A 21st Birthday and Christmas

 I have special family permission to show this photo. Grandson T celebrated his 21st birthday a few days before Christmas with a climb to the top of the arch of the Sydney Harbour Bridge with his father. This is not a climb for the faint hearted or those afraid of heights, but look at that view. The Opera House on the left, opened by the Queen in 1973, and the huge cruise liner Voyager of the Seas on the right. This has to be almost the best view in the world, second only to Buckingham Palace. I left Sydney by ship in the 1970's for the U.K from that very same berth. A 5 week voyage. In those days it was possible to have visitors to your cabin for farewell parties and hundreds of streamers were thrown ship to shore. Bands played, tears shed and goodbye's were screamed. Now ships slink quietly away with barely a wave and security and health and safety spoils the fun and the emotion of parting.

 Also by special permission a Christmas day photo of 15yr old Grandson A wearing his Christmas gift sunglasses.  I am so proud of my 2 very special grandsons.

 One of my gifts, a book about French Cats and we all know they are much more sophisticated than cats any where else in the world.

 I thought Puss in Boots was English. No! there is an insert in the book with the story of P in B and turns out he is French. The story written by Charles Perrault 1628-1703. Now I know the whole story.

A fun find at the markets today, a decanter shaped like the GOLD COACH with four tiny cups. Now when the Queen and Prince Phillip visit I can offer Phil a tot of rum while the Queen sips Earl Grey from a coronation cup and nibbles on cucumber sandwiches. I am always on alert and ready for this mythical visit. I will only need about a six month warning.

We Wish You a Merry Christmas

 From our house to yours we wish you a very HAPPY CHRISTMAS and promise we will be back with lots to show and tell in the NEW YEAR. My arm is healing well and I am able to sew again and that helps me stay sane.
Charlotte is posing with my old Patsy doll dressed for Christmas.

Emily's lack of enthusiasm is because she just came out from under the doona. I told you it was too hot under the bed clothes Emily but you never listen. Shouldn't you be out shopping with Charlotte for my gift Emily. Shops close in a few hours.

Trouble and Drama in my Blogland Paradise

On Wednesday afternoon I tripped on the handles of my new cat bag which was on the floor. I fell heavily on the tiles and shattered my left elbow. I arrived home last night after time spent in emergency, then surgery. My elbow has been screwed back in place and I now have a sort of half plaster cast and tight bandages and am not in too much pain now. Emily is giving what comfort she can -please don't dribble on me Emily, Charlotte came along later to give more comfort.

This is the culprit bag! though I know it was my fault for leaving it on the floor. For 6 weeks I will be in plaster and unabe to drive and everything else is going to be a nuisance to do but on the bright side I didn't break a hip or leg.
Emergency ward was full of young men with sports injuries or who had fallen off  a motorbike.I was the silly granny who had fallen over her cat bag so it did get a bit of a laugh. So when you have finished laughing send me lots of sympathy please.

Vintage Embroidered Apron EllynAnne Geisel and a Siege

This beautiful hand embroidered apron is the latest in my apron collection. It's an ebay bargain from Victoria, possibly dating from the forties or fifties. Unlike some of my aprons this one has been worn and enjoyed but still in almost perfect condition.

The back is as good as the front, there must be hours of work and thousands of stitches in this masterpiece.

My local bookshop ( yes a cheap one opened up after all the others went broke and left town ) had these books on special last week and they are very interesting. EllynAnne Geisel is an apron expert, an American who does tours and lectures about aprons. A google search will find her.
November 21st is Tie One On Day, meaning tie on an apron. Well that's in America but should I be brave and wear one of my aprons on the 21st and start an Australian trend? Trouble is 21st is a Wednesday, a busy day for me and I'm out a lot..... I'll think about it.

Remember a few months ago when I was headline news pictured here pouring a cup of tea for the Queen then flying off to London for Jubilee celebrations?

Times have changed and here is today's headline. I was about to head off to my local shopping centre yesterday because I'd had a brilliant inspiration about how to display my aprons and needed a trip to BigW. Lucky I heard the new before I left home. My great new apron idea had to wait, I went to BigW today and will be able to show my display soon.
Today is Melbourne Cup day, that's why there is a horse also on the front page.
PS, the two gunmen are still at large, one female accomplice has been captured. Can't imagine what the gunmen were looking for this is a quiet area with not much money around.

John Clayton Cross Stitch QUEEN Finished

My John Clayton Queen Diamond Jubilee cross stitch is finished and framed. I am so pleased with the result, there is a lot of work in this sampler but it was not difficult to stitch. The frame is only an inexpensive one but the best I could find. I am always on the lookout for better frames for my samplers. I now put my full name on all my work, always hoping in 100 years people will be searching the internet or whatever is used in 100 years for my work.

