Margaret Gibson

Well, my Margaret is now finished. She is quite beautiful and I thoughly enjoyed stitching her. I have bought a nice frame for her and hopeful over the next few days or so I will be able to sit down and do all the necessary work to frame her.

This is a closer view of the bottom. I think the border is quite unusual. I know that one of the flowers looks like a Tudor Rose. I haven't figured out what the other one is. Could be a Honeysuckle, I don't know. Anyway she turned out beautiful. I started working on her when my Mum passed away in October, so when I look at her I think of my lovely Mum.

I have now started on a sampler that I fell in love with the moment I saw it. It is of course, Beatrix Potter. I love the Quaker samplers and this one is special to me as I have always loved Beatrix Potter. In fact as soon as I found out that I was expecting my eldest son I bought and collected all the little Beatrix Potter books and the special wooden bookcase. I am working my BP on white 32ct linenover one with 498 and white DMC thread.

Below is a couple of BP books and things that I have. I think that the one called "The Art of Beatrix Potter" is a collectors book. The collection of cards celebrating Peter Rabbits 100th Birthday was a special gift from a dear friend who went to England in 1993 and visited Hill Top Farm. She knew that I loved BP so she kindly bought this special collection for me along with a postcard of Beatrix Potter when she was an old lady.

I was watching the English Antiques Roadshow one day and there was a man who had a huge collection of original Beatrix Potter drawings which by the way turned out to be an absolute fortune and he had the original paintings of the Rabbits Christmas Party. They are really beautiful and if I remember I will take a photo of a couple of them the next time I add something to my blog. My cameras batteries need charging up at the moment.

It is very cold in the Mountains now. Today it is only 1 degree C. Yesterday we had light fall of snow that melted as it touched the ground. This cold weather spell came quite fast. Earlier in the day we were getting around in short sleeved tops. Around 4 p.m. the wind came up along with the cold. Before the cold snap came, we went for a lovely drive up to Mount Wilson where there are a lot of beautiful big gardens. All the beautiful maples, liquidambers etc. have changed colour and the trees were looking absolutely beautiful. As usuall I didn't have my camera with me to take a photo to show you.

My poor youngest son has returned to school today (yay she says LOL) after 2 weeks holiday. The day he goes back although it is very cold at least the sun is shining. The poor thing the whole time he was off we had heavy rain for 13 days straight. Where I live most of the time when we have a lot of rain we also have a lot of heavy mist where you can't see much in front of you. I always feel very sorry for the poor tourists who travel up to the mountains to see the 3 Sisters and the beautiful views. When the mist comes in you are lucky to be able to see the hand in front of your face.

Well I hope you all have a lovely week and that the weather is kind to all of us.

A Belated Update

I thought I'd better add something new to my blog otherwise you might all be thinking that I have fallen off my perch (LOL). I have just been pottering around doing my usual thing. You know, housework, sewing, housework, reading housework.

I have nearly finished Margaret Gibson. I only have the side and bottom border to go then she is finished. She is looking beautiful.

I have also been making myself some tote bags. I changed my usual design a little by adding some antique lace and pin keep medallions. I think they look quite good.
These are my first attempt at making pin keeps. I think they came out ok. I added tiny beads all around the edges.
This is another one that I made. As you can see I have a thing for toile.
Each bag has different pin keep medallions.

I have been doing a lot of reading since my last blog. I have fallen in love again with David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. I also have the BBC DVD and it is like Pride and Prejudice. A movie that you can watch over and over again. I am currently collecting Charles Dickens books. I currently have 8 and over the next few weeks I hope to get some more. I am very lucky where I live as there quite a few antique and second hand book shops and I am able to get the lesser known books.

Well until next time, I hope you all have a lovely weekend and for my friends in the Northern Hemisphere that the weather is starting to be kinder to you. The weather in the Southern Hemisphere is getting cooler everyday. I keep asking my sons and husband are they cold (so I can light the fire) or is it just me.

Margaret Gibson Update

I thought that I had better post an update of my progress on Margaret Gibson. I haven't been able to do alot because I have been having trouble with my eyes and also I have been suffering from the dreaded Arthritis in my wrist. I broke my wrist about 5 years ago in 7 places (I did a really good job on it when I broke it LOL). Anyway, whenever we have changes in the weather it starts to ache when I hold the frame that I use. We have had alot of cool wet weather lately and with the eyes and the wrist I haven't done that much.

Since my last post on Margaret I have finished the house and the (I think its wisteria) vine on the house. The vine is done in Queen Stitch. I decided to do a few of the things on the side before I tackle the boring lawn part. She is still looking good.

I have started to dream of my next project. I don't whether to do Beatrix Potter, or finish doing Sarah Moon (I have been contemplating redoing this one on 40ct). With Sarah Moon I started working her on 32ct before I started Margaret Gibson, but I think it is going to be too large for me. I also have kitted up "A Stitchers Hands" - Honest Kind and Good and the other Scarlet Letter Sampler that I have "Marion Robertson" is also calling. I think I have wittled it down to Beatrix Potter and Marion Robertson.

