Would You Believe It Is Nearly Finished

Take a look at her now he he he. Isn't she beautiful. Hopefully she will be finished by the end of the week. All that I have to do is finish the black background on the right hand side.

I have really been enjoying working on these two Rhode Island Samplers. You never it is quite possible that they might be joined by a few more samplers from Rhode Island, but these 2 of the jewels amongst my small collection. I have a few more graphs in my collection, but they are more the Newport RI ones. I would love to get my hands on some more of the Mary Balch School e.g. the other Betsy Davis and/or Mary's Mother, Sarah Rogers. What a collection that would be. Oh well, it doesn't look possible, so I can only dream aaahhhh.

Have you ever had 2 samplers kitted up in your work basket that are both jumping up and down telling me to "pick me" no "pick me".

I have that problem at the moment. I don't know which one to do. One minute is Hestera and the next it is Grazing Sheep. I really don't know which one will be my next piece. What do you think?

I had a lovely Christmas. We all went down to my Father's house and we had such a lovely time down there. It was lovely to spend time with my eldest sons as I don't see them that often now. Santa was also good and brought me some lovely presents which I really love.

I will probably be murder for publishing their photos but you can see that my 2 eldest sons must have had a lovely lunch. I think this was before the pudding though lol. This is what you would call Brotherly love. Quite different from when they were younger as they were always fighting. Boys.

This is my youngest son. He played Santa and gave out every bodies presents. He is still down at my Father's house. The chocolates ended up coming home with us though lol. I don't think we would be popular if we ate them though.

My goodness this year has really flown by. Sampler wise, I think I have completed 3 which is lovely. I always seem to pick big, complicated samplers that occupy my time, but I really enjoy working on them and I love it when they are finished.

I just want to wish everybody a Happy New Year. I hope that you all have a lovely time and remember that there is always another beautiful sampler awaiting around the corner. Happy New Year.

Another Betsy Update

Do you think I will have finished with Betsy by the early next year? Quite possibly. As you can see this is my progress with Betsy. I have to finish working the squiggly line all around it in 739, do a leaf, give the strawberries stems and then I have a lot of alternating half cross stitch to do.

She is looking good, if I say so myself. My progress on her might be quite speeded up though through a series of misfortunes.



During last week I had to have a lot of Xrays, bone scans, MRI's etc. etc. For quite a while I have been complaining about a pain in my leg which they thought at first was clots. After a Doppler - No Clots. Still more pain so another trip to the Doctors and it is off to have an Xray on my spine. Doctor is horrified at the condition of my spine. He doesn't know what to do, so it is off to a trip to my Spine Specialist. He sends me off to have all these tests and also books me into to see an Orthopedic Specialist re the knees. He thinks the time has finally come for me to have knee replacements. Mind you I was originally told 22 years ago that I needed knee replacements, but I was to young. So I have had 2 operations on the right knee. It is the left knee that is causing me so much bother.

So I go and have a bone scan which reveals among a few things that I have 2 stress fractures in my lower left leg around the knee area. No wonder I have been in so much agony. So it is a trip to the local hospital to see what I can do to help me with the pain. The answer is - go and see your local doctor. Ok. Still more pain and agony. I go to see my local doctor who tells me know wonder you are in so much pain. But because I am in the middle of having all these tests etc. he can't send me to the hospital to have them put plaster on it.

He gets in touch with my specialist (I have nearly finished all my tests by this time. One to go) who gets me to come to see him earlier and tells me. Yes I definitely need 2 knee replacements and can see no point in putting me in plaster as I have to see the Orthopedic Doctor next week which is tomorrow. So I am still in pain and agony. So it is keep talking the Nurafen Plus and Panadol and come back later. Oh and by the way, keep off the legs. Yeah, right. Bit hard sometimes.

I also forgot to mention that last week I kicked my toes on a metal piece that divides the slate floor from the carpet. Guess what I did lol. I broke my toe on the right foot. It is the toe next to the little toe. I tell you. Sometimes.

So I think my stitching time will be speeded up, especially from tomorrow as School Holidays start. So guess who will be doing the housework. Yeah, right. I say no more.

Anyway, I'm really sorry if I haven't paid you a visit for quite awhile. I'm not really into blogging at the moment, although it is a good reason to keep my mind on other things.

