This is my contribution to the first RR I have received from the group I am in this year.
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Long awaited photos of where I live!

Here they are, after much cursing and swearing last night, when Picasa 'died' on me. I had intended to put these on Patra's Other Place, but as usual I was too quick off the mark, and by the time I realised I hadn't selected the right blog, I had already posted two photos here! So I thought stuff it - they can stay here.

Final photo for tonight. Ken and I are steam train buffs, and together with some friends, we organised this train to come to our suburb a few years ago, as part of the local town festival. This wooden trestle bridge is the only one of its kind still in use in suburban Melbourne. Costs a fortune for the railways to maintain, but they aren't allowed to pull it down because of its historic significance.
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This was taken from the front door, at the top of the steps, looking down into the front yard. Notice the possum nestbox on the tree in the top left corner of the picture. Ken had to climb to the top of our extension ladder to install this! The stag horn fern on the gum tree in the centre of the photo started out as a few fronds taken from my stepmum's place about 15 years ago. All we do is put banana skins in it now and then. Must be the right spot and the right diet - it is HUGE!
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Our place from the street. Again, can't see much for the trees, but we like it that way!
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This is part of our street. It is about 2 kls long, and has several hills along its length. We are down 'in the dip', just after the roundabout on the left hand side. You wouldn't think there were any houses here at all, would you?
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The joys of Op-shopping!

Over at The Blank Page, S mentioned a new book on the market, called 'The Treasure Hunter's Guide' - a guide to opportunity/thrift shops, second hand stores and trash & treasure markets around Melbourne. I was going to wait until I saw her copy before I bought one, but I found a copy in our local newsagent earlier this week and snapped it up. I only had one job this morning, from 9 to 10 am, then I was free until 2 pm, so I figured I would have time to go and check some of the shops listed in this little book.

Well!! Did I have fun! I didn't bother going to the places I already know about close to home; instead I went a bit further afield, and in doing so, found a mistake in the book. One of the addresses given was a private house, so I kept on driving, and around the corner I found the shop listed. It was an obvious error - the street changes name around a bend in the road, instead of being a definite corner, so if the author was unfamiliar with the suburb, I guess she just assumed it was the same road. I also found two more op-shops that aren't in the book, so I will be contacting the authors to let them know, as they have indicated in this book that if they get enough responses, they will publish another edition.

So was it worth all that driving around? Most definitely! Here is what I bought at several shops:
Two Chicken Scratch cloths
Two embroidered table cloths
Four aprons (three embroidered, one plain with unworked design)
Three plain huckabuck towels
Two embroidered huckabuck towels
Three large embroidered doilies (one exquisite whitework)
One pillowsham
A small embroidered calico bag (not sure of its purpose, but it is old)
and three books.
All this for less than $20! Now to get that digital camera working...

Another week has flown by..

As I read all my favourite blogs, I like to comment on them where it is appropriate, but I think I am spending too much time on doing that, and not enough time posting to my own blog! I got a little shock when I saw my last post was a week ago. Perhaps I felt there was nothing very interesting to write about, and yet I have had a busy and productive week.

My work always provides variety - I visit 8 or 9 different clients each week, depending on whether they need me weekly or fortnightly. And each person has different needs - mostly housework such as vaccuming, mopping, cleaning bathrooms, washing, ironing and shopping. So where is the variety, you may ask? That comes with the individuals. Even though the physical work is important, and the primary reason for being in their home, the moral support we give our clients is equally important. Our supervisor often says "You are not just cleaners or housekeepers. You are Carers". So once the necessary stuff is done, I spend some time chatting over a cup of tea or coffee. I have got to know all my clients pretty well, and I am aware of their unique problems, physical and otherwise. Some of them are chronically depressed, so I spend time listening to them, and when they are ready, I talk a little about me - usually about my linen collection and my stitching. This brightens most of them up, as they find it fascinating that I buy things over the Internet. "But isn't that dangerous?" they want to know, so I explain to them how eBay works. They love to see my auction wins as they arrive in the mail, and they also like to see what project I am currently stitching myself.

Today was a bit different. My last client for the day is often depressed, for a number of reasons which I don't need to detail here. Today was a lovely sunny day, and when I arrived at her home, she was sitting outside in her garden. After our initial "hello and how are you?" exchange, I asked what needed to be done inside, and she screwed up her face and sighed. I knew what to expect, so I said "How about I just whizz through with the vac, and then we go and have a cup of coffee down the road?" So that is what we did, and because it was my last job for the day, I actually spent well over my allotted time with her, just because we were enjoying each other's company so much! I knew from her bookshelves we had interests in common, but today we talked in depth about the subjects of some of those books, and I came away feeling that, despite our age difference (30 odd years) I had found another soul mate. More importantly, I think I had cheered her up quite a lot.

