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.