If I don't post next week, can I wish you all a really Happy Christmas and have a lovely New Year. Take care. If you don't hear from me for awhile you'll know that they have grabbed me and they have sent me to hospital to have a knee replacement. Not looking forward to it. I remember the last operation I had lol.

Could The Headless Lady Be Eve

Here is this weeks progress on Betsy M. As you can see the headless lady now has a head. She also has a suitor, plus trees, sheep (or are they dogs lol) plus something that looks like a cat.

What I find interesting while stitching her and also while I was stitching Betsy Davis is whether these ladies are actually a Rhode Island version of Adam and Eve as they are both standing under apple trees. In this tree though there is no snake, but there is a bird.

In Betsy Davis there are 2 groups of these figures both standing on different sides of the apple tree. Interesting thought.

You might look at the above photo and think that I am having one of the moments where I forget where I am. But in between these 2 areas there are a lot of queen stitch strawberries and vines.

I thought before attempting this piece that I would go down to the bottom and work on Betsy's name and the border above and below. I will then go back and work on the queen stitch strawberries. Also coming out of the urns is a vine that runs along the top border above Betsy's name.

So when I look at Betsy and work out what is to be done there really isn't that much. I have to do the strawberries and vines. Fill in the urns and do the vine coming out of them as well as finish off doing portions of the border that cross over into the centre piece. A couple of leaves.

Then comes the interesting part as most of it has to be filled in with half alternating cross stitch in either black (mostly black), green around the saying and the fill in behind Betsy's name with cream. So I am thinking that Betsy will be finished in "A Couple of Days", no, no, no better make that a couple of weeks. We used to have a Comedy Show in Australia where there was a Greek Greengrocer called Con. Everything would be beautiful in "A Couple of Days". The no, no, no reminds me of a character in The Vicar of Dibley. Every time you ask Jim a question you would also be answered with no, no, no, no, yes. My youngest son keeps telling me that I watch to much TV, but that isn't the case.

I mostly listen to music during the day when I am by myself. My favourite music as the moment is listening to The Gypsy Kings. Don't understand a word of it, but I seem to have a lot of their music on my Ipod at the moment and I sing along with it all day long. My favourite song is called Montana which I think means - I walk among the mountains etc. I don't know what they do in the Mountains, but I love the song.

We have strange weather here at the moment. By Thursdays and Fridays the temperatures seem to rise really high. Saturdays have been unbearable with the heat and are dangerous days in these Mountains with dry lightening starting fires which have been all under control. By Mondays the weather starts getting cooler with showers and the other day it was quite cold. You could nearly have a heater going to keep warm. Strange weather, strange times.

Well, I hope that you have all have a lovely week. My youngest turns 15 on the weekend. My he is getting tall. He now towers over me lol. Although that's not hard these days as I seem to be shrinking lol.

The Headless Woman

No it's not that good old Aussie expression "Running around like a headless chicken". It is a headless woman lol.

Here is Betsy's progress. I spent days and days working behind the saying that starts - "May spotless ......" It is all worked in 739 in alternate half cross stitch. I always have aaahhh moments when I do this if I am not concentrating as I find I can easily slip into having each row going the same row. It is really easy to do when working among the words. This will stand out more later when I have to work 3052 (I think) around it. It is either needle weaving or further adventures in alternating cross stitch.

Pity she doesn't have a head yet. Oh well, it will come in the progress of time as they say. I love her dress though. Very pretty, sort of green/gold tones. It reminds me of a piece of Thai silk.

On Friday, I celebrated another Birthday. My they are flying past now. I had a lovely day. My eldest son who is married came up by train and spent the day with me. It was lovely as I don't get to spend "one-on-one" time very often. My DIL drove up when she finished work and then they joined my DH and I in going out to dinner. My youngest couldn't come as of all nights to pick he had to perform in a concert at his school. He is in a Brazilian Drum Band. My middle son lives in Sydney and had to work on Saturday morning. He was going to come up to see me on Sunday with his girlfriend, but because of a lot of bush fires that we had, he came up on Saturday as he had to go and fight one of the fires.

My DH started his fire fighting effort on Friday night when he received a phone call to say that they had to go out at 8.30p.m. He spent all night out in the bush and didn't get home till 4a.m. Didn't see much of him over the weekend. He was either fighting fires, patrolling fires or sleeping. All these fires were started by lightening. We had extremely high temperatures and dry storms. Bad combination for bush fires. Thankfully everybody is safe and no property was damaged.

