Painting the Garden Green

On of my favourite movies is "Alice in Wonderland" and I quite like the song "Painting the Roses Red". For days after I have seen the movie I get around singing this song. While I have been working on the garden on Elizabeth I keep singing this song. Don't know why. Darn I'm starting to sing it again lol.

Well, as you can see I have nearly finished working in the garden. I am looking forward to finishing this bit. Then when I have finished working the garden I have the sky to do which is behind the buildings up to all the small buildings.

I am quite looking forward to moving onto another area. I haven't made up my mind yet whether to start doing the border or continue above the flower vines. Decisions, decisions.

Last week I placed an order to Wye Needlework in England for one of these lap needle frames. I chose one that had 3 sizes of hoops and they arrived the other day. I am really happy with it and it is quite easy to use. I have been having a lot of trouble with pains in my wrist from the dreaded arthristis after breaking my wrist about 7 years ago. Wye Needlework is in Bakewell in Derbyshire where Pemberley from Pride and Prejudice is set. Ah Mr Darcy or should I say Colin Firth. I still think he is the best Mr Darcy,

I am also waiting on a parcel of very old charts that I bought on ebay last week. I successfully bid on 4 charts and got them all. One f them is a Adam and Eve Sampler from Needles Prayse. Also I think it is a sampler called Roxana Corson, a sampler from McCalls Heritage Collection of Museum Samplers and the one that I really wanted called Personal Sampler by Mary Beale. Hopefully they will come today or tomorrow. I have a great deal of patience in most things but not in others.

Yesterday I (hopefully) ordered 2 charts that I have always wanted from The Scarlet Letter. I had a lot of trouble trying to order them. I kept being told that I had to enter the "Billstate" on the previous page, and as I have no idea what that means or where on the previous page it had to go I gave up trying to order them that way. I ended up printing the order form, scanning it and them sending it via email. Hopefully that way the order went through. I'm really looking forward to these samplers as they are a style of sampler that I really love. They are also samplers that I will have to do soon, before the old eyes pack it in. You know 40ct linen one week 18ct Aida the next lol. Oh God, I hope not, I don't like working on Aida.

Had a lovely long weekend. My middle son came up for a few days and my eldest son and DIL came up for a few days. It was great pity that the weather was quite lousy. My eldest and DIL were quite happy, the love going to a book fair that is on a couple of times a year in a church in Leura. They were able to buy a lovely book of all Lewis Carrols work, with drawings by Tennial. It is really lovely. He must like Alice in Wonderland too, do you think.

While they were here my DIL decided to give my blog an update. Do you like it. She loves fiddling around with her computer designing things. For some reason she couldn't get the colours right with the needlework in the heading. I told her that she can change it anytime she likes because after a while it starts to look a bit boring.

Beautiful weather in the mountains at the moment. It is quite cool during the early mornings and evenings, but over the last couple of days the days have been lovely. But as usual, with the weekend approaching, guess what is coming back. You guessed it. Rain.

If my parcel comes today or tomorrow and I can get on this computer (I have to kick somebody who is on school holidays off) I will post a photo of my purchases.

A Little Bit More

Well, as you can see, Elizabeth is growing. I am getting such an expert on doing stem stitch and French knots. I must say though that I don't mind doing either. I just sit down and off I go. It is such a pain sometimes when I get into full gear and I have to stop. Elizabeth is one of those pieces that you can see straight away your progress. Those shapes down the bottom of the sampler are flowers that are all filled in with French knots.

I must admit though that for a sampler that I thought would be quite taxing it is really quite easy. A piece of cake in fact. After I finish the fore ground I have to go back and fill in the sky. I found that it was easier to do the background in the gardens in the stem stitch before I had to fill in the flowers.

I don't know if you can see these 2 beautiful parrots that often pay a visit to my garden. I have a vine that has grown up among the gum tree called a "Banana Passion fruit". That is what the pink flowers are. The birds like to get among the branches and have a feed on the fruit.