You're right - this is not a birthday card! When I had finished posting the cards, I was browsing through the pics of my embroideries, and decided to throw this one in for good measure. It is a tapestry, and took me about two years to complete. There are thousands of cat pictures around in all kinds of stitching, but this one is still one of my favorites, as they look so lifelike.
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This card looked much nicer when I sent it; when I scanned this, it was just sitting in a card that I thought I may have used, but as you can see, it was the wrong size, so I ended up putting the stitching into a white oval card and it looked much better.
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The girl I stitched this for, had already said that she loved rabbits, so the obvious design for her birthday card was a bunny!
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This was an easy little freebie in a cross stitch magazine. I didn't have much time to do this exchange, so I took the easy way out!
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Isn't this a sweet design? I have had a couple of friends ask if I would do it for them.
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This is my Round Robin, presently in the USA being added to. Hopefully it should get back to me by Xmas, or not too long afterwards.
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Coming back down to Earth...

Gosh, is it really a week since I posted anything new? I got caught up in replying to all the comments I have received about the Antiques Roadshow! Well, I am settling down again after all that excitement, and have started stitching again - a bit every day if I can, instead of leaving it for weeks on end, then grizzling because nothing gets completed! I have noticed that many of the Stitchers' blogs have a list of their projects for the current year in their sidebar. This is such a neat idea, and when I get enough time to sit down here and concentrate on the template (it still intimidates me!) I would like to have a go at putting my list of projects - finished and WIPs.
In the meantime, I am posting some pics of items that I have recently completed. One is a new Round Robin, with an MSN Group I belong to, and the cards are birthday exchange cards with other members of the same group. For some reason, I selected GIF instead of JPEG when scanning the Round Robin, so if it looks weird on your screen, don't call your ISP - it is all my fault :-(
One of my Blogger friends has asked her visitors to put photos of their towns/countries on their blog so she can do some armchair travelling. I thought that was a great idea, so I will be putting some pics on Patra's Other Place in the next few days. And I haven't forgotten that I promised to scan more of my vintage family autograph album, and more of my swapcards...just gimme time, puleeeeesse!!

The queues snaked all over the hall, dodging cameramen, tables set up for the experts, and other queues, which got hopelessly intermingled! But everybody cheerfully put up with it all. Aussies can be very patient - I think it is the British streak in our common background!
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Here I am talking to Tim Wonnacott, one of the English experts
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Waiting to talk to Michael Aspel. The hall looks empty, but this place is HUGE! This is only one corner of it.
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I didn't have anything else to hand Michael Aspel to autograph, so the lady who was with him gave me one of these postcards. The badges were given to everyone who attended the Roadshow.
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My Day at the Roadshow!

I am SO glad I was able to go to this event, and rather annoyed at myself for not asking for extra tickets, as so many others did - each person was allowed to ask for up to four tickets, but I only requested one. I was offered another ticket by a friend at 9 pm on Tuesday night, so I phoned five people who I knew would love to go, but they all had other commitments for today. And they all would have enjoyed themselves as much as me, I am sure. The weather forecast for Melbourne was very cold and rainy, with possible hail and thunderstorms. When I left home at 10.30 am it was blue skies and sunshine. When I left to come home at 5 pm, the same! As I was inside the nice warm Exhibition Building all day, I had no idea what was happening outside; apparently it was snowing in some parts of Melbourne!!
Ticket holders were warned there would be long queues, and there certainly were - just like you see on the English Roadshow! But the atmosphere there was so exciting and so much was happening that you just forgot about your cold and aching feet! Everybody in the queues were excited and wanting to talk to the next person about what they had to show, and of course the cameramen were setting up their gear in various spots, causing more excitement if it was near where you were standing! Most of the items that I could see being filmed were ceramics, furniture, or paintings - much like it is in England, so I knew it was most unlikely that I would be chosen. But some of the filming was near my queue, so I suspect I might be in the background in some of their shots!
I had two bites of the cherry on my linen. I was sent first to the queue for "Miscellaneous" items, as they didn't have a specific expert on linen. My 'expert' was the Englishman Tim Wonnacott - tall and dark with a moustache. He didn't really seem to know much about textiles, but he was very friendly and polite about my pieces, saying what I already know, and that is, it is difficult to put a value on them. So I trotted off to join the queue for "Australiana", and saw an Australian gentleman, who was surprisingly enthusiastic about my pieces. He had a close look at the stitching, commenting on the quality of it, and that the linen had been well preserved. He was of the opinion that individual pieces would not be worth a lot of money except to another collector like myself, but he felt that as a collection, it would be of great interest to the Australian Museum. That made my day!
Well, that is more than enough to write about my experiences today, but I am still on a 'high', so please forgive me, if you have actually read this far! I have had lots of lovely comments on my photos today - thanks to all of you. I will respond to them soon - possibly tomorrow when I have come down to earth :-) Footnote: There will be some photos on ebay Australia's collectables discussion board in the next day or so, but my own photos won't be ready to put on here until I finish the film in the camera. Don't hold your breath!

