Today I feel a bit battle weary from work, so I’m taking a day off stitching and just blobbing out in front of the PC for a while catching up on blogs, and emails and paying bills etc. Then I intend to get out and have a walk on the beach before heading off to work again … managed to get a dose of ‘acoustic shock’ last night, and ended up being taken off the phones due to the fact that my right ear especially was burning/aching 😦 Our headsets are really sensitive, and one call dropped in where their baby/toddler had just hit its head – right next to the telephone receiver … next thing you know I had huge feedback coming down the phone from the ear-piercing shriek coming from the kid … OUCH!!! Anyway, today my right ear is still a bit achey, but hopefully I’ll be OK to take calls tonight … Anyway, it’s yet another gloriously sunny day in Melbourne, with just enough breeze to keep the heat down – would be mad not to make the most of it and go for a wander.
On that note, though, it reminds me of something I thought about the other day … I live in a predominantly jewish area of Melbourne – I apologise for my ignorance in advance … there are many orthodox jews walking the streets, and it fascinates the heck out of me! Coming from a mainly Asian community where I last lived, it’s a huge cultural difference in this suburb. I love to see them out walking in their traditional clothes and outfits … but what made me think of them today is, how the heck do they survive in the high heat of summer?? I saw an older gentleman the other day in his full black outfit, complete with coat and fur hat – on the hottest day we’ve had so far – sat on a garden wall in the street … first thing that crossed my mind, “no wonder you’re sat down on that wall, you must be bl**dy roasting!!” (not meant to cause offence to anyone). I have to say, I admire these people for being so steadfast in their religion and culture, and not being swayed by outside influences – but I also think it’s easy for someone to target them for being ‘different’. When I moved here, ex-flatmates said “ooh, you’re moving to a very Jewish area”, as if it was a dreadful thing to do … I just see other people like me, that are just in different packaging … anyway, just something I was thinking right now …
Before I go on my walk, though, a quick response to some comments (and back to stitching-related talk) …
Von, now you can understand why I couldn’t stop from looking at that chart all night – Close at Heart chart is just beautiful! I’m going to stitch it in the purple colourway, seeing as I’m not much of a pink chick (although I still think the pink is very dainty and pretty) … unless I can work out some blues that I can use instead from my stash (that’d be a surprise for me, wouldn’t it, changing something to be blue!! LOL). As it is, I’m going to try to find colours in my stash that would work, as I can’t afford to buy more threads for a while. Let me know if you’re going to stitch it next year, and I’ll join in with you and squeeze it in among my other million stitching projects 🙂
And Jenna – on the same note, I just went to your photo site to check out the Close at Heart piccies … just stunning! I really love this piece done on the green fabric – awesome!! Hadn’t thought of changing the fabric colour, so now I’m going to have a play in my stash and look at other options aside from just white … especially if I change the colours to blue 😉 As for the hardanger squares at the bottom – when I saw the chart I nearly choked LOL. I’ve only ever attempted doves eyes in hardanger, so that’s really going to be a huge challenge … will definitely have to do a ‘dummy run’ on a scrap piece of fabric, I think. Oh well, if nothing else, it will challenge me to do something different. Maybe I should come to you for a holiday for some hardanger lessons 😉 haha. In fact I’ve had Walk the Gentle Path by Cross ‘n Patch for years, and the hardanger part at the bottom is what’s stopped me from stitching it … I think if I just bit the bullet and give it a go, I’ll be fine. I actually bought the Janice Love books to help me, but loaned them to a supposed friend at work in NZ, and never got them back (which is a right royal pain considering I’d ordered them specially from the US – she ended up running off with over $200 worth of my books boohoo). Maybe 2006 is my year for finally shaking off and trying to conquer my fears …
Rightio, off for my hour’s walk … especially for Lynn, here are photos of where I live (and where I’m about to go walking) … in the first photo, where the end of the path is (where it veers off to the right), there is a canal – you just follow the canal for about 4 blocks, and you’re practically at my front door 🙂 The photos are taken either side from a hill at which there is a viewing point – I usually continue my walk to the grey concrete wharf you can just see in the distance (in the second photo), then turn around and come back. Last time I kept walking round to the next bay and nearly killed myself! 🙂 I think I need to buy a bike!!! Of course that’s the city skyline of Melbourne in the background …
Feather Stitching 