I received some lovely things for my birthday. I should have taken some photos of them. I have this "thing" for Pandora Bracelets. My DH and younger Son bought me 2 silver and gold charms. A Christmas tree and a Tea Pot (I am always saying to my youngest son "Put the kettle on". My Dad and Sister bought me altogether 5 of the Murano glass beads in pinks and blues. My bracelet looks lovely. I have 2 of them. This one I am slowly converting to silver and gold charms. Would love a gold charm (wouldn't we all lol). But...... have you seen the price of those suckers.

My other Sons and DIL bought me a beautiful cushion for my bed. They bought me one last year for Christmas. I dropped a few hints that it looked lonely on the bed lol. Some lovely Body Shop goodies and I received a dvd from my middle son on a Classic English Comedy that I used to watch. His girlfriend was very naughty and bought me a lovely watch.

To all of my friends in the States. I hope that you and your family have a lovely Thanksgiving. It is always lovely to spend time with your family.

A Mad Woman's Sewing

This is this weeks update on Betsy. By looking at the photos they look as if a mad woman is working on it. I am trying to get it all lined up properly and found that I had to go and finish the right hand side border. I have nearly finished the last queen stitch flower and just have to fill in all of the greenery etc.

I can't start the next portion till I get the portion with the saying all worked out. She is looking lovely though. I don't know if you can see them, but there are all different strands of white cotton worked through it to line it all up.

Thank you to everybody for your concerns regarding one of my sons. He is thankfully and is not back to his cheeky self. Sometimes, as our children grow up they become more of worry than when they were small.

I am trying at the moment to beat this computer. Everytime I turn the computer on that I update my blog on, it wants to upgrade something. It just sent me a message that it is going to do it in a couple of minutes. These computers have minds of there own sometimes.

Just quickly thank you for all your encouraging words regarding Betsy. I really appreciate it. I'm sorry if I haven't had a chance to pay a visit to you lately, but I have had a lot going on with sickness in the family. If it's not one it's the other. Ah it's going.

Hark The Heralds Angels Sing

Well, here is my progress on Miss Betsy Manchester. I am slowly getting there. I went through a period where I couldn't be bothered doing any sewing and then I had a lot of worries with a couple of family members.

In case you are wondering the reference to Angels. Well, it is for 3 reasons really. The first one is obvious as there are 2 angels on the top of Miss Betsy. The second is that last Sunday was the 2nd Anniversary of my Mum's passing.

The 3rd is on this particular Saturday/Sunday evening one of my Sons was rushed to the Emergency Ward of the Hospital. Some charming person decided that it would be great fun to spike his drink. I am so thankful to his girlfriend and her family as they rushed him to the hospital. Her Brother drove through red lights very late on Saturday evening, threw him over his shoulder and ran into the hospital with him. He kept going into and out of consciousness, he had chest pains, pins and needles and was hyper-ventilating. He was in a bad way for a few hours.

By the time my DH, younger Son and I got to the hospital after our 2 hour drive he was feeling a lot better after they had flushed out his system. Thankfully he is now on the mend but is still suffering pains in his body. We don't know what was in his drink, but honestly I think some people sit on their brains some times. I think my Mum and the Angels were looking after him.

See I have scary ladies again. I think the one on the rights eyes are too big hmmmm. I might have another bash at doing them.

This Betsy is a little bit shorter than the other Betsy.

After a week of rain and cold weather the sun has finally come out today. I have so many roses again which are lovely. I also have these beautiful flag iris's out, snap dragons and poppies, but the never ending forget-me-nots. I have hundreds of forget-me-nots. Everything is a sea of blue.

Well, to all my friends who celebrate Halloween, I hope you have a lovely weekend. We don't celebrate it here.

Miss Betsy Manchester

As you can, Beatrix Potter has been replaced for a while by Betsy Manchester. But don't worry Bea hasn't gone far. She is still in my sewing basket. I decided to do a motif every now and then until I have finished her.

Over the last week I have been working on Miss Betsy Manchester. Oh she is such a beautiful sampler. I took photos all along he part that I am currently working on so that you could see how beautiful she is.

I have also noticed that she isn't as long as Betsy Davis which will be interesting when looking for a frame for her. She doesn't have the added bit that Betsy D has on the bottom.

