The Computers Back and Gone Again

Well, I think this computer is cursed. We travelled down to Penrith yesterday to pick up the computer after it being away for 5 weeks.

Well, you can guess what happened. We travel up the mountain again, get home, disconnect the boys computer, plugged the main computer in and you guessed it no power. The darn thing wouldn't turn on. My DH rings the store to tell them that he's not happy about the computer not turning on now and is told, its probably the leads or the power point. He tells them that another computer was connected to all of the above 5 minutes before and all was working well.

So to cut a long story short I had to drive all the way down the mountain again and take the psycho computer back to the store. Hopefully it will back on Friday. They tried to get us a new one but unfortunately its "No deal".

On the stitching front I have a sampler that has been talking to me for awhile to do. It is called Kitty Biggs and on the weekend I unfortunately gave in and started to do her. So now I have 3 on the go. When will I learn.

My Sister flies out for Paris tomorrow and I told her to go and check out this amazing exhibition that I found on Marie Antoinette. The link is here http://www.boutiquesdemusees.fr/en/shop/special/169-marie-antoinette-exhibition.
(hopefully this works). It looks as if it could really amazing. I have already told her what I would like from the gift shop. Hopefully she will remember LOL.

A "What The?" Moment

Still no news when the computer will be back. Hopefully next week sometime, so I can't post any new photos.

I've been having a disasterous time over the last 24 hours. It has been raining quite heavily since the weekend and it is also misty up here in the mountains, especially where I live. Last night when I went to get my husband from the train, I had a major tyre blowout on the highway where they are doing highway roadworks. They are putting in an extra 2 lanes. The road between Katoomba and Leura has become simply shocking with potholes everywhere. This is a major Highway between Sydney and the West (Outback).

Outside the Hospital (quite appropriate) there was a HUGE pothole that you couldn't see in the dark wet conditions. You guessed it I hit it and heard such a loud bang and I said to myself "What the Hell was that". I thought I was a goner for a moment or two but the car seemed to be handling ok and as I only had a short distance to travel I thought I'd try to carry on to the Station to the damage. As I went along I discovered that there was no where to pull over to check as all available pulling over spots were already full with people checking their cars and all were changing tyres. There were cars everywhere. At one spot it looked like a used car spot.

Anyway to cut a long story short I discovered that I also had a flat tyre and that there were around 20 of us in similar situations. I think I am lucky as some of them apparently have front end damage as well. At this stage I have to get a new front tyre which I have been quoted at $155.

After my DH had changed the tyre there were a few men looking at the hole (what is this with men and holes) and directing people away from it. This morning, I had to go and take photos of the hole and the damaged tyre to lodge a claim with the RTA. Would you believe that they haven't filled the hole/s in yet. All they have done is put witches hats around the hole. The part of the Highway where this happened isn't that wide and we have all these semi-trailers rattling along. It is a wonder that someone hasn't been killed there or injured. I found out while at the tyre place that apparently this hole had been reported to the contractors at 7a.m. yesterday morning. A good case of hmmmmm.

On the stitching front I have been working on not only Beatrix Potter, but Sarah Moon as well. I started Sarah early last year on 32ct and did a little bit. I couldn't make up my mind whether to carry on with her or wait and start again on 40ct. She is beautiful, but I was a bit worried about the size of the finished sampler, as my house isn't that big and I'm running out of hanging space. I decided to carry on last Friday and have been working on her. So I have 2 Needleprint Samplers on the go. Decided that when they are finished, I will replace some of the earlier works with them.

Well that is my excitement for the day. I hope you all have a lovely week and I'm looking forward to getting our other computer back.


Update on pot hole situation - apparently 22 people turned up yesterday at our local tyre shop to get replacement tyres. One poor man had 2 tyres that had to be replaced. Then how many other people have replaced their tyre/s and travelled down further to another tyre shop.

Would you believe this is Thursday today and 2 days after the event and they still haven't fixed it. - Sorry if I'm ranting about this, but gee wiz what does it take to fix a HUGE pot hole.

