Congratulations Kate And William

 I'm back and suffering my usual jet lag and so disappointed that Kate and William waited till I arrived home to have the baby but pleased my prediction of a boy proved right. Congratulations to the happy couple, well done. And look who came home with me! Yes H.R.H herself. She said all this baby talk was wearing her out and she was thrilled to accept the invite to stay for a while in my Royal Household. Charlotte was thrilled to see the Queen and will try not to leave cat hairs on the royal bed. The corgis did not come.

No bling for you Bling Bear but look who I got for you instead. A Man and it's Henry 8th no less. You can be wife#7. Can we now expect Baby Blings? Royal babies are in the news and you must follow the trend.
Apart from the Royal Baby non arrival I had a perfect week in London. More of that later and more souvenirs to show. This short post will do till all the bits of me that are scattered around the world meet up again.

I'm Off on Another Trip to Royal London.

All packed and ready to go I leave in a few hours for my marathon trip. First on my list is the Coronation Festival in the grounds of Buckingham Palace, then it will be a non stop rush to see and do everything else on my list. I have left a little bit of time for souvenir shopping. Bling Bear has put in an order for more bling and Charlotte is still thinking about her list. Girls' please remember I want to travel light and buy souvenirs for me because there  might be lots of royal baby stuff to buy. I'll be back on the 22nd so you won't have time to miss me.

Vintage Embroidered Aprons on Display

Latest eBay apron for my collection, it arrived in the post this week. Now look at the pic. below!

Same apron but sadly not in my collection. This one is a work of art and there are thousands of tiny stitches. It was stitched many years ago by Audrey Lampe and was part of her estate bought bought by Retro Vintage fabrics and this is their pic. I found it while browsing apron images on google. I got in touch with Vintage Fabrics hoping there was the slightest chance I could have the apron in my collection.
There is a sad ending to this story and the apron no longer exists.

My new apron display. Daughter S had the clever idea of hanging my aprons from curtain rods set on brackets in front of the built in wardrobes in the Diana room, now called the Exhibition room. When that was done I said I couldn't reach the aprons. Was told to lower the aprons on more rods then I could put royal tablecloths on the top rod . Never mind that it is now a bit difficult to use the cupboards and the display needs a bit of fine tuning. There are over 80 aprons most with embroidered ladies and still more put away and 21 royal tablecloths. The ceiling slopes up above the tablecloths so that still leaves more sliding doors up there to be used. That would involve a long ladder and one day I will explain my ladder issues and why I can't use those cupboards. This might be where I need my very tall grandsons.

The wall opposite the apron display, note the Charles and Diana curtains which match the bed quilt. There are 2 doll houses in this room and a third in my bedroom. A fourth one is still in the sunroom waiting to be painted.

The entrance to the newly named exhibition room. I found a new type of hanger to display Diana bags.

Looking into the room. This is the bed guests would have to sleep in. Haven't had any overnight guests for a long while, Can't think why!

Found in a catalogue, an over the door hanger, perfect for some of my royal towels. This door leads into my laundry where Charlotte's litter tray is so I can't keep it closed as much as I would like to.

I loved Gina's lace on my shelves so much I found a perfect piece for the top of my dressing table mirror. Don't know why I didn't think of it before. Daughter S has another bright idea involving the built in wardrobe in my bedroom but I'll keep that for another day.

Charlotte loves her new winter bed but we've had some warm sunny days and she had to put her leg out to cool it off a bit. I think her tail is out too, hard to see against the dark wood.

Julia's Knitting Versus My Knitting

 The front page of today's Sydney paper! Our not very popular republican  Prime Minister would have us believe -in the middle of trying to cling to her position- she is knitting a kangaroo for the royal baby!! Here's the deal Julia, I leave for London on 12th July for the royal birth. That gives you 2 weeks to finish the kangaroo and send it to me by courier. I will be at Buckingham Palace for an event on Sunday 14th so I will deliver it for you. Normally on my blog I would keep well away from politics but today was a stitch too far.

 Thinking that any knitting the P.M can do I can do better I rushed to my book shelves and there it was, just as I thought it should be. A knitted kangaroo pattern. In my wool stash I found blue wool and needles. Remember that crown tea cosy I knitted? so really a kangaroo can't be that hard.
No, I can't take special orders for your grandchildren, this is a challenge strictly between me and the P.M.

 Janice in New York alerted me to these mini cross stitch cushions and they arrived today. The only chart I have ever seen of Philip and I love the design. They are a Sheena Rogers design and here is her web add.
www.sheenarogersdesigns.co.uk  Thanks Janice I rely on my watchers around the world to tell me about royal designs I might otherwise miss.

Having stitched enough Diamond Jubilee samplers for a while I started again on this UFO of the royal wedding. It will be an impressive sampler if it ever gets finished, for some reason I find it hard going.

A very impressive Diamond Jubilee wool tapestry I bought already completed from eBay. It measures 16"x20" and the LX is not my initials but roman numerals for 60. This is a Dorcas Willow design.

Charlotte wants to show her new winter bed. She sleeps a lot these days and divides her time between my bed and her new bed.

Gina's Lace and My Cross Stitch

 Gina in Melbourne sent me the pretty crocheted lace you can see on the above shelves. Gina was going to put it on her kitchen shelves but thought better of it and sent it to me. I threaded the red ribbon through the lace and fixed it to the shelves with double sided tape. Thank you Gina, I think you must admit the lace belongs here and I don't know how I managed to live with bare shelves for so long.

My Bothy Threads Kings and Queens is finished and framed, I love the frame but it is slightly too small so I am still looking for a more suitable frame. Note that I managed to stitch the whole sampler with NO french knots. If you enlarge the pics you will see that all the i are dotted and all the figures have eyes. I just put in a few over stitches and the world didn't end because I can't do french knots.

