The End is Very Near

Well, as you can see the end is nearly there for Elizabeth. Hopefully I will have her completely finished by the weekend. It is not until you really get up close to her to see how absolutely beautiful she is.

I noticed on the Scarlett Letter website the other day, that you can by the model of this sampler for $2,000 framed. I can understand why as there is so much work in it. I told my DH. He didn't seem to be impressed by this news (he's not a sampler lover) and told me "Good, don't give it away to anyone, we'll sell it". I think he has 2 chances of that happening lol.


I am looking forward to starting something new, but I can't make up my mind as usual. I don't know whether to sit down and finish my Beatrix Potter. I am over half way with her. Or to start something that I'm itching to do and that is Betsy Davis. Ah decisions, decisions. I will have to see what mood I am in when I finish Elizabeth.

School Girl Aprons

As you can see Elizabeth is drawing to the end. I am now in the saying. All I have to do is finish this and do the top border. Put my Grandmothers name on the bottom of the sampler and she is finished.

Last week I paid a visit to my Dad and he gave me a bag with a few things that my Mum had kept. In it there were a couple of things that I completely forgot about and I thought that I would show you.

I went to school in Sydney during the late 1950's and 60's. While I was in Primary School we had to make a few things. The idea was to teach us to sew and to make some practical things.

The first thing I remember making was on a piece of Huckaback and it had all this needle weaving on it. I have it, but I can't find it at the moment. I had forgotten that we had to make ourselves these aprons. We had to make them completely from scratch and then to decorate them. We learnt how to hem and also a few embroidery stitches.One of these is mine and the other is my Sisters. Unfortunately I can't remember who made which.

I also made a napkin. Could this be my first cross stitch. I also remember that we had to make ourselves a pair of shorty PJ's. We learnt how to do all different seams e.g. French Seams. Unfortunately I don't have these lol. These were made when I was around 9 to 11.

I also have a small tea cloth that I made when I was in High School. I think I was about 14 or 15 at the time. This is where I learnt how to do counted cross stitch. I will go searching for it and show you one day.

Thankfully the rain has gone for a little while. It is lovely to see the sun.

More Lollipops

I'm sorry if these photos are a bit dark. It is not a very nice day to day. It is quite chilly and very wet. My dog Sally has decided to spend the day laying in front of the fire. Lucky her. It is a good day to sit near it with my stitching in hand, but unfortunately I have other things to do.

As you can see the border is progressing. I have only to do one more lollipop on the side border and then to fill it and the other 2 in. Next comes the saying:-

"Jesus permit thy gracious name to stand
As the first efforts of an infants hand,
And while her fingers o'er the canvas move
Engage her tender heart to seek thy Love;
With thy dear children let her share apart
And write thy name thy self upon her heart."

This is all over one on 40ct.

Besides this saying is there are 2 different types of urns with quite large plants that are the whole length of the saying and then of course there is the continuation of of the border.

Hopefully, this will only take me another couple of weeks and then it will be "happy dance" time.

I would just like to say thank you for all your lovely comments regarding this sampler. It looks quite challenging but once you start doing it, it is just a piece of cake.

I hope the weather is kind to you, wherever you are. The weather on the East Coast of Australia is terrible at the moment. All that is good about it is that the dams are filling up quite rapidly.

Lollipops

I decided to have a change from the main body of Elizabeth and do the border. I think the flowers look a little bit like "Chuppa" lollipops. The inside of the flowers are done in cross stitch but the petals are done in satin stitch. I should really be a lot further along but the dreaded frogs paid me a visit on the left hand side. I have had to undo this side completely twice. A right pain the you know where. So on the 3rd attempt I decided just to stitch the outline of the vine and then come along and stitch the leaves and flowers. So far this idea is working.

I have already bought Elizabeths frame and I am really looking forward to finishing her. After my problems with the border I am definitely looking forward to seeing the end of her lol, but that could also be that I have everything ready to start my next sampler. It's funny, there is always another one that comes along that grabs you be the throat and says "Pick me, pick me".

In my case it is Betsy Davis. Every time I take the graph out I shudder and think "can I do it" and then I say to myself, "Well girl, you'll never know unless you try."

On the other front, I am getting over a bout of the flu that my DH kindly gave me. I am ok now but still have coughing fits all the time, especially when I talk to somebody.

Today is very windy in the mountains. All the beautiful trees are now slowly loosing their leaves. Every now and then the wind picks up a pile of leaves and the leaves dance amongst the wind. Very pretty.

If anyone comes up to the mountains go for a drive up to Blackheath and go for a drive in the back streets. The trees there are glorious. Another beautiful place to go is Mount Wilson. Mount Wilson is famous for its gardens and the drive around there will be quite rewarding. The only problem is on the weekend, when you can't move. It's the same with my other favourite place Leura. It is always murder to find a parking spot.

Anyway, I hope you are all well, and will have a lovely weekend. I'm sorry if I haven't paid you a visit recently as I have had a lot on mind lately.

Just a quick update on Elizabeth. I have a lot to do today.

Well, as you can see, I have finished the sky above the scene. I am now working on the border. I started that last night while watching "The Bucket List". Just looking at the photo while I type this post the scene looks really lovely. It was row upon row of stem stitch. This part of the linen is quite heavy and there is a lot of thread stitched into this piece of the sampler.


The border looks like lollipops and I am planning on working the border on both sides of the sampler and then working the 2 vases, and the verse that goes above what I have already worked. The top of the border, will be the last thing I do.

I am already planning my next challenge in life and I sent away to the U.S. to Scarlet Letter and order 2 samplers that I have always loved. One is called Betsy Davis 1797 and the other is Betsy Manchester 1793. I have always loved the Rhode Island style of samplers and I thought I would have a go at these.

I have to laught though, as Betsy Davis is recommended for very advanced needleworkers and Betsy Manchester is recommended for more advanced needleworkers. When I opened them to check out the graphs I nearly had a fit when I saw it. If I thought that Elizabeth Cox was a challenge these are much more so. Anyway, I will give them a go and see how I go. Nothing venture, nothing gained.



It is so beautiful in the mountains at the moment. I wish I had a photo to show you. All of the Japanese maples, cherry blossoms etc. etc. are in colour. Everywhere I go it is beautiful. There is one Japanese maple near where I live and it is the most beautiful claret red. It looks absolutely glorious with the sun shining on it.

Well, I had better get back to my dreaded housework. I have quite a lot of washing to do today and the washing machine keeps singing out to me to come and empty it. I know, I know, "A Women's Work is Never Done", she says lol.

And Now for the Sky

I have finished working on the ground and now I am painting the sky. It is such a beautiful colour. It is 2 colours dmc 504 and 3813 blended together and is stunning.

My purchases from ebay arrived the other day and this is the first time I have had to post them on my blog. They are all charts from the 1980's. This is my favourite. It is a sampler by Mary Beale and is called "Personal Sampler". It reminds me slightly of my favourite style of samplers which are the Mary Balch samplers. That will give you an idea of the charts that I order from The Scarlet Letter.

This is a Needle's Prayse chart called "The Garden of Eden Sampler". It has Adam and Eve in it and I bought it to add to my small collection of Adam and Eve charts.

This one is a sampler from Jean Farish and is called "The Roxanna Corson Sampler". It has one of my favourite morbid sayings -

When I am dead and in my grave
And all my bones are rotten
When this you see remember me
Or I shall be forgotten.

I told my son that I was going to do this one and put it above his bed. I got told not to bother lol.

When I first say this one I thought it was a book on Antique Samplers that were museums. Well derrr it turned out to be just a chart of a sampler called "Ann Horton Sampler - 1830". But I am happy with it, which is the main thing.

Well as you can see they are all lovely, but I will put them away as I have bigger fish to fry as they say.

After a lot of hair pulling on my part (luckily I have a head of thick hair) I was able to place my order with Scarlet Letter and hopefully they are in the mail. I ordered the Betsy Davis and Betsy Manchester samplers. There is only one shop that I know of in Australia (in Sydney) that sells Scarlet Letter charts. Maybe it is just as well that I don't live near it and that I have to order things on line. Hopefully, my charts will arrive next week. I am looking forward to them arriving as I fell in love with them the first time I saw them. I am going to do them when I finish Elizabeth. I thought I'd do them before the eyes finally pack it in. Thank goodness I have one of the Mageyes. I find I am using it more and more.

You can tell in my small part of the world that Winter is coming. It has been wet, misty and cold for a few days. I have to rug up now, but if you travel down the mountain you need cooler clothes. No wonder my family keep getting colds.

Well, I suppose I had better go and fix my washing up. My washing machines is always singing out that it is finished. I don't know, a woman's work is never done lol. I hope that you are all well and happy in your part of the world.

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.