My stash as described in the post below (or above - however it comes up on your screen!)
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Part of my linen collection - aprons on the left, pillowshams, cushion covers, large runners, and tablecloths take up the rest of the space. Doilies and small things are elsewhere.
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Me in Japanese wedding Kimono which looks way too long, but is actually meant to be draped around the feet as I have tried to show.
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Okay, I figured it out!

Silly me, it was so darned easy! I went back into Picasa for another look and clicked on Settings. There was my solution - "select which blog I want to post to"! So I have written that down in my computer instructions book (which is about an inch thick of hand written and typed out instructions in my very own layman's language!). Thank goodness for that. Right! NOW I will post some of my other photos. Not all - there is too many for one night But at least I have scanned them all, so they are just waiting on the hard drive. For now I will put the pic of me in the Japanese wedding kimono. NOT a flattering photo; wouldn't you think one's husband could do better than this? Oh well, he can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, can he...I look like I am kneeling down, but I'm not - I am just a shorty (5'1"), and anything down past my knees dramatically shortens my appearance even more.
The other photos are of my collection of aprons and tablecloths, which are hung in the wardrobe of our spare bedroom. The aprons are on the left of the pic, and take up about one quarter of the space. The other pic is of my stash in my craft room/study/den, whatever you call it in your country! The upper shelf you can see has all my UFOs, SINS and WIPs in the plastic bags, with my floss and other bits in the tins on the right. Underneath those, the suitcase is full of materials of all kinds such as Aida and other evenweaves, laces, calico, etc.

Photos on wrong Blog!!

I knew it. I knew I would eventually get into strife by getting too big for my boots and having two blogs. For some reason, I can only get Picasa/Hello to post photos to Patra's Other Place; I know it is just a matter of me twiddling some setting or other, but I have just wasted nearly an hour, trying to post my pics here, but to no avail. So, I have put photos on Patra's Other Place of the items I am taking to the Antiques Roadshow. I have a heap of other photos to post, but as they are all to do with my linen collection, I am not going to put them on P.O.P. as well. They can wait until I figure out (or am told how to - HELP somebody!) how to select which blog to post photos to!

A good weekend is one when much is accomplished!

Now that I have two blogs going, I have to make Important Decisions about which one to start a new post on! I decided to stay with Patra's original Place with this post, as I have been waffling about the Antiques Roadshow here, so I may as well continue on. Today I spent getting everything ready for Wednesday. I ironed the three tablecloths, two aprons and the few other items I am taking, and hung them up ready to be rolled up (NOT folded!) on cardboard rolls on Wednesday morning. This will be a last minute job to avoid them being too creased for showing. Ken produced a tiny folding stool that he takes to sit on when he goes fishing. Everyone has to queue for hours at the Roadshow, and my arthritic feet would not take kindly to that! so I will take the stool to prop on when the queue is at a standstill. I am also taking a Thermos of tea and some sandwiches and fruit - it is going to be a long day! Oh, and the camera of course; I have just found out that it is okay to take photos. All my gear is to be stashed in a neat little foldable shopping jeep thing, so I can just push it from place to place, instead of carting stuff around in a bag of some kind. The Collectables discussion board on eBay had a very informative thread and some great photos on it tonight, from the eBayers who were at the Roadshow in Sydney today. They were very lucky with the weather - fine and sunny apparently. But I am going to add an umbrella to my stash on Wednesday - this is Melbourne, and anything can happen! The eBayers all enjoyed themselves immensely, which bodes well for those of us down south. If anybody reading this wants to have a look at the photos, all you have to do is go into ebay.com.au, click on Community, click on Discussion Boards, and select Antiques & Collectibles. When you get on there, look through the list of posts until you find a title with Antiques Raodshow (sp as shown!) and click on that.
Well, I'm off to Patra's Other Place to put my other piece of good news!!!!

I took some photos today!