There are still parts of this vine that I can't do at the moment until I have worked the border that goes all around the middle piece. I am planning on finishing the leaf and vine between the top 2 queen stitch flowers and then working down. I think it might be an angel, but I am not sure. Will have to check. It is just a rectangle with nothing in it on my chart.

I haven't filled in the vase yet, as I found that the first one that I did rubbed slightly on Betsy Davis, so I will fill this portion in towards the end of Betsy Manchester.

Well, we have been having strange weather again. We had a long weekend on the weekend and you guessed it, it rained. It has been cold over the last few days and I have had to light our fire. Today is cold outside, but the sun is shining. I think though that it is colder in Sydney then here in the Mountains. My Sister was complaining how cold it was and that she had to get her overcoat out again.

Nothing much has happened in my life at the moment. My youngest son is on school holidays (he always seems to be on holidays), so my peace and quiet has gone for a little while. One good thing though is that I can sleep in for 15 minutes more. Ahhh sleep.

Thank you for paying a visit to my blog. I love reading all the comments that I receive and it is lovely to know what I do is appreciated by my peers. Thank you.

Happy Dance Time

Well, as you can see Betsy Davis and now finished and framed and hanging in my bedroom. She isn't in her final spot yet, as I need Betsy Manchester to hang besides her. They will eventually hang above my bed. I currently have 2 other needlework pictures, that did a long time ago hanging there and I plan on hanging them where Betsy D is now hanging. One on top of the other. These picture are of French Porcelain Dolls that I did when my eldest son who is nearly 25 was a little boy. So they are over 20 years old. There is a photo of them here and here.

I finished Betsy yesterday. All I had to do were the last 2 numbers in the date down the bottom, which didn't take my very long to do.

I decided last night to spend a little time on my Beatrix Potter. I have another motif and a bit of another one done. I don't know how long I will spend on Bea as I am itching to start Betsy Manchester. I also decided this morning that for me Bea works better as a day stitcher as it is all over one.

So I am thinking that I might start Betsy and every now and then stitch a motif on Bea. I joined the SAL for Bea, but I was totally hopeless at keeping to the commitment. I might make a deal with my self to stitch this every now a then when the urge overcomes me lol. I really don't know why I feel like this as it is such a beautiful thing. I think it might be after Elizabeth Cox and Betsy Davis I find it a bit boring. I seem to like samplers with a bit of a challenge lol. But my current plan sounds good, so I might see if I can stick to that.


I have so many other beautiful samplers all kitted up and ready to go. I am really looking forward to doing them.

It is another beautiful day in the Mountains today. I was able to wash my quilt that you can see in the background of these photos. I was able to get it totally dry and it has that nice clean smell. Hopefully I can wash another one tomorrow. Thank goodness the dust storms have gone. We had another one on Friday night/Saturday morning, but it was nothing like the earlier one. The earlier one was so amazing.

The End is Coming

The end is so near with Betsy Davis. As you can see I am now working on the black background. I don't know if you can see it, but the urn is outlined, I just have to fill it in. I decided to wait till I finished the background to do this.

So what remains in the black background, fill in the urn and then of course there is around 10 rows on the bottom which includes Betsy Davis's name. I still think that she will be finished in around 2 weeks time. I still can't get over how fast I have finished this sampler.

Well, what an amazing day it is here in New South Wales. We are in the middle of a huge dust storm. Everything outside is covered in red dust, which turns to mud when it is wet. I am sure owners of car wash establishments are jumping up and down today with glee.

We awoke this morning earlier than normal as my youngest son had to be at school very early as his year were going on a school camp for 3 days camping in tents. Not a good idea at the moment I might add. There was this orange glow all around and you just couldn't see that far ahead. The Blue Mountains are the Red Mountains today.

Anybody flying into Sydney today would have been so disappointed as all the well known icons e.g. Harbour Bridge and Opera House were not visible.

I know that the planes were either delayed, diverted or cancelled. The Sydney Ferries weren't running at all. It is still extremely windy outside and I think this dust will be around all day. Guess who isn't doing their washing today.

I know while driving my Son to school this morning, people were ring the radio stations wondering if this was the end of the world. Well I am still here, so I guess it's not today.

I just realised that my subject for this post could be taken two ways lol. I am referring to the sampler of course.

Another Betsy Update

Well, as you can see Betsy D now has black background in all the right places except on the right hand side. I am now working on the Queen Stitch flowers down this portion of her. I am wondering if she will be finished in 2-3 weeks. I can't believe how this one has flown along. I know that when I did the American Sampler, it took me 12 months to go, but I was working at the time, which would have stretch it out a bit.

