Petra also collected handkerchiefs, and the reason for this collection was rather special. “When Rósa, my friend, and I were eight or nine years old, we decided that we would always give each other a handkerchief as a birthday present. It had to be at least a handkerchief. But as long as we were on good terms, there was to be something more as well. If there was only a handkerchief, that would be a sign that something was not right. And every year there was always a handkerchief - and always something extra.” Each year, they renewed this promise, and over time, Petra amassed a large and colorful collection of handkerchiefs. A quiet monument to a lifelong friendship.

When asked, Petra tended to downplay any claim that she had a strong interest in geology or the natural sciences in general. She said her fascination lay in the beauty hidden within nature, not in the academic knowledge behind it. Her correspondence, however, tells a different story. Among her letters are many from geologists, marine biologists, and botanists. Some were responding to Petra’s questions about stones and natural history. Others expressed thanks for the specimens she donated for research and scholarly work. One such specimen was a whelk Petra sent in, which Anton Helgason had found near his home in Lönd in Stöðvarfjörður as a child. The whelk proved to be previously unknown elsewhere in the world and was given the name Stöðvarkóngur. In this way, Petra contributed to expanding our knowledge of Icelandic nature, even though she herself made little of it.

Although Petra welcomed thousands of visitors to her museum each year, she was uncomfortable with the attention she personally received. In 1995, Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, then President of Iceland, awarded Petra the Order of the Falcon in recognition of her work in collecting and preserving natural artifacts. On that occasion, Petra was invited to a formal dinner at Bessastaðir, the presidential residence, but she declined. Her reasoning was simple: “I received recognition for the stones I own, not for myself. It was the stones that received the Order of the Falcon.” After some persuasion from family and friends, Petra did attend the dinner and enjoyed it. So uneasy was she with attention that she said she always tried to dress in a way that attracted as little notice as possible. She cared nothing for contemporary fashion and paid little heed to what was 'stylish' at any given time. “Fine clothes,” she felt, were uncomfortable, and everything that comes with them was "an unnecessary waste of time." She never wore makeup and did not wear jewelry of any kind. When traveling, she preferred to carry her belongings in a small plastic bag. Ultimately, Petra’s taste was shaped by her outlook on life and her interests.

Petra’s fascination with the wonders of nature grew out of the deep respect she felt for everything that belongs to it. “I remember thinking how terrible it was not to be able to compose a song or a verse or anything beautiful about all the beauty one sees: to convey it somehow. I have experienced so much beauty out in nature. Truly breathtaking beauty. I have often sat down and simply admired nature. It is all so changeable.” These words reveal that Petra was an artist at heart. Stones became her medium, her way of giving form to a deep need for expression. The guest books show that many visitors experience her home as a work of art. In this way, Petra succeeded in sharing the beauty she encountered on her journeys, even though this was never her original intention.