...but not with the digital camera, so they won't be appearing on here until early next week. I have photographed the items I am taking to the Antiques Roadshow*, some of my recent eBay wins, a shot of the wardrobe where I keep my tablecloths and aprons, and a shot of the cupboard where I keep my stash of UFOs and SINS. Mostly SINS, now - I will never stitch all that stuff, no matter how many times I am reincarnated and go looking for it :-( You will see what I mean when you see the photo. I also took some photos of Topsy, as she was hanging around while I was sorting out my linen to photograph. There is one photo left on the film, and I will ask Ken to take a special pic. of me. My Japanese penpal gave me a traditional Japanese wedding kimono for my 50th birthday - apparently they are very popular in the USA as wall hangings. Well, mine has been hanging on the wall in the spare room that houses my linen collection, because I just don't know where else to put it! Yesterday, I made my monthly visit to my Japanese friend (the lady I stitched the card for), and I took the kimono to show her. She was absolutely delighted, and asked me to put it on, which I did, and she arranged it around me in the proper manner. Then she said I should have a photo taken of me in it, so I will do that this weekend. *More about the Antiques Roadshow. I had a phone call tonight from a lady who I have got to know over the Net via eBay. She lives in a country town about 100 miles from Melbourne, and she has also been selected to appear on the Roadshow. She was telling me that apparently there were about 200,000 - yes, two hundred thousand! applications from around Australia to get on the Show. So I feel even more privileged to have the chance to go on it. Lee and I are both taking our cameras; she will put some of her photos on eBay, and I will put some of mine on here, all going well, that is. It would be just my luck if I dropped the camera in my excitement - LOL!

A Day full of Goodies!

Today was a beaut day in many ways. I collected an ebay win from the seller in person, as she works not far from where I live. It was her first eBay transaction, and she had auctioned a heap of cloths, doilies and an apron, most of which had been stitched by her great-grandmother. I beat off a concerted effort by another bidder, and it was well worth the money - all the linen was of an exceptionally high standard of embroidery. So I have some lovely items to photograph or scan for my next lot of pictures here! I had arranged to have lunch with S from The Blank Page, but got side tracked on the way there, at a couple of op-shops, at which I added some more items to my stash in the car. When I arrived at S's house, we decided to go out somewhere nice for lunch, so headed off to one of the more affluent of Melbourne's inner suburbs, where we spent a delightful two hours in bookshops and opshops, stopping briefly for coffee and a snack. Another $50+ on books and I had well and truly blown the budget by then, but what the heck, I don't do that very often. By the way, some of my Blogging friends expressed interest in seeing photos of Aussie wildlife; I put some pix on Patra's Other Place last night - go see!

I will never be rich!

The Embroiderers Guild of Victoria hold a "Paddy's Market" day once a year, where the Guild members can clean out their stashes and sell what they no longer want. I had heaps of books and magazines, a few unworked tablecloths and doilies, and some bags of crochet cotton, which had been given to me last year by someone who was herself having a cleanout. Most of the other members have similar stuff to sell, so we all set ourselves up at tables around the hall, and then check each other's stash. Great fun! Most of us seem to find things on other tables that we want, so it reduces our profit margins somewhat! I resisted the temptation to buy other people's UFOs or SINS, nor did I buy any books, which was a big victory for me, as they are usually my downfall. In fact my only purchase was $1 for a nice piece of blue gingham with the intention of attempting Chicken Scratch. I didn't sell any of the books or mags, nor any of the cross stitch kits I had out, but most of the crochet cotton went, and all of the UFOs, so I came home with about $50. However, when I checked my eBay account tonight, I discovered I had won an auction, which is costing me $51, so hence the title of this post - I'll never be rich...

My New Blog - Patra's Other Place!

But it is not replacing this one. I decided to create a second blog for things other than my stitching and my linen collection, as Patra's Place is becoming a little unwieldy. So Patra's Other Place will now be the home of other interesting stuff such as swap cards, autograph books, photos of pets, Australian wildlife, etc., etc., etc. Please drop over in a few days time (give me time to scan and download stuff!) and let me know what you think.

Calling all Apron lovers!!!

I finally got around to putting Linda's CD in my computer, logging into Picasa, and attempting to transfer the images direct from the CD to my blog. It worked! Well of course - there is no reason why it shouldn't have - just another example of my lack of confidence in high level technology - lol!! But back to business...
I have put nine aprons here - with sincere apologies to those people on dial-up. I'm afraid it will take a while to download, and probably use up your monthly allowance of megabytes or whatever..sorry. But once I started, I thought I may as well put a few online, otherwise I would be fiddling around for weeks on end if I did it one at a time. There are another 10 or so on the CD, but I will put them on in a few days time.
Enjoy! And please feel free to comment. I notice while actually in the process of downloading, Maggie Ann was sitting at her computer watching, and commenting as I went!