I am really looking forward to finishing this one and starting her Sister, although I'm toying with the idea of finishing Beatrix which I really must do. I already have the frame for Bea and it is sitting besides my Son's desk. If I don't get it hung on the wall, I will end up having to buy another one because of broken glass lol.


Here is Betsy from the top. She is everything that I expected and more. I just love working on her.

I have been very busy in the garden over the last week and weekend. Although it wasn't such a good idea for me physically. By Monday I couldn't walk very well. But it is amazing what a heat bag will do. My garden is looking quite pretty at the moment. I have forget-me-nots all over the place and violets out. Now if I could get somebody to cut the lawn for me (ha ha) it would look lovely.

The fire season has started early out here and they are really worried about bush fires this year. We had some lovely warm weather over the weekend and by Sunday, it was a Total Fire Ban sort of day. My DH and one of my DS were "On Standby" up at the Fire Shed. So they were no use to me. The youngest DS had a lot of school projects to be done so it was just me, Sally the dog and my iPod in the garden.

I got my copy of Dan Brown's new book yesterday. I think I was the 4th person to get it. I gave it to my DH to read, but my youngest has pinched it from him. Oh well, he doesn't take very long to get through books. He usually costs me a small fortune trying to keep books up for him.

Usually when school holidays are coming up, I will buy him a couple of books and I think before the holiday has started them, he has finished them. That is how he has fallen under the spell of Dan Brown. I am trying to get him into the classics, but for some reason, I am not having a lot of luck. Ah well, he told me the other day that the holidays will be here again in 3 weeks. I don't know, he always seems to be on holidays.

A Little Bit of Background

After finishing the top portion of Betsy, I decided to have a little break. I decided to start filling in the black background. Mainly to split this task up and a change is always good.

She is looking ever so lovely and I can't wait to finish her. She and her Sister Betsy Manchester have always been up there among my favourite samplers. I am eventually hoping to hang both of them in my bedroom.

I now have Betsy Manchester all kitted up and she is ready to go as well. I am looking forward to the experience of working on her. What a great pity that there are no more samplers that we can do from the Mary Balch school.

We have been having typical Spring weather here. We had a beautiful weekend. This morning was overcast and then it started to rain. Now the sun is shining. It is still a little bit chilly. I keep saying to myself "Will I light the fire or not?" So far I have resisted the temptation. BTW I have my slippers on so my feet are nice and warm lol.

We had a lovely weekend. It was Fathers Day here yesterday and also my DIL's birthday. My eldest son came up on Friday night, but unfortunately they had to go home before lunch on Saturday. Yesterday we went down to have lunch with my Dad and it was lovely. It is always lovely to see him and my Sister.

Well, I hope that you have a lovely week. I am still trying to catch up with my housework. For some reason I keep getting distracted. I am sorry if I haven't had a chance get to pay you a visit, but I will get there lol. Have a good week.

Strawberries are done

Here is an update on Betsy. I finished working the strawberries (I think they are strawberries lol) along the bottom and the black background. I think she is such a stunning sampler.

I have decided for a change of pace to go back up the top and finish that section. When I have finished doing this I might start doing some more of the black background. Hopefully Betsy has only a few more weeks work in her. I also have to put her name down on the bottom. But she is looking good

Every time, I go to my friend Karen's needlework store I keep falling in love with Larry the Lamb. So of course I had to buy him and make him didn't I. Larry is made from wool felt and is filled with crushed walnuts. I have him in a tray that I use which contains my threads, scissors etc. He is very handy when I am using a few different needles at one time.

Before taking the photos for this blog, I picked my self a little bunch of Parma white violets. Aren't they beautiful. Violets are one of my favourite flowers. I love the perfume they have, although many years ago when I first started working I bought myself a bottle of Yardley April Violets. I found that stuff quite strong and every time I wore it which wasn't often, the smell would give me headaches. Funny I only ever bought one bottle of it lol.

Well, I have finally finished doing the boxes that I was doing. These ones took forever to do as they all had to been cut out. They actually look a lot better than they do in photos.

Now I will be able to get to my dreaded housework lol. It is always a case of a women's work is never done.

I hope you all have a lovely week. Guess what I will be doing this week. Housework.

