Happy Dance Time

At long last, Hannah Lancaster is finished. Major happy dance lol. Hannah has been in my work basket for awhile. I started this last year at the beginning of the year and was doing a SAL with my friend Tawny. It was called Sunday Stitch Along with Hannah. Anyway, she is finally finished and she is a stunning sampler. Although Hannah still reminds me of something out of the Goofy cartoons. I think it is the hair and the mouth lol. Hopefully I shall frame her over the weekend or next week.

Also another beautiful sampler and I love her the more I look at her now that she is framed and it is Harriet Burry. Harriet has the same frame that Sophia's sampler has and they look lovely hanging together.

I have been seeing these lovely little cases here and there on blogs and I said to myself - "self that is just what you need to keep your scissors and things in". Imagine my surprise while researching them that I found that I could buy them in Australia at a Wool Shop in Margaret River in Western Australia. It arrived this morning and I am looking forward to putting all my "what-nots" in it. I am sure that my DH will no longer rolls his eyes when I am trying to find what happened to my scissors. I am forever losing them around my chair.

In case you were wondering about the quilt underneath these photos. It is a selection of very old Laura Ashley material. I have had this quilt for a long time, even before my eldest Son was born. I used to have a "thing" for Laura Ashley things. I even have a lot of her books in my book collection. This quilt is usually on the end of my youngest Son's bed.

A few weekends ago, I had such a lovely surprise. I discovered that I had won this beautiful layer cake from BBD's new fabric range. Thank you Alma you really made my day.

I got such a surprise as I never win anything and I said to my DH "I have won something". He immediately gave me a Willis like answer (you know - "What You Talking Bout Willis") of "Don't you dare open it". I said, "huh" lol. He then replied, " Don't open it, we will get a virus". I immediately set him to rest by letting him know that I hadn't won something on one of those -Congratulations, You are our Millionth Viewer, that I had actually won something wonderful. He was quite happy when he realised what I had won, but then I saw the eyes rolling around in his head when I told him that I would have to buy more material, to make the basket quilt that went with the material. You would think after all this time, he would have worked me out lol.

On a serious note, I would just like to say that I am really sorry to hear of the passing of Lisa Roswell of The Primitive Needle. I would like to offer her family and all her many friends my sympathies her unexpected passing. Unfortunately I don't have any of her designs, but I knew of them through my friend Tawny. I know that she used to do the most wonderful Halloween designs. I also noticed before I heard this sad news one of her new designs called Mary Doidge and thought what a stunning sampler it was.

It is a beautiful Autumn day here in the Mountains. Unfortunately they don't last that long up here and you can feel the cold fingers of winter starting to creep in, in the early mornings. Hopefully we will have a lot more beautiful days before winter does strike. Summer wasn't the best. It was either too to hot, or plain miserable with rain and mist.

I hope that you have a wonderful weekend and thank you for stopping by.

Dutch Spot Sampler

I have been asked many times about the sampler above. It is a Dutch Spot Sampler. The pattern was in an Australian Better Homes and Gardens Magazine a long time ago. Probably about 15 years ago. I'm sorry I really don't know where you could a copy of this sampler.

It is a beautiful sampler and always reminds me of my Dutch Beauty Sampler as they have similar motifs on them. This one also has an A&E on it.

They are both worked on 32ct cream linen over one. They hang in next to each other in my hallway.

She's Armless

This is where I am currently with the lovely Hannah Lancaster. Her dress is nearly complete. I only have a couple of rows to go before she is done and then I just have to finish off the side pieces, put the cross parts onto the border and she is all done. Yay she says lol.

I love Hannah, she reminds me while I have been doing her of one of Goofy's friends - Pete. She looks like one of his family. Oh I'm terrible lol. But you have to laugh sometimes.

Nothing much to report here. I'm looking forward to finishing Hannah and I think my next start will be Susan Rambo from the new edition of SANQ. What a stunner that one is. It is really jumping up and down getting my attention. I have all the DMC threads and just need to get the 40ct linen.

I hope that you have a wonderful weekend. I am going spend some time on the weekend with some of my family which will be lovely. I have 3 birthdays at the moment. On Sunday it will be my Father's 81st birthday, so it will be lovely to spend some time with him.

Hannah Update and a Forgotten Sampler

My goodness, it is ages since I have updated my blog. But for a couple of weeks I couldn't do any sewing as I sort of had an accident with a slicing machine.

One of my Sons bought me one of those Mandolin Slicing Machines for Christmas and I thought that I would try and use it on a carrot. Not a good idea as I ended up at the local hospital for 2 hours as I couldn't get it to stop bleeding. I took a huge chunk of skin out and had to get around with the Mummy's Revenge as I called it for over a week. I did try to sew, but the needle kept getting stuck in the bandage. So I gave up. It also impeded on the heavy bandaid that I had on for another couple of weeks. I have only just stopped wearing the bandaid.

So this is where I am up to on Hannah. I was looking forward to actually getting Hannah on to the Sampler, but decided to go and do the one thing that I hate doing and that is the border. I have completely finished the right hand side, half of the left hand side and I am now working along the bottom. I also started writing her name on the bottom as one night I wouldn't find the skein of green that I am using to work the border. Would you believe it was in my thread container all along. It was hiding behind the needles lol.

