Lent Reflection 2 - Sunday 13th March

Last night I was reflecting on the trials and tribulations that I was having with embroidery. Satin stitch in particular, and all things embroidery in general.

Version 1

All I had to go on for satin stitch were some angry and frustrated memories from making a total hash of it when I was about eight years old, and some instructions and pictures in a leaflet.

It's not too surprising, then, that my first attempt was unsatisfactory.

After intently studying several video, and listening carefully to the instructions, guidance, details, given by Sarah Homfray on her youtube videos, I was able to cut out the first attempt (yes, I did make a small hole in the fabric) and by sewing slowly, with more concentration, was able to produce this;

Version 2

  

Yes! It's not 'good', but is it 'better', and that's enough to be going on with!

Sarah Homfray sews her leaves and flowers with consummate ease. She can even talk while the needle goes in and out, apparently seeking the perfect placement of the point every time all by iteself, the thread following neatly and forming the beautiful shapes.

How?

Well, like me playing the piano. I'm not a great pianist; I was never going to be able to play more than the easiest Chopin, most accessible Brahms, but I have been saturated in the world of piano playing since I was about three years old. When I look at the music, I know what to do, I know how to learn it, I understand it like a fish understands swimming.

I guess it is the same for experts in embroidery. They been saturated in the techniques and history and knowledge of their art and craft, using all their intellect to develop and improve.

Today, I was reminded about this process of saturation with respect to our life as Christians.

If I hadn't been listening to  daily 'Bible in one Year' audio book, and also following Andrew Dotchin's Lent Course, today's sermon (Ezekiel and the bones) would have been good, but with the extra links and knowledge that past six months regular listening and reading and paring have developed, it was awesome. 

So, on reflection, it seems to me that Tertullian in saying 

But we, little fishes, after the example of our ΙΧΘΥΣ Jesus Christ, are born in water, nor have we safety in any other way than by permanently abiding in water 

was givng us good advice. Here, he is talking about Baptism, and the Water being the Holy Spirit, and of course the play on words with the Greek word for fish being used to represent Jesus Christ:

The word ΙΧΘΥΣ (ikhthus) in Greek means “a fish;” and it was used as a name for our Lord Jesus, because the initials of the words ᾽Ιησοῦς Χριστὸς Θεοῦ Υἰὸς Σωτήρ (i.e. Jesus Christ the Son of God, the Savior), make up that word.

(And no, I haven't read Tertullian! But I came across that phrase a long while ago and it stuck with me)

 More Lent reflections at Tracing Rainbows

Friday 11th March - End of the Week

 Getting the blog written yesterday was quite a challenge. A whole load of windows updates went through, and Blogger was cranky for a while; photographs on my main page not loaded, and the icons all disappeared on the 'new post' page so there was a fair bit of guesswork and a number of deep sighs.

Reloading the pages seemed to work, without my losing anything I had already types in, so all ended well and without tears.

Today - everything seems normal - what passes for normal - maybe I shouldn't speak/type too soon.

After yesterday's full day, with almost everything getting done, today, as I rather thought it would be - was a rather different story!  

First thing, the weather looked promising, but even as I looked out of the window the clouds rolled in, the temperature dropped, and a sharp draught found its way through the windows on the North edge of the bay.

I put away all thoughts of going out!

It was an opportunity to catch up with my 'Commonplace Book'

I've been keeping these for some years now, and every so often go back and discover what was attracting my interest back then.

  I haven't made a good job of copying Harry the Cat's tail; it looks more like he is sitting on an earthworm. It will be enough of a clue.

I tend to take screenshots of things I trip across on the internet, and then transfer them to notebooks.

I opened today's Noah's Ark window. I have at last sorted out the connection between the scripture quotation revealed in the window, and the Biblical commentary in the booklet. It's quite simple - there isn't one.  Luke chapter 18 v 25 is about it being easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The commentary was about Abraham. I can't remember if Abraham had an camels; I remember the sheep and goats and donkeys.

I've made progress on the felted tea cosy; I was delighted to find that the cut edges showed no desire to fray. Even so, I thought a line of blanket stitch would not come amiss   

Which is when I discovered that the blue embroidery thread was a skein that had no paper loops to hold it in shape, and showed every desire to unravel into a horrid tangle. That was soon sorted.

I've only done one side; the tea pot was carried off to the kitchen before I could check the other side before cutting the slit. I'm not sorry - it can be a job for another day.