A Beautiful Book

Well as you can see Betsy D is moving right along. I haven't quite finished needleweaving behind the people on the right. The ones on the left hand side look ok though. When I have finished this bit, I have another lot of Queen Stitch to do. I suppose they will look like either buds or acorns. Who can tell lol. Then behind all this it will be black. I am still loving working on this sampler. As you know it is a sampler that I have wanted for many years.

It is really interesting with Betsy Davis as I have found another 2 samplers while researching the Mary Balch school. One of them is called Ruth Edd and the other is called Betsy Wardwell. If I get these links right check out how much Betsy Wardwell went for when she was auctioned a few years ago. All I can say is wow. It would be lovely if ours were worth that much. wouldn't it.

The other day I found this beautiful book and of course being a Jane Austen fan I had to buy it. What a beautiful book it is. It is called "Jane Austen's Sewing Box" - Craft Projects & Stories From Jane Austen's Novels by Jennifer Forest.

A lot of the craft projects are Regency Projects. But it is simply a beautiful book with small pieces from her books and small portions from her letters.

There are lots of photos like this one, which shows fashion in the Regency period.

There are also a few photos of miniatures that I love. This one also shows how to tie a cravat. Very useful lol. You never know when you have to tie one. Do you think he looks like Mr Darcy.

Among the projects that you can make there is this workbag. Very pretty.

Then there is this gentleman. Obviously an officer. I wonder who he could be lol.

I think it is actually an Australian book as it is published by Murdoch Books. But I know that Amazon in the UK have it as does Amazon in the US. I found it quite interesting with
Amazon US as they have this book listed new at $39.21, but they have I used book from $98.88. Interesting.

I must tell you, that I have found an absolutely brilliant cleaning cloth that really works. Most women will have them in their house and they work like magic. It is "panty hose". You use your old pairs of them. You can also use "knee high" stockings". It is a really good cloth that is very gentle at removing things e.g. soap scum, on stainless steel and also works brilliantly with bi-carb and vinegar.

We have a combustion fire and every few days I clean the glass of it to remove the soot that has built up. It works fine on the hot glass and removes all the soot so that we can see the wood happily burning away. When I have finished I just give it a wash and it is ready for the next time. They are also brilliant at cleaning around taps. You put the panty hose around the back of the tap and grab hold of each end and run it backwards and forwards.

Also I am sorry if I haven't paid you a visit lately. I have been very busy with my box project and hopefully I will finish it next week. The ones that I am doing at the moment have taken me a long time to do as they are decoupaged and I have had to cut all the motifs out. All I can say is that the end is near, thank goodness. I will be glad to see the end of them.

What amazing weather we are getting at the moment. I think Spring has come early, although my fire is still burning happily to keep the house warm. On Sunday, I went to visit my Dad in Sydney and it was definitely a "light and frilly" day.

I hope you all have a lovely week and thank you for stopping by. I really enjoy meeting all of you.

A Little Bit More

I hope that you can see the lady and the man on Betsy D. They are looking a little bit pale at the moment, but when I finish this strip, they will all be surrounded by blue. The best way that I can describe how this blue part will be done is a running stitch over alternating threads. A bit like needleweaving.

The background around the Queenstitch flowers is done in black in an alternating half cross stitch.

I am so happy that I decided to do Betsy D and her Sister Betsy Manchester. They are such beautiful samplers. I am slowly collecting Rhode Island samplers and it is interesting the differences between them. The Mary Balch samplers have more work on them, which I think makes them look quite stunning.

I wanted to show you this beautiful parcel that I received the other day from my very special friend who doesn't have a blog. I met this lovely lady a while ago and we just "clicked". We have similar tastes and we know what each other likes. She has been helping me with my collection of Sampler and Antique Needlework Magazines and she sent me some the other day. She also included a few beautiful things that I didn't have, which really made my day. I love everything that she sent me and I am looking forward to doing a special sampler that I have in my collection with the beautiful collection of silks that she sent me.

I am sorry if this post is short, but I haven't been feeling to good for the last few days. I have a slight migraine that won't go away.

An Adventure

Working on Betsy is like going on an exciting adventure trip. You know where you are going and what you will see a long the way, but when you actually get there and see all the beautiful sites, you go wow. That is how I feel about Betsy.

I am really enjoying this journey. The more I do the more I fall in love with her. She is so beautiful and not at all complicated

She now has a house and half a fence with one tree. I have another 2 trees with birds to go.

