Linen for Christmas!

As I endeavour to keep this blog only for my embroidery, I am not going to go into detail about my Christmas Day, but if you are interested in knowing that, please visit Patra's Other Place. But I decided these items would be of interest to my stitching friends. My sister-in-law and her hubby are still close friends with his ex-wife, so she is included in the family Xmas lunch. She is a beaut lady - loves embroidery and cats -just my kind of gal! Last year I stitched a ginger kitten for her, and she promised she would do something for me this year. The Tiger Lily centrepiece is what she made. Isn't it beautiful? She apologised for the purchased lace edge, as like me, she doesn't crochet, but that didn't bother me at all. My SIL doesn't stitch, but she manages to find things in antique shops for me at this time of the year, and the blue teapot centrepiece was one of her gifts to me. The Morning Tea tray cloth was one of two gifts from S from Beyond The Blank Page who also keeps an eye out for antique linen to add to my collection. She also gave me a gorgeous cross stitch book, which I drooled over for at least 15 minutes before continuing to unwrap other gifts!
The dinner plate was a gift from a very dear friend, who actually collects J & G Meakin ware herself, and she told me she fought bitterly with herself over this plate! She bought it for me because it had the Crinoline lady on, but then she wanted to keep it in her own collection. Apparently her conscience won, and it was in my pressie, along with soap and face towel.