I love Beatrix Potter. I have a large collection of not only Beatrix Potter Books, games and puzzles and English china. Some of my books are books that you don't see that often. I was very lucky a few years ago when it was Peter Rabbits 100th Birthday. One of my friends was going for a holiday to England and staying near Hilltop Farm. She bought me back a special reproduction of the original Peter Rabbit letter with postcards. Its something that I cherish and maybe on my next post I will take a few photos to show you some of my BP collection.

I know that I am quite slack in publishing this photo but someone asked if I could post a photo of the magazine that the sampler below was in. It was Better Homes and Gardens Special Interest Publication called Country Crafts from 1997. I hope this helps. The sampler below is quite pretty. I really like the older version though.

Queen Mary's Dolls House

I haven't been doing any needlework this week except for quilting a rug so I thought I'd show you one of the most incredible things I have ever seen.

As you can gather from my previous post I have a thing for Queen Mary. She was known for her great love and knowledge of antiques especially china and had great taste.

During the 1920's there was a suggestion for the creation of a gift to the Queen that would serve as a token of national goodwill and provide a means of raising funds for the many charitable schemes that Queen Mary had at heart. The Doll House came into being and when it was created was exhibited on several occasions at the British Empire Exhibitions at Wembly.

One important purpose in the minds of those who put forward the idea of the Dolls House was to present a model of a house of the 20th century which should be fitted up with perfect fidelity, down to the smallest details, so as to represent as closely and minutely as possible a genuine and complete example of a domestic interior with all the household arrangementsof the daily life of the time. It was a scheme that Queen Mary loved and took great interest in.

The dolls house is over 5 feet high and is in a large glass case that you are able to walk around and study every minute detail. What is amazing about it is everything in it works. From the door locks, lifts, electric lights, piped hot-water supply, an electric vacuum cleaner, electric iron and many other labour saving devices.

The house was designed bySir Edwin Lutyens. All the tiny books having a complete story in them written by many famous writers of the time e.g. Thomas Hardy, Rudyard Kipling, Joseph Congrad, Conan Doyle, John Galsworthy, and Hugh Walpole among many.

The minute paintings were also painted by many famous artists. The scale of everything is 1" to 12".
Above is the Kings Bedroom, The Dining Room below and part of the Queens Bedroom and The Drawing Room.



These are the Queens Apartments and the Kings Apartments below with an incredible collection of antique cars of the time. The Dolls house is at Windsor Castle and used be looked after by Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.

Queen Mary's Rug

This is my progress on Margaret Gibson. I really haven't got that far along over the last week or so as I have been trying to finish hand quilting a quilt that I started early last year. Hopefully I will finish it in about 2 weeks. Please God, I hope.

I thought I'd share with you some pictures from one of my favourite books from when I was a little girl. This book belonged to one of my Great Grandmothers and when she passed away I was given this book. I used to love to sit and go through it on rainy days. I think it has given me along with another similar book that was also given to me by another Great Grandmother the love of English and European Royalty and their history.

The very regal lady sitting below is Queen Mary. She was the wife of King George V and is the current Queen's Grandmother. A lot of people don't realise that she along with Mary Queen of Scots and Catherine of Aragon was also a great needleworker.

There were a few things in this beloved book that I always loved to check e.g. Queen Mary's Dollshouse (I will tell you about her dolls house in another blog)and Kensington Palace and also this incredible rug that she made. What is quite amazing about this rug is that she was 74 when she started it. She was born on the 26th May 1867. For history buffs her mother was the daughter of the Duke of Cambridge, the youngest son of George the Third. Her father was Prince Francis of Teck, son of the Duke Alexander of the kingdom of Wurttemberg.

Apparently Queen Mary was always a skilled and enthusiastic needlewoman and in 1941 she started work on a twelve panel needlepoint carpet when she was staying with her niece and her husband the Duke and Duchess of Beaufort at Badminton in Gloucester (it is apparently where she spent most of the war years).

The design was inspired by some eighteen-century tapestries in the V & A Museum and they were brought to her at Badminton. She did not follow the original colour scheme but made her own selection. Slowly the first panel began to take form and was finished in 1941 and put away in a drawer. In 1942 three more panels were worked. By 1944 ten panels had come from her needle.

She liked to work sitting in the sunshine on the lawn while one of the members of the household read her the newspapers. When the war came to an end the carpet had still to be finished. It was finished in the 1950.

In 1949 there was much excitement when it was announced that the Queen proposed to sell it to the highest dollar bidder, being her own personal contribution to the nation's export drive.

First of all it created long queues at the V&A where it was on display. It then went on a tour around the U.S.A. and Canada. In 1950 it was announced that a bid of 100,000 Canadian dollars had been accepted. The purchasers were the Imperial Order of Daughters of the Empire.

