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.

A Sarah Moon Update

Well, as you can see, Sarah Moon is nearly done. I only have a couple of motifs to do then it will be "Happy Dance" time.

I have been concentrating on just this one as I have found a large frame for her and I don't want the glass to be broken. So hopefully this time next week she will be hanging somewhere in the house. I haven't decided where yet, but I have a few ideas.

I also thought I'd show you one of my china dolls that I made many, many years ago. When I finished working on her I gave her to my Mum as a present. She has lived in my Mum's bedroom for many years and a few months ago I bought her home to live with me.

When I was in my china doll period I made around 6 dolls. It was something that I really enjoyed doing, but I decided that as with all things I had enough so I ceased making them.

She is a German bisque doll called "Hilda" in case you were wondering. Usually she is a baby doll, but when I dressed her, I made a little dress for her, and dressed her as a small girl.

We have been having a lot of hot weather over the last week or so. I think tomorrow and Monday (Australia Day) are going to be very hot. We have had a few small bush fires in the mountains and down at the bottom of the mountains. As with every year, we are just waiting for the " big one". I always have a bag packed with photo's etc. that if something happens I can grab as I grab the dog and rush out the door. I was just sitting thinking if I had to do a exit quick which samplers would I throw into the car. I am still thinking about it, so maybe next time I will show you the ones that I would take. I know for a fact that my Dutch Beauty would be first on the list as there is no way I could do that one again LOL.

Next week is the last week that my son is home on holidays. Yipee she says. No just kidding. But it would be nice to be on my own again during the day. I find that I get more housework done.

Current Stitching Update

Well as you can see I have finished Lois and she now has my Mum's name on her. I just have to find a square frame for her and then she will be finished. I think she is absolutely beautiful and I am sure that my Mum would have been proud to have her name placed on her.

I have now started working on Elizabeth Cox from the Scarlet Letter. Elizabeth is one of those samplers that challenge a person's needlework abilities. Not only is there cross stitch, but long and short stitch, satin stitch, stem stitch, back stitch and I believe there are French nots in there somewhere. In other words, she is quite a challenge.

As you can see, this is my progress so far. Every thing at the moment has to be outlined in stem stitch and then filled in with either long and short, satin and stem stitch. The flower is done in long and short.

In keeping with my naming samplers after family members on the female line I have decided to dedicate this sampler to my grandmother who I unfortunately never knew. She passed away on my Mum's birthday a couple of months before I was born. Elizabeth was one of her middle names and Cox was her maiden name. She was also born in England, so this sampler is perfect for her. My Mum had these amazing tablecloths that she had made when she was younger. They were all done in the most beautiful long and short stitch. Mum used to use them on important family celebrations.

Yesterday, I thought I had better get my Beatrix Potter out and do a couple of motifs for the SAL that I have joined. As you can see I worked on the top 2 motifs of the border. Because I am so far along, I thought that if I only do 1 or 2 motifs a month I should be on target with the other girls.

While looking for a frame yesterday, I came upon a huge square one that my Sarah Moon would it in. That was one of my concerns with doing it over 2. Anyway, I have decided to also work on Sarah Moon during the evenings. Because Elizabeth has so many speciality stitches, I think I am better working on her during the day. My next problem with Sarah is where to hang her.


My dear friend Karen gave me this amazing gift for Christmas. She knows that I love Scarlet Letter samplers and she bought me the beautiful Grazing Sheep sampler. She also bought me the beautiful needle minder. She knows that I love angels.
Well I had better get off and go and investigate something that my son has told me was in the back yard. He was doing some weeding for his Father and a baby tiger snake about 30 cms slithered past him. He is now in panic mode. I wonder why. They are quite venomous. Usually where there is one there are a few others. Oh help.

Merry Christmas Everyone

Hi everyone, I would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and I hope you all have a lovely New Year. I hope everyone has a lovely day tomorrow and are able to spend time with their families. I also hope Santa will be kind to us all. Or as the Butcher told me yesterday, "Be Kind to Santa" LOL.

Well as you can see I am now in the home straight with Lois. I just have to finish the rose in the right hand corner. Do another butterfly over one next to it, finish the border and then work my Mum's name down the bottom. I decided to put my Mums full maiden name, where she was born in Sydney and also her date of birth. This is nearly all done over one. I have to do all the over ones during the day as I can see it better (must be getting old LOL).

So hopefully when I next post I will be finished as I will also be able to show your some work on Elizabeth Cox. Elizabeth is I think going to keep me occupied for a little while as there is a lot of speciality stitches in it. I also have to do some more work on Beatrix Potter seeing how I have joined the SAL for her. I have worked out if I do one large motif or 2 small motifs I will be on track with everybody else. Mine is half done.

Well again, have a Merry Christmas and I hope you all get to do some more stitching.

I took 2 photos of Elizabeth Welfare that I framed the other day. She is hanging in my Dining Room which comes off the Kitchen. I have a small wall that is covered in cork for some reason that I have never figured out and Elizabeth is hanging there. I was having trouble with the curtains letting in light and reflections so I have posted both photos. She does look lovely hanging there. Don't know how much longer the cork will be there.

I decided to take a break from blogging for a while. I seemed to be always on the computer and I was having trouble with my eyes so I restricted my self to just reading my emails occasionally.

Lois Minshall is coming along nicely. In fact I don't have that my much to do. I hopefullyt should finish her by the end of the month. I have to sit down and work out my mothers maiden name and DOB to put on her.

I decided to do the border which I always find a right pain. It is such a relief when it all joins up the right way.

This is my next project. It is called Elizabeth Cox from The Scarlet Letter. I first saw this one a few years ago when it was in the antique stage. When I saw the name I knew that if I could find it I would buy it as my Grandmother was a Cox. Also my Mum's middle name is Elizabeth. How knows, there could be a connection.

When I found that my second favourite needlework shop had imported to Australia, well what can I say. She is now MINE. This one though is going to be a right challenge. Not only does it have cross stitch, over one and two, but wait for it, it also has long and short stitch, satin stitch, French knots and stem stitch used as a filling stitch. I think this one will be a right challenge.

On the domestic front my son passed his driving test on the first go. He was also offered a job in Sydney which he has taken and now spends the week living with my Dad and Sister. He comes home on weekends.