Thank you for all the well wishes regarding my DH's recent illness. He is a lot better now and has gone back to work. Last week though I felt really sorry for him. We had a bush fire that started from a hazard reduction that the National Parks had started to clear the undergrowth. Unfortunately during the afternoon there was a very strong wind that pushed the fire towards a lot of houses in Leura and they had to call the Rural Firefighters from nearly all the stations in the mountains and also the NSW Fire Brigade to protect these houses. My DH came home early when he heard about the fires and after a train trip of an hour and a half he ended up patrolling this fire till about 10p.m. During the night another fire had started on the opposite side so there was another call out. My DH couldn't go to that call out as he had a lot of work that had to be done. When he came home on Wednesday evening he went out again at 6p.m. and came home 6a.m. Thursday, had a shower and something to eat and off to work again. Boy did he sleep well on Thursday evening. Thankfully we had some rain and that fire is now out. Scary things these fires. Especially when they get out of hand.

Well, as you can see, I have been awarded the Kreativ Blogger award from Margaret at Days of a Sampler Lover

Because I am so slow posting these lovely awards most of the lovely ladies who I would love to give this award to have already received this award. So I would like to dedicate this lovely award to all the lovely people who drop by by blog and leave lovely comments.

Since Autumn has come, I can really feel the difference. Most days though have been lovely, but the early mornings are getting cool along with the evenings.

By the way, I have been doing some research on my Grandmothers birth certificate as as you know I want to put her name which is similiar to Elizabeth Cox on my sampler. My Grandmother was born in Norwood, Kent, England. Could anybody point me in the right direction to where Norwood is in Kent. My Great Grandmother (her mother) was born in Hortsted Keynes in Sussex, so I am thinking maybe Norwood could be near the Sussex border.

Well, I hope you all have a lovely week.

An Elizabeth Update

As you can see I have been flying along with Elizabeth. I have nearly finished the farm house and then besides the farm house there are 3 big bushes which are all French knots. Actually over the last couple of days I have done a lot of French knots. The big tree in the house is full of them as is the single tree beside the gazebo and so are the bushy trees above the big house etc. I find I am becoming an expert at them along with stem stitch lol.

Yesterday I picked up my copy of The Sampler and Antique Needlework magazine and saw an ad for their Just Cross Stitch magazine. Apparently this sampler was in it recently. I did this one about 25 years ago. It is really beautiful but I was a bit disappointed when it came back from being framed as the framer had put non reflecting glass on it and I found that all the beautiful blues etc. couldn't be seen to their best advantage.

I also noticed at the back of the magazine that The Scarlet Letter is featuring Elizabeth Cox Sampler in their new ad.

I haven't posted much over the last couple of weeks as my DH has been ill with a serious flu bug which affected him in the throat. He ended up sounding like The Godfather. Also we have still been having trouble with the computer that I normally use freezing all the time. It ended that it had to be sent away. Hopefully it will be back soon.

Well, I can feel the weather changing. It is amazing as soon as Autumn kicks in I can start to feel the change. Must be getting old lol.

I hope you all have a lovely week and wherever you are the weather is kind to you.

Ah Some Cross Stitch At Last

Well as you can see Elizabeth is s l o w l y growing into something that I think will be spectacular. In case you are wondering what those 2 pointy things are they are hay stacks. They took quite a while to fill in with stem stitch. I like the way that when you do stem stitch row upon row it ends up looking as if it is knitted.

The little house besides the hay stacks is in cross stitch. Yipee, finally I get to do some and then the tree (yes it is a tree) is filled in with French knots. Also a good hour of so to do. The next building besides the hay stacks will be done in satin stitch and yes, yes, yes more cross stitch with 2 trees that are done in it.

I have taken a photo of a photo of the sampler all ready finished so that you can see what it will end up looking like. I am sorry about the surrounds of the photo. I had a little trouble with the paint program on the computer. Everytime I tried to cut it out the whole thing moved so I thought :stuff it" the whole thing can go in.

I am lucky with this sampler because when I was young I used to do a lot of embroidery on tablecloths etc. It is all coming in hand.

For all my friends that I have made in Victoria, I hope you are safe today. In case you didn't know the bush fires are still burning hot and strong down there. Today has been classified as an extreme fire day and a lot of townships are in a lot of danger today due to very strong winds fanning the fires towards them this afternoon and this evening. Yesterday, people in Victoria received a text from the Government to prepare to evacuate.