Stunning crinoline lady. I found this in an antique shop and was happy to pay an exhorbitant amount of money for it!
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Captain Cook's cottage, Melb. Australia. This is quite a talking point in my lectures. Part of it has been very nicely stitched, but the rest is very badly stitched - I tell people it must have been a mother/daughter effort...very small daughter!
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Unusual design, very fine stitching.
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Swan. This is about 75 years old. It was given to me by a lady who is now in her 80's and stitched this when she was about 12. It is all done in tiny, exquisite chain stitch.
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NOT applique! (or machine stitched) One of my favorites, due to the high quality stitching.
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Boy with donkey - looks like a European design.
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Not quite a crinoline lady, but still very pretty!
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Horse and carriage
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My latest Chicken Scratch apron - doesn't the red thread give it new life!
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Table runner. Notice how the embroiderer has used varied shades of one colour for the dress - this is an excellent example of how my Colour Change sampler can be utilised.
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Second Lavender Girl cloth (only part of design unfortunately - can't fit it all in on the scanner)
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One of my new "Lavender Girl" aka Crinoline Lady tablecloths.
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What a week that was!

Last week was one of the good ones so far this year. The Antiques Roadshow ticket arrived, and so did a number of goodies I had won on eBay: Three stunning tablecloths - two Crinoline Ladies and one very unusual Scottish design, featuring bagpiper, Celtic dancer and scottie dogs, surrounded by a cross stitch pattern that looks just like a tartan. A table runner with an exquisite Crinoline Lady at each end, more assorted doilies, and two half-aprons, one embroidered with the ubiquitous chicken scratch/Swiss/Australian embroidery (!) This last one is really one out of the proverbial box - on dark blue gingham, the cross stitch is in white thread which has been laced with red thread - quite startling in appearance, but very pretty. 90+ year old MIL was staying with us this weekend, and she was most interested in this last apron - she said it was just like the ones she and her friends used to stitch for their glory boxes.
OK ladies - just be patient! I will scan everything in the next few days for all to see and enjoy!

It doesn't take much to make an old lady happy...

Remember the birthday card I stitched for my elderly Japanese friend? I put a picture on here a few days ago. Well, I took it around to her this morning, on my way to work. She was surprised to see me at first, but her face lit up when I gave her the card and wished her a happy birthday. Then she opened the card and said "ooohhh! You make? You make for me??" and when I said yes, she had tears in her eyes. It is nice to think such a small gesture can bring so much joy..

Chicken Scratch or Swiss Embroidery?

While I was looking for some inspiration for Pam Kellogg's teatowel challenge, and was leafing through a small book called "Easy To Embroider" by Anna Griffiths, I was astonished to find four pages devoted to what everyone here refers to as Chicken Scratch! To quote the first paragraph: This clever but simple technique - called Swiss Embroidery - is both pretty and practical. Here it is used for a table mat, but it can be used to decorate all kinds of household articles made of gingham. I have scanned the first two pages, then a close-up of the first page giving the instructions, but as you will see, I didn't do a very good job. I couldn't figure out how to rotate the scan so it would appear here the right way up, and as well as that, it isn't very clear - sorry! But I was quite excited to find this in one of my books, so I had to at least try! The book was published in 1991 by Anaya Publishers, London.

Close up of item about Chicken Scratch. Upside down - dammit! sorry...
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Article on Chicken Scratch in one of my books. Sorry this is sideways, don't know how to rotate it here.
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This is my Colour Change Sampler - showing the effects of blending four or five shades of a colour from darkest to lightest. All stitched using three strands, and mixing the shades to achieve subtle changes.
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HUGE excitement here at Patra's Place!!!

When I received a large manilla envelope from England in the mail today, I wondered who on earth was sending me a certificate of some kind - that is what it looked like. But within seconds, I was jumping around with excitement (I felt like yelling out WHEEEEEEE! but I was standing in the main street outside the post office). It was my ticket to the Antiques Roadshow to be held in Melbourne on 10th August. It appears that all the applications from Australians wanting to go on the show, actually went to the UK office of the Roadshow, to be vetted by the 'experts'. They obviously decided my linen was going to be worthy of their scrutiny! I am supposed to take five pieces only....how the heck am I going to choose out of five hundred?! Nah, it won't be a problem. They are looking for items that relate to Australia in particular, and I have some lovely linen that has Australian icons embroidered on it. When I have decided, I will post pictures here. But don't hold your breath - I could change my mind many times over the next 3 weeks!

The Oldies in my life.