One of the requests from Queen Mary regarding where her rug should go was to a National Gallery and I believe it is hanging in the National Gallery in Ottawa, Canada. It is one of those things that I would love to see. I would love to see what colour choices she made.


This picture shows Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret insplecting the carpet while it was on display.

This one shows Mrs. Elanor Roosevelt admiring the carpet on its arrival in New York. It was sent to America in a specially designed stainless steel lined wooden chest.
The Royal cipher was embroidered on each panel.

Apparently she was quite an amazing woman. There was no public mention of where she was staying during the war, but there were alot of tales of her giving lifts to American soldiers around Badminton and of her attending a few baseball matches at their invitation. She was friendly will all the soldiers in the neighbourhood, unbending in a way perhaps that she had never done in her life before, and was always amused when they were incredulous at her identity. Apparently one U.S. soldier wrote to his parents in Massachusetts that he told her that he recognised her because he was a stamp collector, and she asked whether he thought it was a good likeness that used to be on the British stamps.

The Wedding

I thought you might like to see a couple of photos of my son and daughter-in-laws wedding on Saturday.

It was a beautiful day. Everyone and everything looked beautiful. The brides dress was stunning and was made of French lace. I believe it was lace that Catherine Zeta Jones's wedding dress was made out of. Unfortunately you can't see the bottom in my photos, but it was a little longer at the back.

The only unfortunate thing about the day was the rain. It never let up. The Reception was in a very old building near the Parramatta River and the idea was to have all the tables under the few large magnolia trees that are in the garden. As we couldn't do that we had the tables around the veranda and inside the building. Everything was just beautiful.

The cake was absolutely finger lickin good. It was a chocolate cake that was delicious. The photo was taken on the outdoor veranda.



The bouquets were roses and lisianthus in pink and white shades.

I'm Earlier Then Expected

I know I said that I would do this next week but I had a quite moment where I thought I'd get my son to put these photo's on the computer for me while I did some of my dreaded housework. It didn't take long at all as my DH bought us a new computer for Christmas because the old one was soooooo slow. Its amazing how quick this one is. I uploaded all these photo's in the time that it took the kettle to boil. So I will write my bit while I have a lovely cup of tea.

This is my progress on Margaret. She is still lovely, and the colours really remind me of my visits to Scotland. The colours remind me of the heathers I suppose they are called Glens. If it was England it would be moors. Truly beautiful and interesting places.
I had a lovely parcel from the lovely Joanie the other day. She sent me all these beautiful Mary Garry charts. I quite like Mary Garry's work. I had a old JCS magazine where she was the featured designer and it had 2 lovely pin cushions in it. They have always been on my list "to do", but as usual I haven't got there yet. Where does the time go. Yikes.

I thought I'd also show you this beautiful sampler. When my son was fixing the computer for me he found this lovely sampler on Goggle Images for my Deskground Background. She is called Margaret Logan and is a Scarlet Letter Sampler. On reading the above info discovered that she is an English sampler and has a lot of Quaker motifs in her. Apparently Margarets teacher was educated by Quakers and there are another 2 samplers by other girls that were also designed by the same teacher. All very interesting as they say.

While looking for something the other day I came across these 2 books with samplers that are on my "to do" list. It's quite long. I think the list will outgrow me. The sampler above is from a BH&G Special Interest Publications called Country Crafts 1997. The original sampler if you can see it is on the left. Its called Heart of Home Sampler. The one on the right is an adaption of the original.

All the following photos are from a book that I have had for a long time calledAustralian Needlework- Cross Stitch, Counted Thread and Canvaswork. It was published in 1993. The sampler below is called Kitty Bigg, 1793 and was started in England and bought out to Australia when the family immigrated out here. The graph for this sampler is included in the book. The original is owned by the Museum of Applied Arts and Science, Sydney.

This sampler is one of the earliest Australian Samplers. It is called Emily Lakeland and was done in 1825 when she was 6 years old. The picture on the top is of Emily. The V.D.L. on the bottom is Van Diemans Land which is now know as Tasmania. Unfortunately there is no graph for this one in the book.

This one is called Catherine Toms 1867. This is also Australian and is in Canberra. Catherine was a Governess to a family who lived near Canberra and was probably a teaching aid for her students needlework. My book has graphs of only the smaller things e.g. the large flower, the tree, and baskets.
These two are very interesting. I actually have the graph from another publication of the smaller sampler. The smaller one is called sabel Buist, 1839 and she also lived in Van Diemans Land. The larger sampler is called Mary Ann Williams 1831 and is English. Both these 2 samplers are owned by the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, Sydney, which I now believe is The Powerhouse Museum, Sydney.

Well I have finished my cuppa so I better get back to the dreaded housework. I have a pile of ironing to do that you wouldn't want to believe. Well I suppose its not that bad. Maybe an hours worth of quite contemplation while I do it or dreaming of my next sampler. Ahh samplers. Love em.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend.