Here is The Indian UFO...about 10 years ago. I have since completed the bottom section, but not the feather head dress. So that is what I am now working on. This embroidery frame was a great concept, but just not the right thing for this project.
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Mid Year resolutions.

I am not a great believer in New Year Resolutions. I figure if you make up your mind to do something, it really doesn't have to be at a certain time of the year. Still, if setting a goal in a time frame like that suits you, who am I to disagree? My style is more of a sudden decision to do something that I have been thinking about, or putting off, for some time - even a few years! And when I make that decision, I have to go for it there and then, otherwise the project or whatever it is that I have decided, will go on to the back burner yet again. In the past two weeks, I have made two momentous decisions...well, for me anyway.
The first one was to cull my stitching stash. I mentioned it on Patra's Other Place, but as the subject is about my stitching, I decided to mention here as well, for reasons which will become obvious. While I had everything on the floor sorting it out, I came to terms with the fact that I will never in a million years stitch all this stuff, and while I am keeping a lot of the kits and UFOs with the intention of at least having a go at them, the rest has to go. I now have a cardboard box full of UFOs and other assorted embroidered items to get rid of one way or another, and have already showed two friends the contents. The next thing will be to list them on eBay, or sell them at the Embroiderer's Guild Paddy's Market Day, which is later in the year. Either way, they've all gotta go!
My next major decision was concerning what I will concentrate on stitching next. Those of you who have been reading this Blog since its birth last year, may remember my references to an Indian Chief Cross stitch UFO. I was given this kit about 20 years ago, by an American friend who stayed with us for two weeks. She sent it to me when she got back home, having got to know our interest in Native Americans while she was here. I started on it with great enthusiasm, which gradually waned over the years when life got in the way, as it often does. Ken has nagged me to finish it, but when he took my framed embroideries off the wall to hang a movie poster, I told him he could forget about the Indian being finished, if that was how he was going to treat my work! In the past few months, his Mum has asked me about the Indian, and I told her I would rather finish some of the tablecloths she has given me. She replied that she would much rather see the Indian finished, and as her health is failing, I have decided that I will retrieve it from the back of the cupboard and get moving on it.
Today, I visited Sharon - to give her my box of UFOs to go through, and to see what she is working on at the moment. While I was there, she showed me a wooden frame she had picked up in an opshop for a few dollars, thinking it might come in handy. It was the perfect size for my Indian, so she has kindly lent it to me for that purpose. When I got home I promptly attached the Aida to the frame, and did a few rows of stitching. What a difference it makes when you have something in the right holder! With a bit of luck and dedication, I may just be able to give it to Ken for Christmas this year...and more importantly, make his Mum a happy lady.

Teapot on one side of crocheted teacosy. The lace is actually white, but to show the design up on the scanner, I had to insert a piece of white paper between the cosy sides, and then I had to adjust the colour on the scanner in order to show the design. So it looks a bit discoloured, when in reality, it isn't.
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Another HC client found this gorgeous teacosy while packing stuff to move to a new home. She said her late husband's auntie crocheted it, but she had no use for it. This picture shows the cup on one side, and the other picture shows the teapot on the other side.
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One of my Home Care clients went away for a week in the country with her husband, and found this lovely old teatowel in a local op-shop. She actually apologised for not being able to find anything more interesting, and I replied that I appreciated her even thinking of me while she was away! Aren't people nice?
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I need some help identifying this piece!