Unlike so many people these days, I love my job. I love what I do, and the people I do it for. When I was nearly 16 years old, I started my first job doing office work. I never really liked what I did; it was never a career - just something I had to do to pay the bills! I continued doing various kinds of office work until I turned 51, and decided that it was time to retire, and get a life! I had wanted to do volunteer work with the aged for years, but never had enough time, so I took that on as soon as I quit work. I visited people in their homes, and others in nursing homes, and I loved doing it, although what I saw and heard at times nearly broke my heart. After six months, I was offered a part time job in one nursing home, and I took it on, staying until the place closed down.
Then I found this job working for the council and it suited me perfectly as the hours are flexible, i.e. I can decide which days I work, and how many jobs I do each day. I am a carer - I go to private houses and carry out various duties for the elderly and/or disabled people who live there. I can do housework such as vac and dust, mop floors, etc., as well as washing and ironing. I can also do their shopping, or take them to medical appointments. I am a certified Personal Carer, which means I can assist in bathing and dressing people who need help in that area. I can visualise most people reading this thinking "gosh she must be hard up for fun if she likes doing all that so much!" Well, I really don't mind any kind of housework - even my own. My house is not perfect by any means; it is clean without being spotless, and it is reasonably tidy, if not a showpiece! Looking after other people's houses is actually more fulfilling for me than sitting at a desk 9 to 5. I feel I am achieving something worthwhile, when my clients are so grateful to me for doing something they are unable to do themselves.
The down side of this job is seeing 'how the other half live'. I often say to my elderly clients "There are no surprises for me in my old age - having worked with so many of you, I know what is in store for me!" There are widows who have had several children, who in their turn have had children, and some of my clients even have great-grandchildren. But most of them rarely see these family members, except at Christmas if they are lucky. They sit alone in their homes, often in poor health, day after day, week after week, month after month, without phonecalls, letters or visits from their families. I get so angry and disgusted, but of course there is nothing I can do. Over the years, people have said to me "You'll be sorry you never had kids - nobody to look after you in your old age". Really?? HAH! I have living proof there is no guarantee that your offspring will care for you when you are old and sick.
I could write a book on what I have seen and heard in my work and volunteer duties in the last 5 years, but I would have to change a lot of names, and even then, anybody who felt guilty about the way they treat their parents would recognise themselves in a flash, and I would be in the courts for invasion of privacy or some other politically incorrect misdemeanour! So, I won't write a book. But I will from time to time when the mood is upon me, write in my blog a few lines about some of the people I care for and visit, because it is a very important part of my life, and I learn so much from these people, that I want to document it in some way. If it bores anyone who is a regular reader of Patra's Place, I make no apologies. This is MY blog! But keep coming back - there will always be new pieces of linen, swap cards and autograph books (that reminds me, I have some more of that to scan!)

A birthday card for a Japanese lady that I visit for a volunteer organisation. She is 90-something this week, so I decided to make something special for her.
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My latest linen acquisitions.

Here are the photos I mentioned last week, of the items I have either won on eBay, or found in the local op shop. There are a few more things that I haven't scanned yet - two pillow shams and two tea cosies, because I hadn't washed and ironed them at the time. I am expecting some more stuff from eBay shortly, so I'll include them in that lot.

This is the smaller doiley of the peacock duchess set.
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The larger doiley in a duchess set of three. Maybe not the best peacock you have ever seen stitched, but I liked it enough to add to my growing collection of embroidered peacocks - and they are all different!
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Child's apron. Plain stem stitch, but a sweet little design. I can just imagine a small person with this on, standing beside Mum in the kitchen asking if she can lick the beaters!
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Cushion cover. Couldn't get the whole thing under the scanner, but at least you can see the lovely stitching.
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My other new cloth - a supper cloth. A pair of oriental style fans in each corner, with the orange ribbon and daisies linking the corners. On crisp white cotton - this looks like it has never been used.
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This is a standard size tablecloth, with the budgies stitched in all four corners, on a cream coloured linen.
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NOT a good pic of Ken - this was taken about 15 years ago when he grew a beard just to see what it would look like! But a gorgeous photo of Patra and Smokey, who weren't good friends, but tolerated each other to keep the peace!
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This is our first beautiful cat Patra, when he was about 8 weeks old. He loved to get in our slippers.
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This is actually two photos on one scan. The top pic shows a mother brushtail possum with her baby on board. The bottom pic is a ringtail possum - a much smaller species than the brushtail.
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Dinner's on! Here are the Lorikeets on the feeding station Ken built for the birds. We put out apple and seed mostly, and bread for the doves and other non-native birds.
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Rainbow Lorikeets, lined up on the edge of the roof, waiting for some nibbles.
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Lots of photos to put on here!

Gee whiz, what an exciting Saturday night it has been for me. Hubby asleep on couch, animals stretched out in front of fire, and me at the other end of the house, going through boxes of photos to scan for my Blog. Well, it has been raining fairly steadily and is quite cold out there, so I guess I may as well be here as anywhere else. I have pictures of Patra (our first cat, of whom this blog is named in honour), lorikeets and possums on our feeding stations, and a few other pix that some of you have expressed interest in seeing. I have also scanned most of my latest linen acquisitions. Now I have to decide which to put on first. Despite now having unlimited download/upload access, I am loath to put everything on at once, as those of you who are on dial-up would have to sit for ages for it all to come across...I am very conscious of that, as it wasn't so long ago that we didn't have Broadband, and I hated it when somebody emailed me a great long heap of pictures, and I almost fell asleep waiting for them to appear on my screen! Think I will put the animals on first. It will make a nice change from my linen. I really should start another blog for all this. It totally defeats the original purpose of my blog, which was supposed to be for my stitching and linen collection. But there again, some of my favorite blogs run along the same lines, so I am not alone in my meanderings!