Computers Gone Psycho

I just thought I'd let you know that unfortunately I can't blog at the moment with photos. Our computer which is only a couple of months old went slightly psycho two weeks ago and has had to be sent back to the store to be repaired. It probably won't be back for another 2-3 weeks. It kept continually shutting down when you were in the middle of things and programs like iPod kept disappearing.

At the moment we have to use a smaller computer that my sons use to play games etc. on and I don't want to put the programme on it for photos.

My Beatrix Potter sampler is coming along nicely. I am nearly half way there. I think because there are no colour changes all the time, you can just get moving along at a steady pace.

I have had a lovely morning. My Dad and Sister drove up to the Mountains to see me. We had a lovely morning exploring all the lovely shops around Leura which is town next to Katoomba. I saw some lovely things that I like but I will have to save up to get them.

My Sister is travelling overseas next month. She is going to Paris for a week (I could take this quite easily), then to England to stay with some friends. Then they are travelling to Venice for a week (also could take quite easily) and then back to London for a week. All together she will be away for a month, While she is away my Dad might come up and stay with us for a few days, which will be lovely.

It is a beautiful Autumn day today. The sun is out and the birds are singing. I hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Ta Dah

Well, as you can see I finally framed and hung my beautiful Margaret Gibson. I had a slight problem where to hang her. So I decided to move around a few samplers from here to there and there to here and finally settled on this spot. This is one of my favourite corners in my lounge room. I usually sit on the right and sew.

A close up of Margaret. I was told by my DH that its slightly off, but it looks ok to me.

This is one of the samplers that I moved. Its now in one of the bedrooms. My husband bought this one for me when I was expecting my middle son in 1988. I finished it just before he was born. It is a Laura Ashley sampler. It is abit unusual as it is stitched on a brown Penelope Canvas with DMC wool. Then when it was framed I had to put brown paper behind the sampler to get that "old" look.

It's a beautiful day in the Mountains today. I picked maybe my last bunch of roses for the season. They are in the top photo. I love roses, violets and camellias. The camellias are starting to come out in my back garden. I have picked a small bunch to put my windowsill in the kitchen.

I hope that you all have a lovely weekend and I would like to wish you all a Happy Mothers Day.

Beatrix Potter Update

Well, what can I say, my Beatrix Potter is moving along nicely. I think I have done nearly a quarter of it. I find that once I start stitching over 1, I get into the grove as they say and off I go. It is especially easy when you don't have to change colours all the time.

Unfortunately I just noticed that I cut poor Peter Rabbit's head nearly off. The next one is a closer view of it. (Not PR head LOL).

As promised her are a few of the photos from the Christmas Story. They are all beautiful and I know the originals are worth a fortune. Wouldn't it be lovely to own just one.


These couple of photo's are from my lovely book called "The Art of Beatrix Potter". She was an amazing lady in many ways and so talented.

The 3 cards at the bottom are Christmas Cards from the National Trust in England. And the card with Peter Rabbit in the photo below is a card that my Sister sent to my eldest son when he was small on one of her many trips to England. (I better not tell him that I have it otherwise he will be after it LOL).

The final 2 photos are of a sampler that I did a long time ago. I think its by Homespun Sampler and it could be called "She Seeketh Wool". I love the sheep in it. I have a thing for sheep and cupids, among many things.



The weather in the Mountains in getting cooler every day. I think earlier that it was going to be quite yuk and I have been pleasantly surprised. The sun is now shining. I don't like the cold weather very much. It's not good for my bones (thats what happens when you start to grow older).

I used to have this lovely Great Aunt and Uncle who had the right idea. They used to live up at Blackheath which is 2 towns up from me. As soon as Winter came along they would uproot themselves from their beautiful home and move up to Surfers Paradise in Queensland for 3 months. Pity we all can't be wealthy and do what we like, but I suppose we can all dream.

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

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.