I've started a trial on the cat embroidery on a spare piece of fabric. Then I had a panic - what if Ang hates cats? Then a remembered, this is MY piece, so I get to keep the cat! Sewing with pale grey thread on pale cream fabric is definitely an eye-watering activity. I've also decided to make the whole picture a bit smaller, and do some practice tulip embroideries. Satin stitch is SO not a strong point! 

My beautiful variegated threads arrived. I have a feeling that each one will need to be wound on to a piece of card before I use them.

The first Lent resolution has been - bent? Can I call it a greenstick fracture rather than a break? Quite a few 'older ladies', and I suspect I fall into that category every so slightly, are following a course in a book called 'Strong women stay young'. Exercising every day is one of my Lent activities, and I have bought a copy to get more ideas.

I shall have to make good by keeping to the resolution.

Finally, Ukraine. If you would like to join in, a prayer collective is organising that, as in World War 2, we stop whatever we are doing for one minute tor 

pray for world peace, for an end to conflict and for the restoration of tranquillity to all people on the earth, and for families to look to God for their safety and to see their salvation.  

The time for the United Kingdom is 8pm. Just one minute. Peace on Earth, and Goodwill to all peoples.

Thursday March 10 - Getting EVERYTHING done?

 No, not quite everything. 

I still have a couple of hours left before bed time at about ten o'clock, but I have just about reached The End.

I sat in bed this morning, doom-scrolling through the news and twitter and finally managed to put down the phone and think about the day.

I've started writing 'morning pages' again this month; just one page in a small notebook to get myself started.

Today it turned into a 'to do' list.

I need to

• do my exercises
• send letters to two friends
• do yesterday's writing course ( a short 5-day course from Writers HQ)
• write up three piano lessons from yesterday's teaching
• tech two piano lessons today
• Host a zoom starting at 8.30pm
• read a couple emails 
• Bible study time

I ought to

• hoover some part of the house (it all needs doing!)
• Practise the Bach piece
• Finalise my design for this month's postcard project embroidery  

I'd like to

• order some variegated embroidery threads and buy a small block of beeswax
• sew a line of the 'Try a stitch Tuesday' series
• Write a blog post

Fourteen items to get done between 9:30 am and 10pm- do-able

But then I got on and

• watered the seedlings
• filled the bird feeders
• wrote feedback to a student on a video recording they sent me
• responded to several other emails
• remembered to phone a member of the family 
• checked my bank statement for missing lesson payments

and fourteen items became twenty, just like that!

Well, it is half past six, I am typing a blog with the fingers on one hand while eating pieces of pizza with the other hand - both hands when I can. I have completed

EVERYTHING in green.

The last item; 'host a zoom', will happen in two hours, and up until then I am Clocking Off!

It hasn't been all busy busy;

I have been in the garden a couple of times to admire the crocuses and spring patio tubs

I have opened the window on my Lent calendar; Owls (these would make a good embroidery!)

with the scripture 'I am an owl of the wilderness, like a little owl of the waste places' from Psalm 102, 6-7.

 

They look utterly doleful; I think they are not happy about being stuck in the ark, when they would rather be in the wilderness.

Here is my (possibly) final sketch for the embroidery. I will probably redraw it a couple of times and choose the one I like best.

It is based on a mix of 'Cat Amongst the Tulips' by Angela Harding, from her book 'A year Unfolding' 

And this birthday card, sadly with no artist name on it so I am unable to add a credit.

Wednesday 9th March - Swatting the flies

 We currently don't posses a fly swat. After opening today's window I think we should go out and get one. Hidden inside the belly of a flounder are a couple of flies. Once again, the scripture inside the door is far toooooo apposite for today; Ecclesiates 9:18 to 10:1

Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good.

As dead flies give perfume a bad smell, so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor. 

Considering this was all written over a thousand year ago, things don't seem to have changed as much for the better as we might hope.

Moving swiftly onwards, here's a happier sight;

Here is the tea cosy after felting. I rubbed and scrubbed it in a bowl of extremely hot water and washing up liquid as advised by The Spruce website, twice 'shocking' the fibres with cold water. It now feels very thick and I think it will be ok to cut the slits for handle and spout if I do some sewing to secure the edges. I shall leave it sitting on the upturned bowl to continue drying.

I have been researching embroidery on the internet all day instead of writing up piano lessons. Patterns, designs, techniques. I have discovered an excellent series of  youtube instructional videos by Sarah Hombray, and she has a selection of free designs on her website. I developed a fierce longing for variegated threads...

Here are my next thoughts for the design for this month. They are a couple of birthday cards from last year that live on my piano. I would leave out the lettering if I choose the right hand picture.