In case you were wondering about my Son who plays bowls. He played in 2 big games over the weekend. His team won the Pennants game on Saturday. He was made Man of the Match which made him happy. On Sunday he had the big game from the week before. It was the State President's Fours Championship in their Zone. He and his 3 partners ended up playing in the Finals where the ended up being the Runners Up. The winning team was also from his Club. It was a team which contained Australian Champions and World Champions. So he did good. We are all very proud of him.

Now I have received 2 lovely awards. It is always nice to be appreciated. The first one is from Suzanne from Squazi and The Chickens.

This award is for Friendship. I met Suzanne a few years ago via blogging. Suzanne lives at the bottom of the mountain where I live. I have never had the pleasure so far of actually meeting her and her beautiful daughters, but we have a common link which is The Stitching Post our local Needlework store. Apparently we have had many close encounters but as yet haven't actually met. Maybe one day.

I am supposed to hand this award on to 5 other ladies who I have made friends with via blog land, but I notice that they have all received this award. But I will tell you the names of a few lovely ladies who I have become really good friends with.

The first one is Judy of Crazy4books Joanie of Joanie's World, Deb of Lavender Rose Ramblings, Kathy of Kathy's Sit and Stitch and finally my friend Robyn who doesn't blog that often. Her blog is called is called Rambling Rose Stitchery.

Then Judy from Crazy 4 books also nominated me for another award which is Best Blogging Comments Award. Seeing that I am starting to have a lot of trouble doing all these award things I think I had better stop while I am ahead. I also had 2 little logos for the above Awards and they seems to have disappeared. I would like to nominate all of you lovely ladies who are so gracious and leave lovely comments on my blog regarding my work.

It is always lovely to be appreciated for what you enjoy doing. I always regard my samplers like my children. I usually spend such a long time with one and as with our children it is always lovely have them praised.

Elizabeth Update

Elizabeth is slowly coming along. I am looking forward to finishing this row of stem stitch, long and short stitch and back stitch. I love the olive greens. Would you believe there is 3-4 shades of olive green in the leaves.

Below this there is a farm scene with a farm house, buildings, fields, trees etc. I think it will take me a little while to get it all worked out before I get down to the nitty gritty of it all. In other words it is very interesting. There is also a little bit of cross stitch among this part of the sampler.

I haven't done any work on Beatrix Potter for the SAL this month as I have been concentrating on Elizabeth. I noticed that we only have to post 10 posts instead of 12 which is good for me. Knowing me though I might come to a point with Elizabeth where I need a break and I will end up concentrating on Beatrix. I already have the frame and the spot picked out for her. I was going to hang her with Sarah Moon and An Emblem of Love. I thought I'd hang all my Quakers together.

Well we are still having crazy weather. Last week it got so cold in the mountains that we had to light our fire. It certainly is a crazy country at the moment. Floods in the north, bushfires in the south and 4 different seasons in the middle of the country. No wonder my youngest son has been ill with a bad dose of the flu.

Had a nice weekend, my middle son turned 21 on Sunday. We travelled down to Sydney to spend the day with the birthday boy at my Dad's and Sisters. My eldest came along, but unfortunately my DIL had to work so she couldn't be there. The only problem was with the birthday boy. He plays lawn bowls and was playing in a district championship on Saturday. He and his partners won all their games on Saturday and had to play on Sunday. They won all their games on Sunday as well. They now have to play in the semi-finals next Sunday.

After all that we only saw him for about half an hour before we had to leave, as his brother had an appointment and we had to give him a lift.

Thank you for all your lovely comments regarding my work. I try to visit people and leave a comment, but I keep finding that I keep getting side tracked and before I know it the day is nearly gone.

What An Awful Weekend

Before I start talking about my needlework, I would just like to say how sad I feel about the loss of 128 people so far in this terrible bush fire. The current number is expected to rise and there are so many people who have suffered burns or other injuries. Not only have these poor people lost their lives, but hundreds and hundreds of people have lost everything that they own. All they have is what they are standing in. There are over 700 homes lost. To go through an area after a bush fire has been through is one of the most awful experiences that you can go through. Usually all that is left of a house standing is the lone fire place and chimney. It is such a sad sight.