Today's photos are an eclectic mix. One corner of a delightful tablecloth which arrived from England (where else?) yesterday. Two corners have the crinoline lady, and the other two have a garden scene. Lovely. Then we have a large doiley, or centrepiece as they are sometimes known. As I have written on the description, this is a lovely piece of work, 90% French knots I think, but very hard to tell unless I put it under a microscope!
Now: the item I need your advice on, dear Readers. My Mum-in-law gave this to me several years ago, asking if I would care to finish it, but I regretfully told her that I would find it impossible. Very fiddly for a start, and I don't crochet, so I would not have been able to finish it off, even if I was to continue tacking the tape over the printed design. As you can see on the photos, it is named "Dickel Lace", which is what MIL referred to it as. I showed someone at the Embroiderer's Guild a while ago, and they said they had a similar piece in their collection, but didn't offer any further information about it, apart from telling me it was called "Tape Lace", not Dickel Lace. Well, I'm only reading what is on this sample!
Recently, I had an email from one of my regular eBay sellers, asking me if I knew anything about an item she had found at an estate auction. She had a photo, and it looked just like my "Dickel Lace". She wants to know more about it before she lists it on eBay, so people will know what they are looking at, if (like most people I've showed mine to) they have never seen anything like it.
So! Chloe, Sharon B, and all the other experts out there - this is your challenge for the week!

Dickel Lace, right side. Two kinds of tape are tacked to the blue material; I have left one piece loose here to show what it looks like. It is the tape in place under the red cotton tacking. The grey pattern is the outline design printed on the blue fabric, where the tape is tacked prior to crocheting.
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Reverse side of Dickel lace, showing the stitching that is holding the tape to the right side.
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This doiley does not have pink stains on it - it just scanned like this. The doiley may appear unremarkable at first glance, but when it is examined closely, you can see the incredibly fine stitching. It looks almost as if it was machine done, but the back shows that it is definitely hand stitched.
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One corner of my latest crinoline lady cloth. The colour is not accurate, as the embroidery colours are very pale shades, so I had to fiddle with the settings on the scanner to make it visible on here.
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Today's photos are of:

* A teatowel that I have just finished and posted to the USA as part of an exchange in a Yahoo stitching group I joined recently. I had to fold the tea towel into sections to fit the stitched sections on the scanner, and the middle section looks discoloured, but the material is actually the same shades all over. I am disappointed with my stitching here. I bought the teatowel on a whim, then I couldn't find any transfers that fitted into the squares on it, so I ended up tracing the pots from a pattern in a book and transferring them on to the material. The bit with my name was just written in freehand using one of those special pencils that wipes off material with a damp cloth. The trouble was, it smudged badly while I was stitching, so my work is all over the place. To make things worse, I was in a rush to get it done on time, and I forgot how to do stem stitch properly (I am HOPELESS), so it turned out rather untidy to say the least. Since then, I have got some of my old stitching books out, some evenweave, cotton and needle, and I am determined to practice some basic stitches before I do any more embroidery. I have done too much cross stitch in recent years, and not enough of the other.
* I found this book at an opshop yesterday - for A$3. Couldn't believe my luck! Mary Gostelow's books are always excellent, and are usually expensive, so I snapped this one up immediately!

Tea towel, stitched for a Yahoo Group exchange.
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Mary Gostelow's "Embroidery" - a classic.
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Good old England forever...and the best linen on earth!

Four parcels arrived in the mail today, but one was for Ken :-( The three that were for me were of course eBay wins, two of which were from the U.K. The Crinoline Lady tablecloth and tray cloth are from one person, and the WW1 postcard from another. The other parcel was from N.S.W. here in Oz - also an eBay win. This parcel contained five aprons - three half and two full, all lovely in their own way, but one in particular is the reason I bid for them (the auction was for the five in one lot). It is a delightful scene of a dog looking at a cat, which is sitting in a window, looking out onto a garden. Unfortunately, too big to scan, so until I get going with that 'dratted' camera, a pic will have to wait.
So what am I waiting on now? One more crinoline lady cloth is on the way from the U.K., and I have bid on a couple more items, while watching some more. Thank you everyone who has commented here, it makes it worthwhile continuing to do this. Thank you also for the compliments re my gift for my S.I.L. She did like it, I think...she is not a very demonstrative person in some ways, but she seemed to like it when she opened the parcel. See Patra's Other Place to read about her birthday gift to me..