    

Tuesday 8th March - The Bulls of Bashan

 Today's Noah's Ark picture was rather alarming - more cattle;

It looks more like a man with a costume head; and Psalm 22 verse 12-13 explains what it is about;

"Strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round. "

Bashan, the richest pasture around Palestine, produces the largest and strongest animals (Ezekiel 39:18). Hence "the kine of Bashan" became an expression for powerful oppressors (Amos 4:1)

Rather topical, thinking about Ukraine, and the potential disasters that could ensue from this reckless invasion.

It seems selfish to switch off, turn over, avoid the news; so I watch just a little at a time. There's not a lot I can do from here - donate, pray, make sure that I am speaking the truth...

So, in order to avoid plunging into a personal Slough of Despond, I take delight in what there is around me; birds on the bird feeder, the cat asleep in the sun, a small and delicious hot chocolate drink, finishing the tea cosy - yes indeedy! The top marker shows where I started from today.

  I decided to do the decreases on every row to make the top flatter. It is now waiting to be felted.

Also, I was most surprised to find that a number of the broad beans has popped through the earth overnight. One pea shoot has also appeared.

I have just finished listening to 'The Long Winter' by Laura Ingalls Wilder - her 'Little House' series has been a firm favourite ever since I first encountered them when I was about nine years old. It is interesting re-reading them as an adult - of course they were only stories when I first read them, but now I am far more aware of the way the roles and position of women, and Native Americans, and non-white people in the society of the time.

Also, having grown up in the South of England, I've always pronounced 'slough' as - well, Slough. To rhythm with cow. The reader of the book pronounced it 'sloo', which is common in the States. And of course there is always the pronunciation that rhythms with 'sluff' and refers to a snake shedding it's skin. 

Monday 7th March 2022 - A half-asleep day

I'm finding it quite hard to tell... my eyes have been so wanting to close themselves all day. Now, at half past eight in the evening I'm clock-watching until it can be time for bed. (going up early isn't helpful!)

Anyway, let's start with Noah's Ark;

Yesterday was scorpions! Luke 10;19-20 Powerful words; 

I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.  However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.

Today was oxen, looking quite snug in their quarters. I hope they can't read; the scripture is Proverbs

Better a small serving of vegetables with love than a fattened calf with hatred.

I'm fairly certain that they would be in agreement regarding the best menu. 

Knitting;

I have finished the first sock, and it fits - I should have had more confidence, even though I was using a different yarn and different needles to the ones specified in the pattern.

I am now marking where start knitting from each day, in order to encourage myself with visual evidence of progress. So the little yellow marker shows where I got to on Saturday, and I did all the rest on Sunday, in spite of my hand threatening to cramp every so often. 

If the sock fits, wear it! Though it would make sense to wait until the other one is done. The fabric is quite loose and open; the pattern specified smaller needles which would have given a closer, and better texture. Still, I shall knit its twin on the same needles, and remember for next time. These are 3mm diameter needles; whether I can cope with even thinner ones remains to be seen.

 

The tea cosy continues; I tried it on (the teapot, not me, obviously) on Sunday, and it was just about the same height. Allowing for shrinkage after the felting process, it wants to be about half as tall again. It does seem to be about half as wide as it needs to be which makes me feel hopeful.

I continued from the pink marker today, and added all the nine tags in among the stitches along the needle to mark the decreases; I shall do a round with K2tog (knit two stitches together) after each marker, and then a round with no decreases, and repeat these two rounds in the hope of achieving a fairly flat top.

Then I shall wash the completed copy with soap, hot water, and violence, to turn it into felt. Assuming it turns out roughly the right size, I shall do some stitching either side of where I propose to cut slits for the handle and spout, and then either celebrate, or cut it up into pieces and put it in the compost bin compost according to whether I have succeeded or not.

Sewing;

I managed another couple of rows yesterday of the 'try-a-stitch-Tuesday' series (www.pintangle.com). Buttonhole and stem stitch. I think that completes the January posts. I had no brain for sewing today.

The weather outside was beautiful - sunny, with the daffodils nodding in the garden, the little sparrows and middling sized starlings and enormous magpies all busy-busy at the bird feeders.   

I stuck my nose out-of-doors, considering taking a short walk, and promptly ducked back inside again. Not a cheerful breeze out there, but a blisteringly cold wind.

By tea time I was 'finished' with the day. We had sandwiches and 'salady-bits'. I was so tired I cut up my sandwiches into tiny squares to make it easier (do you use scissors to cut up your sandwiches? I always do). Some kinds of cold meat (like corned beef) are easy to eat, but other kinds, like Italian cured hams are resistant to teeth, so scissoring it all up beforehand can take the effort out of the eating.