I have been on the edges of a few bush fires over the years and some have been quite close to us. They are one of the most scary things you can imagine. Once they get on hold on there is no stopping them. My DH and one of my DS are in the RFS (volunteer fire fighters). During the last big fire we had in the mountains in 2007 my son recorded on his phone the sound of the fire approaching. It is so scary and sounds like a freight train coming towards him. When they get called out to go to these fires I always pray that they will come home safe and sound.

A lot of these fires on the weekend have been started by arsonists and some by lightening strikes (dry storms). The fires in Victoria have been going for over a week. They have had such terrible hot weather down there over the last few weeks, over 40 degrees C. We got this really hot weather on Friday and it was so hot. It was to hot to do anything except to hope that the evening would hurry up and come along. Not only has there been fires in Victoria but NSW and now Western Australia. There is not just one or 2 fires in a State, but there are 20 or 30 of them. Plus to go to the other extreme a third of Queensland is flooded. The floods have been there for weeks.

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Well as you can see I have framed my 2 samplers. I think they came out ok. The above one with my Mum's name on it is now hanging in my bedroom. I have hung Sarah Moon in my DS's room. I decided not to put it above his bed, but on another wall. I had a couple of smaller Quakers and they are all hanging together. I think they look quite good.

I also took another photo of Elizabeth Welfare as the previous one wasn't such a good photo.

This is my current update date on my current work. It has been too hot over the last few days to do much. This part of the sampler reminds me of crewel work. There is a lot of this work to come.

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Joanie of Joanie's World kindly nominated me for the Addiction Award. I am sorry but I am not very good with posting Award pieces etc to my blog.

After seriously thinking about the 5 things that I am addicted to, this is what I came up with.

1. My family of course.

2. My needlework. I love my antique repo's and I also love doing hardanger.

3. I love reading Classic novels.
When I find an author who I enjoy reading I find that I buy all their novels.

4. I love making and designing jewellery and also collecting Pandora charms for my bracelets.

5. I love a good cup of tea.

I am supposed to nominate another 5 people for this award, but all those who I would nominate have already received this award to I nominate all those lovely ladies who give me the honour of visiting.

Jitterbug Dance Time

Its happy dance time with Sarah Moon or as Vonna kindly called it "Jitterbug Dance Time".

But first I have been working over the last few days on m Elizabeth Cox from Scarlet Letter. I love the olives and the grey/blues in this one. At the moment I am in the part which is all stem stitch and long and short stitch, with a bit of satin stitch in the top leaves. It doesn't look like I have done that much, but believe me there is many many hours of work in the leaves. The 2 olive leaves beside the name took me around 4 hours to do. They are filled in with stem stitch. The part below all this is the part that is going to be interesting as it all has to be back stitched out and then filled in with the 3 stitches above. In other words it is going to be "very interesting".

Well now to Sarah. I think she is a beautiful sampler. I love all the colours that are in her. I still haven't decided where to place her when I sit down and frame her. I had thought of either putting her in my hall way or above one of my son's bed. He currently has a collection of small samplers there that I quickly did to replace the ones that my eldest son had there. I was thinking of removing all the small ones, putting Sarah Moon there instead. My only concern is that it is such a big sampler that it might become to heavy there and fall off the wall while DS is asleep and hit him on the head. Don't know what I am going to do with the small ones though. That is the problem I have living in a small house.

My goodness it has been hot here. Although thankfully not as hot as in Melbourne and Adelaide. But at least because I am in the Mountains we don't get the humidity as they do in Sydney. We can also get a good nights sleep. I believe tomorrow and the next few days are going to be even hotter. I hope I don't have to go down to Sydney then.

I would also like to say thank you for all your lovely comments regarding my work. It is lovely to know that what I do is admired and appreciated by others. If I don't leave comments on your blog, please excuse me. I keep having a lot of trouble with stupid computers. I don't know if it is Mozilla that I use or what but after about 10 minutes all I get is blank pages. The screen tells me that whatever I have clicked on is done but there is nothing there. It does it on a couple of the computers. It is such a pain. Sometimes I get lucky and I am able to leave a comment and at other times I can read a blog but I can't get into the "Leave a comment" section.

Anyway thank you again. I really appreciate it. I hope that you all have a lovely week and that the weather is kind to you all.