William, Charlotte

Found another souvenir of William in my collection, this one a bag showing William on one side and Diana and her 2 boys on the other. An ebay purchase from America.

Below is Charlotte and she has spotted that coronation belt with the dangly medallion. (see 2 posts ago) She has that "don't mess with me I'm busy" look on her face.

Here she is having a good swipe at it.

Now you see it-now you don't and the medallion is swinging

Please take your tail and play somewhere else Charlotte, I'm busy with my blog.

Prince William in Sydney

Prince William is visiting Sydney and I didn't get to see him, I was NOT one of those lucky ones in the crowd cheering and waving. My 2 princely grandsons came to visit today so I had to make a difficult choice. William or my boys-and I had a very nice day with my boys. I am surprised at how popular his visit has been, lots on the news and in the papers.
Here I must have a small boast. I SHOOK HANDS WITH PRINCE WILLIAM.
Yes I did. It was at the Queen's Golden Jubilee in 2002. I was in the very front of the crowd in The Mall just down from Buckingham Palace (I had to stay there all the night before to secure my place) after the Queen went past in THE GOLD COACH and then went to an official lunch,the younger royals did a walkabout down The Mall. William came to my side of the Mall and along with lots of others I stuck my hand out and he shook it. Poor William looked so young and shy then and had his head down the whole time, but he did shake my hand.
The only souvenirs I have of Willian in my collection, this mug to celebrate his birth, a thimble for his birth and a thimble for his 21st birthday. Oh and teapot milk jug and sugar bowl for his birth I showed in an earlier post.

I think I did this cross stitch for William's 21st, the only chart I could find of him and it is not a good one, I need to look for something better. I've never had any luck (or skill) designing my own charts.

Come back soon Prince William.

Coronation unusual embroidery and Diana

Not sure if this tray is for the Coronation 1953 or the Royal Visit 1954, it has the state emblems and is worked in wool tapestry then put under glass and made into a tray. I bought it at a local antique fair. Pretty clock below is worked in petit point with very tiny stitches and is for the coronation of GeorgeVI in 1937. It was an ebay purchase from the U.K and I think the postage cost more than the clock.

I think this is filet crochet and could have been meant to be a tea cosy by the shape of it but I stitched it onto a cushion cover to better display it.

And below is a teacosy embroidered in cutwork and this side shows THE COACH. At the top is the year 1937.

The other side of the cosy showing cutwork crown and GVIR

Below is the entrance to my Diana room, the flags at the top of the door are from the coronation 1937. I found another diplay form at the markets yesterday and so am able to put on display the tee shirt on the right with some gold (only coloured) coronation jewellery. The chain belt is from 1953 and the necklace has GeorgeV and Mary from the coronation 1911 on the medallion.

All these pics and not cat in sight-no they haven't moved out because of overcrowding, they are just having a nice long sleep and so allowing me a bit of time to post.

New Doll house,cats and Diana chair

Ive done it again!! Could not resist this sad neglected doll house at a bargain price in the Salvation Army store this week. This will be my third doll house and I love to renovate and bring them back to life. I hope Emily is giving her approval here. Yes Emily I will get your help choosing colour schemes etc.

As you can see I already have tenants looking the house over, but they are hard bargainers when it comes to the amount of rent to pay and do not have a good credit rating. The attic room is not quite 1/12 scale but might make a maids room, with the tenants approval of course.

Below is another project to keep me busy. I bought the chair this week at a 2nd hand shop and will cover it, seat and back with the Charles and Diana wedding fabric I already had. I bought the fabric on ebay and it is left over fabric from men's souvenir ties made for THE wedding. The fabric is strong and suitable for upholstery but of course no one will be allowed to sit on the chair (I think my guests know better by now) and I will somehow fit it into the Diana room.

I was going to cover my 4 dining chairs as there is enough fabric, but then thought even though I live in a house that is almost a museum and a homage to royalty, run by Charlotte and Emily it still is nice to be able to sit down to eat.

Below is a close up of the fabric.

All the pics. in this post are before the renovations. I will show the completed projects later when finished. No time frame given as I can't work under pressure and am easily distracted.

My New Years resolution/ if one thing comes into the house, 2 have to go out.

The girls looked worried for a minute but I have reassured them, told them they are not the 2 things. Maybe I have some old clothes? no I'm still wearing them, or the stove could go as I don't like to cook, or I could just give up resolutions until next year.

Prawns Lake Illawarra

Prawning last night in Lake Illawarra just off my verandah. The first prawners were out at sunset and by the time I went to bed there were lots more people out. No boat needed, it's possible to just walk in with a net, container to put your catch in and light. The Lake is famous for prawns and this year has been very good. Not that I've ever tried it, I like to admire the view from shore and can't think of anything worse than standing in the Lake in the dark And here is what all the fuss is about, not the oysters on the edge of the plate, but those prawns in the middle with their eyes still on.
Life is too short to peel a prawn I say!!

GOLD COACH ALERT

Three samplers showing the GOLD COACH that I love so much. The one above was worked by me from a D.M.C kit and the coach is worked in gold beads. I've never tried beading before but think it looks effective and I'll try anything if that coach is involved, click on the pic to get the full effect. Because of the beads there is no glass in the frame and I had to take it down from high on the wall to photograph and can now see it needs a wash and still has red dust on it from that dust storm weeks ago. Collecting and dusting should go together but I have found they rarely do.

Gold coach again and one of my favourites (I think I say that about all of them)

this was an ebay purchase and came in very bad condition. It reeked of damp,was covered in mildew and has rotted away in one corner. The dark shadow above the Abbey is mildew I couldn't remove as I didn't want to leave it soaking too long in case I was left with nothing and the surround covers the rotting corner. I hope I have saved it for another 50 years. It is a coronation sampler and the Queen can be seen sitting in the coach. All the damage was fully described when I bought it but I do like a challenge

Another Gold Coach coronation sampler, beautifully embroidered, sadly not by me and I have'nt found a frame to fit yet so it is displayed on a board. Shows the horses and coach leaving the Palace and heading to Westminster Abbey. Some samplers come, like this one did with no fabric left outside the embroidery and one I bought was the size of a tablecloth with the embroidery the size of a doiley in the middle.

Charlotte's pillow

Charlottes very own look alike pillow, I bought the panel in Spotlight this week when I went to their sale. Below Charlotte is supervising the cutting out, then posed next to the finished item.
My decorating tip #1. Always make sure your pillows match your cats.
Now I really must find a cat panel to match Emily as I don't like to play favourites.

Royal Sampler

Happy New Year to Everyone and now Christmas is over it is back to the serious business of collecting, stitching and reading about Royals and not forgetting to give my 2 beautuful cats a fair share of the limelight.I cross stitched this sampler on 14ct aida from a chart bought from the U.K last year. It was simple to stitch though I did think the horse would never end and I wanted to start on the Queen. I always do my own framing using cheap frames I buy and as it was hard to find a frame to fit I put ribbon down the side and I think it quite effective.

This is my work in progress from a kit bought on ebay last year, it's for the Queen's Golden Jubilee but I am going to get ahead of myself and change it to the Diamond Jubilee. Only 2 years to go and I know the Queen will make it, I will wait till the official jubilee colours are released then complete it. Clever!!!

Two of my favourite Christmas presents, Royal Books. The one on the left has very detailed information about the palaces, some I have visited and some no longer exist and a forward written by Prince Charles.

The book on the right has highlights from each year of her reign and all her Christmas messages included.

There could not be a new year post without Charlotte and Emily being busy as usual. I was cleaning the Diana room, the Princess Diana quilt was in the wash as it had cat hair over it, the mattress was upended so I could vacum and here's Charlotte watching from the mattress edge ready to point out anything I missed.

Catching up on some sewing in the quiet time between Christmas and new year and here is Emily keeping me company, isn't she sweet? and like her sister such a help.

Odds and Ends

Happy Christmas to All,hope everyone got lots of cards and parcels. Keep warm those in the Northern Hemisphere and cool those of us living South of the Equator.

Visited my daughter on Sunday for my grandson's birthday (sorry I don't have permission to show the birthday boy) and found this rock doorstop wearing a crocheted cover. Is she turning into her mother or worried about climate change???

We had a celebration brunch at a local restaurant and back at the house I had this very nice cup of tea (she knows I hate mugs) with the birthday cake.

I accidentley left the door of the small bathroom open, Charlotte knows she is not supposed to go in as it gets too crowded with me and 2 cats so she is looking to see if I noticed.

Yes that's you Charlotte, looking beautiful as usual.

I think this is her "throw me out if you dare look". Emily didn't notice the door was open so missed it all.
The next few posts were supposed to be Royal but once again I have been sidetracked by cats.

My 100th Post and it is ROYAL

By far the most expensive item in my collection is this beautiful figurine of the Queen made for her Golden Jubilee in 2002. Made by Royale Stratford in Staffodshire England it is hand made and hand painted and No.56 in a limited edition of 500. I bought it in Sydney, just one of those HAD TO HAVE items, almost afraid to take it out if it's display cabinet to photograph-safely back now.
The statue is shown on a coronation tablecloth.

A very pretty sampler made for the Queen's Silver Jubilee in 1977, hand embroidered on linen it is displayed on a Nottingham lace Silver Jubilee runner.

One of my favourite samplers because it shows the GOLD COACH which I love so much. Made for the coronation in 1953 the last 2 lines of the poem pictured were quoted by our then Prime Minister Robert Menzies when the Queen visited Australia in 1954.

I was lucky to win this sampler on ebay as it is so unusual and very well hand embroidered, there was a similar one up for auction at the same time made for the Festival of Britain in 1951 but I had to let that one go.

My 100th post (who said it wouldn't last) and it is all about the 3 major events in the reign of Queen Elizabeth II. Starting with her Coronation, then her Silver and Golden Jubilee. I hope the be in London for the Diamond Jubilee in 2012, less than 3 years to go now so I'm sure plans are well under way for the celebrations. I was there for the Golden Jubilee and it was so exciting..... I have lots more samplers and embroideries to show so please come back.

Charlotte and Emily wanted to be on the 100th post but I said no (well that was a rare event, even I am shocked I said no to them) but the next few posts will be ROYAL

Lake Hovercraft

Three hovercraft went past my house and as usual I rushed out to wave, just like a 2yr old always hoping one will stop and give me a ride.

Charlotte is looking to see if they are coming back and the pelican is watching from his precarious perch. He's seen it all before and unlike me he no longer get's excited.
NEXT POST is my 100th. Watch this space.

George VI Embroidery

Two embroidered samplers showing the Coronation route for the coronation of George VI May 1937. The embroidery below is the same as the smaller sampler but it has been used to make a bag, perhaps a sewing or pyjama bag. The embroidery on the bag is not quite finished but came with the left over old cottons for me to complete. (one day)
The transfer for the smaller sampler and bag was given away with the magazine 'Modern Woman' May 1937 and then you could use it in different ways.
These were all ebay purchases from the U.K.
Some samplers I receive show a lot of damp, mildew or watermarks and I am pretty good at bringing old samplers back to life but I havn't yet tried to remove the watermark on the larger sampler. (Napisan is the secret)
Off to another Christmas lunch now, Doll club this time. No competitions today so I won't feel bad if my dolls or bears don't win a prize.

Charlotte and Emily being models.

Charlotte and Emily think these pics may get them jobs as chocolate box lid models though Charlotte is not looking cute enough I think.
Emily is crashed out on the verandah but Charlotte is staying alert for the local bird life.

Here's Charlotte trying her old "look I've lost a leg" trick. Sorry Charlotte I only fell for that one the first time. She is sitting on the lace tablecloth I bought at the op shop and dyed blue and I love the china fruit bowl which my family make fun of but which may have to go soon to make way for royal "stuff".

Another Christmas Lunch

Women's Group I belong had a Christmas lunch yesterday in the private dining room of a local club, this is the table before the rest of our rowdy group arrived. Twenty one ladies came to the lunch and we needed the private room as we can be a bit noisey when we get together.
The 2 pics on the left show the large Hamper raffle prize which we have all been donating goodies too the past few meetings and I DID'NT WIN, did not even win 2nd prize the fruit basket pictured right. The winners are popular members and we were all pleased for them(yes even me). Money made from the sale of tickets was donated to the women's auxiliary of a local hospital.