Monday, March 23, 2015

Jane and Hestera are Framed and the Bayeux Tapestry

I thought that you might like to see Jane, now that she is finished and hanging in my hall way.  I was going to hang her next to Rebecca, but the Men in the house thought that she would look better hanging in the hallway.  Jane is a lot bigger than Rebecca.  Rebecca hangs on a wall with The Tablet Sampler and Harriet Burry which are of a similar size.  Anything for a quiet life lol.

I have also framed Hestera Harmer.  I was very lucky with the frame.  My Sister and Dad downsized and she gave me some prints that she didn't want that were in beautiful walnut burled frames.  Hestera looks wonderful in it.

Now that I have finished Jane, I now working on the beautiful Eleanor Parr by Scarlet Letter.  I fell in love with this sampler when Nicola showed me.  I love the bird border and the two girls remind me of Jane Austen for some reason.  Are they Jane and Cassandra, or Eleanor and  Marianne or even Lizzy and Jane.  Sisters.  I'm working my Eleanor on my favourite 40ct Antique White linen and the DMC threads as charted.  She really looks beautiful in this version.  I can see where Marsha was coming from.  The sampler was charted from the reverse side of the antique sampler.

While we were in France my husband and I spent an amazing Sunday afternoon in Bayeux.  I have never been there before and had always wanted to see the Bayeux Tapestry.  What an amazing thing it is.  So so beautiful and for its age it is totally amazing.  It was made to go in Bayeux Cathedral which is pictured for Bishop Odo who was William The Conquerers half brother.  The other photos are also in Bayeux.  What a pretty town.  I loved the water wheel.  There are also a lot of graves and memorials there.  These are from WWII.  I think that it's very important for us to remember these amazing young men and women who have laid down their lives for us in all theatres of war.  What a horrible word it is.

Thank you for stopping by.  2 posts in 2 days.  Amazing.  














Sunday, March 22, 2015

It's been a long while



I know it's been awhile.  My DH decided to take early retirement and our life has become so busy.  We decided to take a trip to a England and France in late November for 6 weeks.  We had a wonderful time.  The last time I went to England was 33 years ago.  Had been there quite a few times previously and I found that it was amazing how One doesn't forget after all this time how to get around there etc.

One of the things that I really wanted to see were the poppies at The Tower Of London.  We were so lucky that they were still there on just one side when we got there.  It's amazing how many they had pulled out in 11 days. 

One of the other places I wanted to go to was Portobello Road.  It's one of my favourite places in London.  I love antique jewellery and found some beautiful Victorian chains.   It was birthday while we were flying from a Sydney to London (I had the never ending birthday).  My family gave me some money to buy a couple for some of my antique lockets.    

The next lot of photos are from the V&A.  An amazing place to spend a few hours on a wet Sunday. I love Angels and this one is The Archangel Michael.

On our last day in this section before heading over to France was spent at one of my favourite places in England.  Windsor Castle.  I love visiting Queen Mary's Doll House.  My DH and I were really lucky.  Because I have knee problems the guides there allowed us to go up the lifts so that we didn't have to climb the stairs.  It was lovely seeing bits off the usual tourist path.  Of course you are escorted on these bits.  

We both wanted to visit Northern France and go to The Somme where thousands of Australian soldiers died during WWI.  My Great Uncle was sadly one of them. That is his photo down below.  He is one of the 11,000 Australian soldiers who doesn't have a known grave.  

The very large Memorial is in Villiers Brettoneux and the walls hold the names of these young Australian soldiers.  I'm standing where my Uncles name is.  To walk around this graveyard is so so sad.  There are a lot of grave yards for both World Wars all over Northern France and Belguim.  We were able to visit a few of them.  The Cathedral is in Armiens.  One of 2 Cathedrals I was able to go into.  I wanted to go into Rouens but sadly it wasn't opened while we were there.  My DH suffers from the ABC syndrome.  - Not another bloody Cathedral lol.  But I find them quite fascinating.  I love looking in them and seeing the amazing things that they have inside.

Didn't spend much time in Paris.  Only a day.  Ended up so tired after spending a long time in The Louve.  Have been there a few times, but have only seen a small portion of it.  Didn't buy anything in Paris except a few things at The Louve.

Next time, I will post more photos of our trip around France and England.  I hope I haven't  bored you with a small selection of my holiday snaps.  Took about 1400 lol.