Presents

I was going to post these last week, but with one thing and another I never got there. These are a few of the lovely things that my Sister bought back from her trip OS. From Paris she bought me a beautiful pair of earrings. From Venice she bought me a gondola charm (which I just noticed you can't see) for one of my Pandora bracelets. While in London she went to the Cath Kidston shop and bought me one of her book bags in a beautiful blue print.

This is the gondola charm amongst my collection of charms. I really love my Pandora bracelets. The only trouble is when I wear them on the same wrist, after awhile my wrist starts to ache. I know, I know what you are thinking "Why wear them both on the same wrist?" It's just sometimes I like to wear them together. Not all the time though. LOL.

Aren't these earrings pretty? They have little blue flowers up the top that look like Forget-me-Nots and also each earring has a small blue stone on the top. They are silver with a enamel wash over the silver. Very pretty.

As I have previously told you she went to an exhibition in Paris on Marie-Antoinette. She bought me the above Pill Box and Ruler. She thought that I may be able to put them into my sewing box. She has also bought me a few other things which I will receive for my for the rest of the family.


Last Friday was my Mum's 78th birthday. My Dad, Sister and I decided that because Mum doesn't have a grave at the present time and we can't go and visit her there on her birthday, that we would each buy a bunch of beautiful flowers each and place them in our homes, as we feel that she is around us all. My Mum truly loved flowers and had the most beautiful (still does) gardens.

When I saw the above sampler called Lois Minshall 1832 from Threads of Gold I mentioned to my friend Joanie from Joanie's World that I had seen this beautiful sampler and that I would love to do with my Mum's name on it. It turned out that Joanie had the graph and kindly sent it to me. Thank you I really love this sampler. I have kitted it up and I am planning to start working her probably after I finish Kitty Biggs.

Talking of Kitty Biggs this is my progress. I really haven't done that much since my last post. I haven't been feeling too well over the last week with some sort of virus . Also with the very cold weather we have been having I have discovered that I have been having trouble holding the needle with one of my fingers. It has the dreaded Arthritis in it. It's something that I am unfortunately full of. I think I'm starting to take over from my Mum as she used to have a lot of problems with it. I think I need to move to a warmer climate. Don't tell my DH. He would have the For Sale sign out the front quicker than you could say "Goodness, it's cold!". LOL.

Blogging Award

Suzanne at Squazi and the Chicken and my friend Joanie from Joanie's World have nominated me for a Kreativ Award.

It is really lovely to be nominated and to know that what you do is enjoyed and appreciated by other people.

According to the rules I have to nominate and link my blog with 5 other blogs that I enjoy visiting. The problem I have is I can't seem to pick 5 as I enjoy visiting all the cross stitch blogs that I have listed on the right hand side of my blog. All of you ladies are so talented.

I asked my 13 year old DS if he could put the award on my blog for me but unfortunately he doesn't know how to do it. I think I will have to try an older DS. Unfortunately he lives in Sydney, so I think I am up a creek without a paddle.

Hopefully tomorrow morning I will be able to up date my blog with photo's of the lovely things my Sister bought back for me. I tried to do it this morning but I had trouble finding where 13 yo DS had put the plug for the camera. Anyway that is a long story for another time.

Book with Pattern for Kitty Biggs

Louise wanted to know the name of the book that I am working Kitty Biggs from. It is a book called Australian Needlework - Cross Stitch, Counted Thread and Canvaswork - series Editor Jennifer Sanders. It is published by Lothian Publishing Company P/L and was published in 1993. I don't know if it is still available as I have had mine for a long time.

Kitty a/a Elizabeth

Just thought I'd let you know that I am still here and I haven't fallen off my perch yet LOL. This is my slow progress on Kitty Biggs also known as Elizabeth Welfare. I really haven't done that much over the last couple of weeks, but she is slowly moving along.

She is really quite pretty as she is stitched mainly in golds and turquoise shades. Along with the cross stitch there is also a lot of satin stitch which really moves it along quite fast. I love the border as the flowers have satin stitch surrounded by cross stitch.

I have been quite busy over the last few weeks. My Dad came up for a few days while my sister was away and we went for a couple of lovely drives. On one of the days my DH took the day off work and we went for a drive out to Bathurst. It happened to be a day were we had snow, so my Dad was excited to see it. We didn't have much in Katoomba, but there was a lot in the pine forests on the way to Bathurst. The snow looked quite beautiful among all the trees. Unfortunately I forgot the camera.

On the next day Dad and one of my sons and i went for a trip down to Richmond, where my Dad's family originally came from. We went on a gravestone search looking for my GGG Grandparents and we had a lot of success. I knew where they were buried in Richmond and I had tried to find these graves at the beginning of the year when I went to a funeral where these particular graves are. Unfortunately after a quick look in the rain, my DH and I gave up and decided that we would come back another day. It is seemed the appropriate place to go for a drive while Dad was here. He was the one who found them and it made his day.

this house in Richmond is where my Dad's G Grandparents lived and it was also where they started the family business. A business that went for over 100 years until my Dad and Uncle had to retire early.

In the travels with my Sister, she comes home on Thursday after a lovely time in Paris, Venice and England. I believe she is having trouble closing her suitcase LOL. I wonder what goodies she is bringing home. I hope to travel down to see her and my Dad on the weekend, so I will let you know. I know a couple of the things she has bought and I know that they are lovely.