I am sorry if she looks a bit washed out in the photos. It was slightly overcast when I took the photos. But you have also remember that a lot of it will end up being stitched in black. Especially around the Queen stitch border. I think when that happens will really come alive.


I have also been enjoying researching Mary Balch and her school and some of her samplers. I find it so interesting learning about people who worked these amazing samplers. What an amazing collection they are. Wouldn't it be wonderful if they were all in a special collection for a short period of time in one of the Museums. Sort of how they bring together a famous artist and his collection of paintings, e.g. Monet.

Thank you to Pat to alerting me to a beautiful sampler that Betsy did when she was around 8. It is quite interesting to see how she has progressed. The Sampler is one of Joanne Harveys kits. I will have to go a searching to find the graphs lol.

What an interesting week last week was. They found the Back Packer safe and well. He can't go home to England for 6-8 weeks as he has fluid in his lungs and can't fly. His story is quite amazing as he survived some really cold weather. A lot of the experts are quite amazed that he survived his experience.

His father at the time when he was found was sitting at the Airport awaiting for his flight to be called to fly home. He got the call from the Police to say that his son was found and alive and well. They put Dad into a helicopter and flew him back to the mountains.

We also had a Tsunami alert last week, although I am totally safe where I live. There was an earthquake off the South Island of New Zealand with the 2 plates pushing against each other. I heard this morning that New Zealand is apparently 30 cm's closer to Australia. I just told my 14 year old. He was so excited that his comment was "Big whoop" and walked off lol.

Anyway, everybody was safe and sound. All we ended up having was a King Tide.

Anyway, I hope you all have a lovely weekend. I never know what I will end up doing lol.

English Backpacker Found Alive

I just wanted to let you know that they have found Jamie Neale, the 19 yo English Backpacker who has been missing for 12 days. He is suffering from dehydration and exposure. Apparently he has walked out by himself after being found by a couple of bush walkers. He was 15km away from Katoomba in the bush.

This is really good news. Where he was was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

A Little Bit More

I was going to update my blog last Thursday, but the cameras batteries were flat. We have 2 cameras that I could have used and you guessed it. Both were flat. So after a lot of recharging here are the latest photos of Betsy D.

She is coming along quite nicely. Although I think the people have really scary faces lol.

My next part to do is the house which is over one. As you know I don't mind doing the odd over one's lol.

Thank you to Barbara from Queenstown Samplers and to the 2 Pats who helped me find the link to seeing the original Betsy Davis Sampler in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, each of you helped me in one way or the other and I really appreciate your help. My DH was able to print a copy of the photo from one of the Pats. He doesn't have full internet service, so Pat who sent me a photo on her email helped him print the picture for me. I find it quite useful and I continually look at it while I stitch. I was going to post a photo of the original Betsy, but this computer is being a jerk (as usual). I am trying this on another computer. I hope the link comes through. It is really fascinating to see the original. The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston link is here

It really helps when you are doing a antique reproduction if you can see occasionally the original. It sometimes helps answer the many questions one has while stitching these wonderful works of art

Don't you love these scissors. They are a pair of Scissoroos. I love the kangaroo on them. There are a lot of kangaroos around where I live, but you never see them. Sometimes when we go to Lithgow which is on the otherside of the mountains and it is early in the morning we often see a lot of them grazing in the grass. We are supposed to have a black panther who roams free around the mountains and has been spotted by a lot of people, but that is another story. Some people think it is fact or others fiction. He or she is supposed to have escaped from a circus a long time ago and has mated with a feral cat. So I am not sure how many there are. I have seem photos that are very grainy of it and hazy videos, but who knows.

Before I go, please say a little pray for a young English (19 yo) backpacker who has been missing for 10 days in the bush. He arrived here on the Thursday and stayed in the Youth Hostel. He decided to go for a bush walk 10 days ago and left his passport, papers, mobile phone in the Youth Hostel. He didn't come back and after a couple of days the Police, National Parks, Rural Fire Service Volunteers have been searching for him. Last week the weather was terrible as for a few days it was so misty and wet. The nights have been freezing and wet and there is another really cold snap coming again. His Father and Uncle have come out from England to help look for him, but the problem is that the Police don''t know where he was headed. It is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Anyway, I hope and pray that he is still with us. I feel so sorry for his poor parents and all those people who are out looking for him. Please pray that is is still ok.