rather than grabbing at it.

But, since I always like to seek balance sooner or later, before I fall off my horse completely, it is nice to look back and be really glad of the things that you took a risk and actually did, even if they didn't always work out just as planned.  

Like learning the violin at age 47, and being encouraged by six year olds who were a year ahead of me. And playing in an actual orchestra a couple of years later.

And taking a big risk and entering art in juried shows. And accepting invitations to do solo shows, this is a very fear inducing thing, but so glad I did. 

And creating workshops of a kind I'd never seen, to teach other adults to be fearless the same way, in art.  And following the mantra: when it doubt try everything!  Likewise, you don't have to know everything in order to move forward.  You'll learn as you go.  In fact, this is how art works, as well as a lot of other things in life.

Okay, horse is slowing down now, good boy, old Paint, off you go back to the paddock to tell the others what she's banging on about this time..

Which is mainly, it's nice to live without feeling you need to list and plan your life ahead of time!  Life plans are great when you're very young, I had one in my twenties.  Nothing in it transpired, but a lot of much better stuff actually happened.  So there's that.

There's an organizing and planning industry, and good luck to them, but I can't help feeling their keenest clients are people who might do better to just hang loose a bit.  Observe the Shakuhachi effect.

Off to tea now.