During the first week of our holiday we drove from Adelaide to Sydney, travelling along the stunning scenery of the Great Ocean Road. In the evenings I would do a little stitching whilst we chatted over a glass of wine. I decided to record the different places we stayed in the sampler in amongst the variations of crosses and stars.

Twelve Apostles

The Great Ocean Road was amazing, we saw London Bridge, the Twelve Apostles, I became quite good at spotting potential places to visit on the map, my favourite place was one we found by accident, we were heading for Childers Cove, my OH was chuntering a bit as the narrow road seemed to be going on forever. Just before Childers Cove we saw a signpost for another cove, Murnanes Bay, it was gorgeous, I could have happily stayed there all day, a tiny deserted cove, blue seas and golden beach and cliffs…not so keen on the 5′ snake that slithered across our path on the way back to the car!

I started the sampler page with  three eyelet stitches and a row of cross-stitches. I love the way the variegated thread works with this row. The little stitch after the Great Ocean Road is a square boss. Yuulong’s stitch is a star stitch.

We stayed in the Eagle Hawk Motel in Malden which is currently owned by family, it’s a lovely vintage style motel with brass beds and patchwork quilts. There I stitched a row of Ermine stitches.

We stayed just outside Gundagai in the middle of nowhere, kangaroos usually pass through the area just after dawn on their way to the river. I got up early, didn’t see any kangaroos but I did enjoy the sunrise. I can see this photo as an embroidery! The six stitches on this row are woven crosses. On our way to Kiama we called into Canberra as my OH wanted to spend some time at the War Memorial, I visited the botanical gardens as was rewarded with an echidna ambling along towards me, I sat for about 20 minutes with another lady just enjoying the moment.

Of course, stitching crosses in Australia, I had to do a representation of the Southern Cross! The biggest cross is an outlined diamond eyelet, the four medium crosses are Algerian Eye, and the tiny one is a woven star.

So, that’s our drive from Adelaide to Sydney in stitches and another page for my stitch sampler.

I’ve now completed six double pages for my sampler, so I really think I need to start stitching them together into a book!