The back of my work is not too bad as I am always thinking of my 100 year rule and don't want the back of my work critised by yet be born collectors.

 A temporary spot has been found on the wall which means another sampler had to come down and is searching for wall space. The Queen is the 7th Diamond Jubilee sampler I have stitched and I still have more waiting to be stitched. I would like to group them all together so soon there will be a HUGE wall upheaval.

This is a very unusual sampler I bought from Jan at fabriquefantastique. Jan has an etsy shop and a blog, you will find her if you do a google search as I don't seem able to do links at the moment. Not sure which king it was meant for and is a Canadian sampler with a maple leaf at the top. I'm hoping to squeeze in a tiny kangaroo and emu each side of the maple leaf to make it a bit Australian. I have already starting the stitching as it came in the post just as I had finished the Queen and so it was able to jump the stitching queue, hope to show it finished before too long. The sampler came with a small Westminster Abbey picture but I think that one will be in my stash for a while.
Thanks Jan, I love my purchases and thanks to Gina in Victoria who told me about them.

Charlotte and Emily Taking Over

Still waiting to show off my new London bed linen but Charlotte and Emily have taken over, again.
Am I the only one who has to move cats and brush my bed before I can get into it?? Well I'm sure I'm not.
I don't want to strain the friendship with blogger so this is a one pic. post.

Carrying on with Emily's Help

Emily would like everyone in blogland to know that I am not keeping calm but I am carrying on, A LOT.
I am having serious computer problems, every time I try to send an email, my computer shuts downs. When I look at some of my favourite blogs the pics won't load. I am waiting for a family member to visit and sort me out. I know I spend lots on my collection but then I am too mean to pay to have my computer fixed so the pressure is on my family. Meanwhile I will carry on and on and on etc.



Last week my local op shop had a 50% off day. I bought this clock, not 50% off as it was new but a bargain anyway and I love it.





I can't beleive this!! I had a very nice pic of my new London bedding bought on special Spotlight last week but that pic has gone. All I have to show is Emily dissapearing under my new doona cover because she has had ENOUGH of me.
The cover shows the no.9 bus, my favourite as that is the one I caught to The Royal Albert Hall last June for the Diamond Jubilee concert staring Russell Watson.
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And here is the very bus I was on with the Albert Hall in the background. Well blogger is only allowing me 4 pics, the others must be in cyber space somewhere so I will keep this post a bit short and go and do more carrying on and on and on etc. etc.Add caption



Queen Mother Sampler and A Mixed Post

 A lovely sampler I hadn't seen before arrived from eBay this week. The words are taken from the Queen Mother's  funeral service. Click on the pic to enlarge to read the words a bit better. The friendly seller Anna Pearson also designs and writes books about cross stitch.

Not a Royal sampler but one I had to have anyway. This one commemorates the Festival of Britain in 1951 and is hand embroidered. I also have a scarf from the festival but couldn't find it this morning. Lost somewhere in Royal Stuff.

John Clayton Queen finished at last?? Well no, I have all the background still to stitch so it will be a few weeks yet before it is finished and on the wall. I admit to a couple of mistakes in this one but I dare you to find them. Also a bit annoyed I ran out of one colour. I am very careful with my threads when sitching a kit and feel I might complain as there should have been enough. Not a big drama as I had that colour in my thread stash. Anyone stitching this the colour was DMC 3840. Let me know if you run out too.

 Another John Clayton kit waiting to be stitched is this British soldier Thomas. One of my ancestors was a British Soldier who came to Australia with the 48th regiment in 1817. Thanks to a distant cousin and a book about his regiment I know all about him. He met and married an Irish girl while the regiment was stationed in Cork. She missed out on the ballot to sail with the army and arrived 2 years later with their only child a daughter. Thomas was a Peninsular War veteran. He retired from the army on a pension, took over the Sydney flour mill and became a wealthy landowner. None of his wealth and land is in the family now. He died age 90 of Decay of Nature. His Irish wife died in her 80's after falling in the fire. My ancestor also called Thomas (Steel) was a Private in the army and this will be a tribute to him. My Grandson is also named Thomas. I found the poster about his regiment on a market stall.

 These socks were a very nice surprise gift from Gina. She knows how much I love Laurel Burch designs, Aren't I lucky. Now I have socks to match my bag and scarf. Thanks for thinking of me Gina.

I know Charlotte likes to be in every post but really Charlotte this time you have gone too far. I got the bed all ready for me, book open at the right page, went to the bathroom and Charlotte thinks all this was done for her. Just don't tell me the end of the story please Charlotte and would you like me to sleep on the floor if you can spare a pillow please?