To our Friends in England...

I have spent most of tonight reading eBay's chatboards, both here in Oz and the UK. eBay is one of the first places on the net to find out what is going on around the world when there is a sudden disaster, as people in various time zones are on eBay 24 hours a day. The first message appeared on one of the UK message boards, minutes after the first explosion in London. Someone in Australia must have been reading the UK boards late at night (as I have done sometimes) and seen the thread about the bombings, and immediately put something on the Aust. board. It snowballed from there, and now there are hundreds of messages pouring into the UK eBay site from all over the world, expressing horror, sympathy and support.
People in Australia who weren't able to get on to rellies in England via the phone, put messages on eBay's boards, which were picked up by eBayers in the UK. These lovely Brits told the Aussies to email them with phone numbers, and they would try to make contact locally, which eventually, some of them did, much to the relief and heartfelt gratitude of the Aussies.
Things like this renews my hope for the human race. For all the terrible things that a minority of humans do to each other, I am firmly convinced that the majority of us are decent caring humans.
Did anyone ever read the open letter from Australia to the Bali bombers? Well, somebody in London has written a similar one to their terrorists, and it was on the UK eBay message board. I have copied it to my hard drive, but am reluctant to publish it here, because the language may offend some people - mind you, the people is meant for deserve more than just swear words! To all my British Blog Readers - keep your chin up. You are renowned for getting on with your lives when you are under attack, and renowned for helping each other in extreme difficulty. You have many friends here in Oz, who are thinking of you and praying to their God whoever He or She may be. Hang in there, and peace be with you.

More goodies from eBay (and another dent in the bank account)

My eBay purchases come in fits and starts. I check out the Collectables and Textiles categories on eBay most days. Sometimes I can go for a week and find nothing that excites me, but other times, there will be a dozen items every day that I add to my Watched list, until it overflows and I have to make up my mind if I really want these things (or can really afford them), or just let them go. I probably let most of them go, as unless I come into a huge inheritance or win the lottery, I do not have enough money to bid for everything I would like to. Not only that, we don't have a big enough house to store all that I would like (we would if the Other Half would allow me to make major renovations to one end of our house, and we can't afford that either).
So, what arrived in my mail box this week? From the USA, a set of three doilies with the most exquisite peacocks embroidered on them. There were a dozen crocheted doilies as well but as I don't collect them, they will be going to a good home elsewhere. From local sources: A cushion cover that is about three quarters finished. It is an old fashioned cottage with the usual hollyhocks and daisies around it, all beautifully stitched. Just needs a bit of grass and leaves done to finish it off. I was visiting one of my elderly friends today and showed her. She said hopefully "Are you going to finish it soon?" I crossed my fingers behind my back and said "Of course!" Another cushion cover arrived a few days before, but this one is finished. It has autumn leaves and daisies on it, so pretty.
A child's apron, with a little girl and her skipping rope. The lady who sold this to me apologised by email for the fact that it would be posted in a large flat envelope, because she had starched it so heavily, it couldn't be folded into a smaller size!
Two simply stunning tablecloths - well, one tablecloth and one smaller suppercloth. The tablecloth has a pair of budgies perched on a branch with pink blossom, hand embroidered in each corner. I have another cloth with red robins stitched on it, so they will make a nice pair to display when I give my next talk on my collection. The supper cloth has an unusual design, at first glance Oriental, but at a closer glance, it is just a very intricate design, finely stitched.
Then, a rare find - a Carver cloth. I had heard of them but until now, had not seen one on eBay. It is a 50 x 80cm white linen cloth with a carving knife and fork embroidered in the centre. I understand from some of my books that these were used on the dining room table, for the dish containing roast meat to sit on, so it wasn't on the actual table surface or table cloth.
I have been lucky at the Opshops this week too, for a change. Today I found two teacosies, two pillowshams and a tapestry which hasn't been started. I don't normally buy tapestries at all, but this was titled "Geisha" and was so ugly, for 50c I had to buy it, just to show my elderly Japanese friend for a laugh! Most serious cross stitch and embroidery Geisha pictures are absolutely gorgeous, but this thing...ugh! My friend agreed with me! I will get the scanner going this weekend and put some photos of my new acquisitions on here then.

Antiques Roadshow coming to Australia!