This morning I have been going around like a crazy lady looking for a quilt that I started making many years ago. I thought that I should get it out and finish sewing all the applique pieces onto it so that I can finish it. But I don't know where I have put it, but I did find this sampler that I was working on in 1999. I always thought that it was quite pretty and it has my favourite Psalm on it - The Lord is My Shepherd. All I have to do is finish the border. I told you I'm not a border lover lol. I really should finish it. I think it is done on 28ct cream linen. This is many years before I could get 40ct linen.

Thank goodness today is a lot cooler than it has been for the last few days. Yesterday I felt like a melting ice cube. Unfortunately the cooler weather is only here for a couple of days. The heat is coming back next week. But I suppose it is better than all the rain that we had previously. I really thought that it was time to go and build an Ark.

I hope that you have a lovely weekend and thank you for visiting me and reading my wafflings.

I Have Been Busy

Since my last post I have been very busy. I have framed Sophia.

I have finished Isabella Johnstone and also framed her

I have nearly finished Harriet Burry and there is about another days stitching on her.

I have got this far on Hannah Lancaster and I am currently filling in the bricks on her house.

I have also made a few of these lovely patchwork cushions for the family. I saw these being made one Sunday afternoon when the boys all went to the Football (Soccer). I was able to watch a TV show that I don't normally watch as it isn't my DH's cup of tea and I saw these lovely cushions being made by hand. What intrigued me was that they were filled with unprocessed bran and scented oils. I have also added lavender to mine and I had added lavender oil to the mix. My spare room smells quite delightful at the moment lol.

For an Australian Summer today, it is quite cold. At 6 a.m. it was 5 degrees C in the Mountains and by the sky it looks as if it could snow. If it did it would only be a light dusting and probably wouldn't settle.

I hope you all have your Christmas preparations in hand. I currently have a boiled pudding bubbling away on the stove. It is always a major feat when I make one of these and you wouldn't believe the washing up. Oh boy lol.

If I don't post again, before Christmas, I hope that you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I hope that Santa is good to you.

Merry Christmas.

Harriet Is Slowly Moving Along

It doesn't look as if I have done that much work on Harriet since my last post but she is slowly coming together. I am still working on her border which seems to take forever.

I have completed the left hand side and I am now about a quarter of the way along on the top section. I will be so happy to see the end of her. She is a beautiful sampler, but she has her ways about her:). I suppose if I was this old that I would play up as well.



I have also been working on Isabella Johnstone. I have been working on her off and on. I thought that she would look lovely with the sheep and I am looking forward to working on the cow. I thought that this sampler would be quite appropriate as my DH grew up on a dairy farm on the North Coast of NSW.

I thought that I would show you the lovely jewellery that my DIL Alison is making. She has opened an Etsy Shop called Coloured Squares. She is making some lovely earrings and brooches made out of lovely pieces of material and laces etc. Aren't they beautiful. She is a very clever young lady and we are all very proud of her. I have put a link to her Etsy shop if you would like to stop by.

Love these earrings. They are really lovely.

This brooch would look lovely on a nice jacket. Love the Autumn shades.

Another lovely pair of earrings. They are in my favourite colours red, white and blue. I love red, it always gives a lift to things.

This one is my favourite. I love the old piece of lace that she has added. Another brooch that would look lovely on a nice jacket.

It is a bit chilly here in the mountains today. It was quite nice earlier in the week. We had some lovely Spring days, but yesterday and today, there is a bit of a chill in the air. I think I need to light my fire as I have cold feet. If my feet are cold. I am cold.

I love Spring, I picked a beautiful jug of old fashion roses the other day and they have given me so much pleasure. They are all in the very pale pink shades along with some ivory ones. Their perfume is really lovely and they are near my stitching chair. I love smelling them as I stitch away slowly with Harriet:).

Thank you for stopping by. I always enjoy your comments. I hope that you have a wonderful weekend.

Harriet Is Almost Finished

I'm sorry that I haven't been blogging lately. I seem to have lost the blogging bug. Every day lately, I think that I should update my blog, but something comes along to distract me and before I know it the day is nearly over.

I have been slowly plodding along with Harriet Burry and she is really a beautiful sampler, but she can be a bit of pain in the you know where. She has her tricky moments. She is quite a large sampler so it is a bit hard to take a decent full size photo of her.

I am slowly working on the border which is beautiful. I had so much trouble with her over the weekend that she nearly ended up in the garbage bin. Well, not quite, but I thought about it for a second or two. Luckily I think I have nailed her and I will continue on until she is finished. I am really looking forward to doing something else. I think Hannah Lancaster might be the one as I am trying to finish her before the New Year. I can only hope.

We have had an amazing lot of weather here over the last few days. It is Spring. One day it is really beautiful. The next day it is freezing and we have to light our fire again. On Saturday we even had a heavy down pour of snow, but unfortunately not enough to settle. No wonder people end up with colds etc at this time of the year.

Thank you for all your lovely comments regarding my work. I enjoy reading them. I'm sorry that I have become such a bad blogger.