Very old tablecloth from the U.K. featuring an amazing variety of designs. It has the Crinoline lady in two corners, with a garden design in the other corners. The rest of the cloth has various floral patterns around the edges and in the centre. The next picture shows just two, where I have folded the cloth over itself to show.
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Two more sections of this table cloth.
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Beautiful tray cloth, with this design stitched in opposite corners.
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WW1 French embroidered postcard.
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Thank goodness, I finally finished this kitchen sampler for my sister in law's 60th birthday, which was last month. She is getting it on Mother's Day - this Sunday. She will have my belated birthday pressie to give me as well - fair exchange!
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RAAF (Royal Australian Air Force) cushion cover. This was one of the items sent to me by Lee Anne - found in an op shop. I love this kind of social history embroidery. How could anyone discard this so carelessly?
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Corner of suppercloth which arrived from the U.K. today. The cloth has a gorgeous 3" hand crocheted hem, which really sets this off. OOPS! Forgot to rotate this photo on the hard drive before I posted it here...sorry about stiff necks, people!
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Isn't this simply unique?? One corner of a card table cloth, which I bought from Janet at Primrose Design. She sells some lovely items, and also has heaps of transfers!
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Some more vintage linen, and more to come.

This has been another good week for the Collection. Not only finding stuff at the antique shop and having some wins on eBay, but two dear friends have offloaded some of their unwanted linen to me! Lee Ann at Peartree Cottage, works in an opshop in the country town where she lives, and she picked up some lovely items to put aside for the next time we visited them. But in the end she couldn't wait any longer, so she put them in the mail
Then one of my home care clients had a stack of things she had inherited from someone in her family, some of which she kept, but the rest ended up with me. Now, I have egg on my face. The linen from Lee Ann, and the linen from my client, were on the back seat of my car, and as I drove around all day today, everything ended up in a tangled pile, and there are a couple of things that I have forgotten who gave them to me!! I have much more stuff from both of these ladies, that is currently soaking in the tub, so once it is all clean and pressed, I guess I am going to have to take everything to my client and ask her to refresh my memory! Oh dear...

This is a large circular doiley or centrepiece. My Mum-in-law started something similar about 70 years ago, and gave it to me a couple of years ago, asking if I would like to finish it. I said no, because I had no idea what it was, or how it was worked. I believe it is called "Tape Lace" among other names, as it consists of a piece of tape, pinned to a cloth, then stitched to attach it. This item also has some cutwork in it as you can see.
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At first glance, I took this to be a simple cross stitched doiley, but now that I have had a closer look, it is more than that. The corners are quite intricate, and the crocheted edge is gorgeous - much more that what one would expect to find on a little doiley like this.
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This little doiley looks insignificant here, but the real thing is very pretty indeed. The embroidery floss is either silk or rayon thread, as it is very shiny - more so than the usual stranded cotton.
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This piece is the right size for a pillowsham, but the lady who gave it to me said she didn't remember her grandmother having any such thing, so this may have been a chairback cover or small table topper.
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I have a supper cloth with this design printed on it. I love to find things that match something I already have. Now I know which colours to use if ever I get around to stitching the cloth.
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Floral table centre, with lovely crocheted edge. I adore the effect you can get with variegated cotton, as I think the flowers here are sewn with.
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Blue floral table centre (one end).
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And now from eBay...

I should say, from England, via eBay. The teacosy and green doiley are from the U.K., but the purple flowers tray cloth is Australian.

Oh dear, I should have fiddled around with my scanner! This tray cloth is actually pristine, not 'dirty white' as it looks here...I have folded it across the centre to fit both motifs on the scanner. They are beautifully stitched, with the flowers in a tiny chain stitch, I think. I need a magnifying glass to tell for sure.
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This item is from the same eBay seller who sold me the teacosy. The photo does not do it justice; the thread is a bright shiny green and the stitching is very detailed. I can't figure out if this was done over a printed pattern or transfer, or just worked out 'as you go' by the stitcher. Either way, I wouldn't attempt to replicate it! Very unusual and attractive.
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This was advertised as a tea cosy, but it is larger than usual, so I think it could also be used as a cover for a toaster or other appliance sitting on a kitchen bench. I just love these English cottage designs. This item has some yellow flowers stitched on the other side.
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From a local antique shop.