For those who are fans of the English "Antiques Roadshow", if you didn't already know, they are coming out to Oz in August. I used to love watching the show on Foxtel, but there were so many repeats, I stopped watching after a while. I first heard about the proposed Australian visit on the Collectables Message board on eBay. There will be one day in Sydney and one day in Melbourne. The Lifestyle Channel invited people to apply for tickets, and submit details of what they want valued. They indicated a preference to items pertaining to Australia. So I applied, and listed five of my favourite pieces of linen that commemorate Australian events, such as the opening of Sydney Harbour Bridge in 1932 and the Royal Visit in 1954. I received an email from Lifestyle Channel today, acknowledging my application, and saying they had received thousands of applications, and would be sifting through them all this month to choose which ones to invite to the shows.
I have no idea what my linen collection is worth; in fact when people ask me, I tell them it is priceless, and I mean that in the true sense of the word. How do you put a price on something that was handmade so many years ago, and is possibly only one of perhaps half a dozen still in existence? I haven't even got it insured, as again, nobody can put a price on these items. Things like coins, stamps, silver and china have defined values in the antique and collectable market, but linen has its value in the eye of the beholder. The only people that truly appreciate its worth are those who have stitched themselves.
The reasons I don't bother even trying to insure my linen is that firstly, if our house burnt down, I could never replace the linen for any amount of money, so why bother even taking out extra insurance? The second reason is, if anybody was thinking of breaking into our house, I doubt very much if they would steal a bunch of tablecloths and doilies!! People that rob homes aren't looking for that kind of thing, and even if they did, they wouldn't know where to take it to sell quickly. So again, there isn't much point in insuring against theft.
Ho hum, I got side tracked again, didn't I? Ah, the Antiques Roadshow...what a buzz it would be to get on there - just the atmosphere with all those other people showing their bits and pieces - what fun!

Crinoline lady swap cards for Meggie Cat

Here they are as promised, Meggie Cat. Well, some of them anyway. I have several hundred like this, but it is 2.30am and I am getting a tad tired! Seriously, I hope you enjoy these images. Wouldn't some of them make fabulous embroidery designs!! The talented and creative people who visit Patra's Place will no doubt think of exciting things to do with these pictures - I would love to hear some of your ideas!

Last four cards for tonight.
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And four more. The top two are almost like a stained glass picture with the colours so clearly outlined, aren't they?
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Two cards this time, as the design is so tiny, I thought it might be better with just two that can be magnified to a bigger image if need be.
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Three crinoline ladies, one Dandy!!
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Crinoline lady swap cards
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Can a Blog run out of space?

I find it hard to believe that one can upload and download all these pictures etc. and not pay one cent for the priviledge. Well, that is not strictly correct; we have just altered our ISP plan from a maximum of Something which cost us $55 per month, to an Unlimited plan for $64 per month. Since I discovered Blogging, our usage skyrocketed and our monthly ISP charge was over $70, so I thought it prudent to upgrade. But isn't it amazing that people all over the world can put all this stuff online for all to see, and apart from your ISP charge, it costs nothing. Can you imagine how much it would cost to print all this stuff and mail it to all the people who look at your blog? Guess I am showing my age again...kids these days think nothing of it - they just take it for granted. I can't. I keep thinking of things to put on here that people have asked for, i.e. photos of my linen collection, patterns for aprons, sketches from the Autograph Book, and now Meggie Cat has expressed interest in my swap cards - Crinoline ladies in particular. So, getting back to my original question - is there a limit, or can we go on forever?

Lessons in advanced computing.

Today, I spent the afternoon with S. (The Blank Page). A short time ago, she tried to teach me the finer points of blogging, i.e. adding links etc., but my brain simply shut down at the mention of HTML - all those odd signs and words! A few months ago, Linda (Chloe's Place) had also had a go at showing me but I wasn't ready for it. However, today it was cold and wet outside, a good day to stay indoors and learn something useful. S. had printed a copy of her blog's template, and she was able to show me what it all meant in relation to what actually appears on the screen. Bit by bit, it started to make sense, and finally, I was able to write some 'plain English' instructions for myself that I would be able to follow once I got home. So here I am at nearly 1 am - eyes propped open with matchsticks, but very pleased with myself, and grateful to S. for her patience. I have successfully added my favourite blogs to the list on the right here, and also have made links where I have used other Bloggers, so people reading my posts can click on names to go straight to another blog. A BIG THANK YOU! to S. - I owe you a cuppa for this! I should mention here that Linda did a lot for my blog when she was here, apart from showing me HTML stuff. She set me up with the Stats Counter and I am very grateful to her too - it has some fascinating information available, including links to the websites where people came from to find me! Quite amazing to see what kind of people are watching me...bit spooky sometimes! But I also found some really neat blogs including the last two on my new list - for Cat Lovers Only, I should warn you!