My latest eBay amazing find. A top made with Coronation fabric from 1953. This top looks home made, has a few tiny holes but I think I might wear it sometimes. Wish I could find more of this fabric.

 Here is a close up, all the Royal Regalia is there including (gold coach alert) the gold coach, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace and the floral emblems.

 There are 5 buttons on the top, 3 down the front and 1 on each cuff. I've had these buttons in my collection for a while and will replace all the buttons with these. The coronation button will go at the top, the other buttons are from George VI coronation.

This is a Twilley's Diamond Jubilee sampler I've had in my stash for a while. For some reason I thought it a bit tricky to stitch. I only started 2 weeks ago and finished already. I think it's very pretty and so easy to stitch.

This is the doll house I thought I'd give back to the op shop but now it is fully furnished and looking so pretty I want to keep it. Well for a while anyway as I have found a place for it in my house. If I do eventually pass it on it will go unfurnished. I still have to make towels and a bath mat for the bathroom.. A bit hard to see I know but the pictures on the wall in the bedroom are of Kate and William and the wall on the left downstairs  show the Queen and Princess Diana. The frame at the back shows a very nice cat.

Goodbye Sydney Monorail

 Sydney Monorail is closing at the end of this month and will be pulled down and lost forever. I have always loved riding the Monorail and when my oldest grandson was very young I would take him for Monorail rides. We would buy a day ticket and go round and round in a circle till we'd had enough.

Grandson T is now 21 and felt it was his duty to take me for a farewell ride with his brother A soon to be 16. Yes, that's me in the middle ready for my big day out. Obviously I forgot to take my box to stand on when out with my tall grandsons. I am just over 5ft tall and they are 6ft tall. Don't know how it happened but I think my short genes have gone forever.

 Most of the photos have been taken through a not very clean window but these are some of the views. On the left is an old ferry now turned restaurant.

 The Maritime Museum.

 The boys again. The rail for the monorail is behind and above them.

 Daughter S and mother of the boys was there too and admiring the view as we go around.....and around again as the rail is one huge circle with stations at various tourist stops.

Looking out the back window there is a great view of the car park, below that there is a tram or light rail as it's called. Also a fun ride.

 The rail goes very close to some buildings and it's possible to look in windows or on top of some buildings. The top of this building looks like it has a tin shack on top made out of bits of rubbish.

And last is the view from the train window as I went home, a bit different from all the city views.
Goodbye Monorail I'll miss you.

Coronation Anniversary 60 Years

 60 years ago today the Queen rode in her (gold coach alert) Gold Coach to be crowned in Westminster Abbey. I wish I'd been there (my mother made me go to school) on that long ago day. I would have cheered and waved with the rest of the crowd. Some lucky people could watch the big day on small black and white TV's as it happened but there was no TV in Australia then. We had to wait a few more years for TV. A film of the Coronation did arrive by air (it took a week to get here) and we could watch it at the pictures (movies) and what a thrill it was.  Congratulations on your BIG day   Queen Elizabeth II.

 Magazines were flooded with patterns for samplers and women became busy with needle and thread. The sampler above was in Stitchcraft magazine May 1953. The transfer for the embroidery had to be sent for and cost 8d.

 I have never found where the pattern or transfer came from for this unusual sampler. It combines aspects of Elizabeth 1st with the present Queen.

Tablecloths were popular to stitch and I have many examples but I know there are lots more out there still to be discovered.

This is my favourite and I have yet to take a good photo to display it properly.

 Times have changed for some of these countries since the coronation, Australia still has kangaroos so all is well here.

 Books and puzzles for children were popular and here you could cut out and make your own procession.

So many small items were made for the coronation. To name and show a few, there were belts, bracelets, broochs, pens, pencils, hair pins. fruit knife and a pen knife. A butter dish at the back and a card with a hanky insert to send to a friend. Buttons, embroidered needle book, matches and match box holder. I have more but there is so much more out there I will never be able to see and collect it all. Sigh!!!!

Royal Visit Cloth and Royal Bed Clothes

 My new Coronation Jubilee bed cover set fresh from Marks and Spencer London. I ordered this set over the internet and only a few days later it arrived. Great service, I hope I don't get addicted to M&S shopping.

A close up of the design, I love those corgis and crowns. Most of the squares have 60 on them.

 Look, a matching apron. I know your apron doesn't have to match your bed but nice if it does. The good thing about this apron is it is a one size fits all and a bit big. I'm not so big, if I needed a bit of fabric for some project I haven't though of yet I could cut a bit of fabric off the side or end and it would still fit. Easy.

This is a very special Royal Visit 1954 supper cloth. Expertly embroidered, there is a map of Australia with kookaburra in 2 corners and a waratah, rose and thistle in the other 2 corners and a very nice crocheted edge. Bought on Ebay last week from a friendly seller in South Australia. The glasses and cane holder are also from the 1954 Royal Visit.

 This is the same design cloth only much larger. A little bit of embroidery has been worked and it has a beautiful crocheted edge. All the blue spots in the middle have been worked also the sprigs of wattle and the year 1954. The cloth above has yellow spots in the middle. This cloth came from Gina in Melbourne. I think Gina thought I would have finished it by now. What were you thinking Gina??

Here I am explaining to Charlotte that my bed is really too special for her to sleep in now and could she sleep in her own bed. I am telling her that I might even sleep on the floor rather than spoil my bed.

 Well that didn't work. The lump in the bed is Charlotte. Cat's never listen!!! No point me sleeping on the floor now. Move over Charlotte.

Don't think I've shown my curtain valance before. It has ER and crowns. The wallpaper frieze is original coronation paper and also has ER on. I have shown the paper in a previous post.