I don't often visit this particular shop, as although they stock a large amount of linen, some of it very collectable, they can be quite expensive, so I would rather not be tempted. But one day last week I was in the area and had time to kill, so...It was not a wasted visit. The crinoline lady runner here was a steal at $12 - the way it has been enhanced with the crochet bit on her dress really appealed to me. The red rose centrepiece was one of a dozen items in a plastic bag marked "Seconds, for craft work", meaning they were either damaged or stained. Well, for another $12 I came away with some lovely items, most of which are currently soaking in Napisan overnight! Watch this space as they say, for photos of these over the next few days. In the meantime, more coming up..

One side of a large doiley or centrepiece. This was in a bag of 'seconds' at the antique shop. It has a couple of faint marks which I suspect are candle wax, but don't detract from the overall piece as far as I'm concerned. I love the stitching!
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One end of a table runner, with this motif on each end. Notice the way the stitcher has incorporated the same crochet stitch from the runner edge into the crinoline lady's dress? How clever is that!
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A fascinating book on my favorite topic!

I had heard about a book by Rosemary McLeod called "Thrift to Fantasy", but knowing that it was a tad expensive, decided not to buy a copy just yet. But when I had a closer look at the details about the book on another blog, I changed my mind, and ordered a copy from Boomerang Books here in Australia. Ken's Mum had given me $50 for my birthday, and as the book was around that price, I thought it would be the ideal gift to buy for myself. I know she will love it as much as I do, and hopefully we will see her next week for Mother's Day, and I'll be able to show it to her then.
Here are some scans of it - the front cover, and two pages inside. I said it was expensive, but I should qualify that statement by adding that it is worth every cent. About 270 pages, mostly full colour photos of the author's unbelievable collection of vintage linen and hand crafted items. I have still only flipped through the pages a few times, without reading the text, but what I have seen has only whetted my appetite to read it in full as soon as possible! I don't have the contacts or the money to get a book published about my collection, but I am wondering if I could polish up Patra's Place to make it a kind of online book like so many unpublished authors are doing these days? Food for thought...

"Thrift To Fantasy" book cover.
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Teatowels from "Thrift To Fantasy" book.
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Apron, from "Thrift to Fantasy" book.
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Latest additions to The Collection.

Here are today's arrivals in the mail. The crinoline lady cloth is from the UK, the Peacock pillowcase from the USA (why is it that Americans have a monopoly on Peacock embroideries?), and the handtowel and doilies from within Australia. What else is on the way? A teacosy and doiley from the UK, and a traycloth from NSW. And as always, I have several items being 'watched' on eBay, so it's anyone's guess as to what else will land in my post office box in the next few weeks. I was bidding on a particularly spectacular crinoline lady cloth, which had started off at about five pounds. I put a maximum bid of ten pounds, but the auction finished today at twenty-one pounds...about A$50! Bit out of my price range...

This is the last tablecloth in the lot that I had on their way from England. That doesn't mean I have stopped bidding on them! This one like the others, is beautifully stitched on good linen. At first glance, the four corners look the same, as the C/lady's dress is the same colour, but on closer inspection, there are minor differences in each corner. The lady has a different pose, and the flowers are slightly varied in each corner as well. Lovely stuff!
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I love huckabuck hand towels - they are so old-fashioned ("vintage"!) and have a lovely soft feel. I have many of them in my collection, and usually have at least one on display in the bathroom. This is the first yellow one I have seen, and the stitching again is very neat.
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The eBay seller who sent me the budgie doiley and huckabuck towel, also sent this lovely little item as a bonus for being a nice customer! It is about 10 inches long, neatly stitched and such an unusual shape, I am happy to add it to the Collection. Aren't some people nice?
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Large doiley with budgies. I think I have set the colour a bit too dark on this scan, but it looked a bit washed out on the first attempt, and although the colours are bright, they aren't as dark as this.
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