Local Views for a Change from Royals

The sign as you come into my suburb. I live on the left side of the sign but a bit further around the Lake.

 The lake is deep in some parts and shallow in others. This digger was out the front of my place but further over a few weeks ago trying to keep the channel clear for boats. Then it got bogged and started to sink. Pictures of the poor digger were on the news and as you can see, in the newspaper.

 The digger back again, this time safely on a barge. I took the photos from my verandah.

 The bridge across the Lake shown in the first photo. I live on the north side but almost everything I do involves crossing the bridge to the south side. The speed limit on the bridge is 70klm. per hour. I am a good and careful driver but the length and straightness of this bridge somehow causes me to turn into leadfoot granny and speed over at 80klm. hour.

 A new fishing platform is being built, perhaps to stop fishermen getting their feet wet? Schoolchildren now choose fishing as a sport. Last year my grandson chose surfing for his sport. In my day.........let's not go there, I think summer sport was tennis or tennis. I hate tennis. I should also mention I hate fishing and buy my fish from the supermarket freezer section or open a tin of salmon.

 The local Bowling club. No I don't go bowling either but I do like nice views.

A couple of local shops, I could walk to these but my car has a life of its own and loves to race over the bridge.

Diamond Jubilee Cross Stitch Samplers

 Before I show off my cross stitch I must show my lovely Jubilee figurine of the Queen. Bought in a Sydney shop it is Royal Doulton but made in Thailand so the Doulton quality is not there but that is what made it inexpensive enough for me to buy. It's a limited edition oh 4000 and mine is #1133.

 This is the John Clayton Queen cross stitch I put aside a while ago to work on the Bothy Threads Jubilee sampler shown in a previous post. Now I am hoping to finish and frame this one soon. John Clayton loves blended threads and also fitting two full stitches into one square and that's what makes his  designs so realistic. There is no backstitch on this one.

 I stitched this one between finishing the Bothy Threads and getting back to the Queen. The chart was in Cross Stitch Collection magazine issue 209 May 2012. I like the colours in this sampler. Easy to stitch even though there are half stitches and back stitch.

In the ever growing queue of stuff to be stitched is this tapestry cushion. I saw it advertised in My Weekly mag. Jubilee issue June 7th. and bought it from www.dcthomsonshop.co.uk

This sampler is a Mary Hickmott design and the chart is in her mag. New Stitches issue 229. All the flowers and birds represent a Commonwealth country and as there are over 100 colours listed it would be much better to buy the kit. I think this sampler is pretty but somehow it is not one I am tempted to stitch.

A sampler I stitched 10 years ago for the Golden Jubilee, it could be adapted for the Diamond Jubilee but not by me, I would hate to stitch the same chart twice. The chart was in Cross Stitcher mag. in 2002.

Another Bothy Threads kit I really want to start stitching. This one shows every king and queen from William I right down to Elizabeth II and should be fun to stitch even with all that back stitch.
All my kits are bought over the internet or come with English magazines. Am I the only one in Australia stitching Royalty? Please someone tell me I'm not!!!
Meanwhile, I must pick up needle and thread again, no time to waste.

Royal Display at Country Show

On Sunday I went to a country fair. I don't usually go to country fairs but this was a special one. The fair was celebrating its 60th anniversary and as the Queen is also celebrating her 60th year of rule Janet from Janet's Royalty Rooms (now closed but Janet still has her collection) was asked to lend some of her items for a display. So you can see why I had to go. A guard from The Tower of London was there to point us in the direction of the display.

 The display was well worth the visit, I have some of the souvenirs Janet has but of course she has so much more and I can't compete. The Queen came through this small town by train on her visit in 1954 and newspapers and photos from that date were also on display.

More of Janet's display. Last week I went to a local small museum which had advertised a Diamond Jubilee display. It was so disapointing I wanted to add some of my own items. Unfortunately I am too selfish and thought my items might be lost or stolen.

 There was a pet show and this little girl won the first prize ribbon with the blue tongue lizard she is holding. These harmless and common garden lizards are named because the have a long blue tongue.

 The small boy won first prize for the cuddliest pet with the chicken he is holding. I think all the pets entered won a prize for something. I'll try and talk Charlotte and Emily into coming with me next year---but I know they won't.

 There was a band playing country music.

 A display of utes bristling with spotlights and ariels.

Lots of stalls and games. This one looks good. You put your children in this sealed ball, throw them into a pool of water and then I suppose you let them out when the air runs out. I didn't stay to find out.
There was also displays of needlework, next year I am going to enter some of my cross stitch and hope to win a prize ribbon. ( I hope it's a 1st prize) I had a great day and now I will look for more shows to attend.