"It takes ages to finish a quilt you're not working on!"

Monday, March 03, 2008

Windfall from a generous cousin!

One of Ken's cousins has an unusual occupation; she works for a company who cleans up houses in readiness to be sold, after the owner has died or moved elsewhere, and the family left in charge don't have time to do it themselves. After the family takes what they want to keep themselves, the rest is consigned to a rubbish skip or sent to charity/op shops. My cousin-in-law had a box of it on its way to the opshop, but knowing my love of old linen brought it home to show me instead.
I try not to include lace, crochet, tatting, etc. in my collection, as it would be simply out of control, but I couldn't let this lot go out the door! I'm taking it to the Guild this week to get the members' opinion on whether it is worth saving, and then I'll decide who to bequeath it to - I have some friends who do collect this kind of work and might be very pleased to add it to their collections!
Here are the doilies on the floor:
And here are close ups of some of them:
This is a cutwork supper cloth:
And this exquisite supper cloth is either crochet or tatting - if you can identify it, please leave a comment to advise me! Close-up of the lacework: I have several of these doiley holders, but nothing quite like this one!

7 comments:

Karen 's World said...

Wow! What lovely treasures. I can see many of the pieces in a crazy quilt! Thanks for sharing these pieces with us.

Aussie Stitcher said...

There are some gorgeous pieces there, I love the last doily you photographed. LOL at your client, yes, the elderly are certainly not to be taken for granted and notice much more than what we give them credit for.

Maggie Ann said...

No kidding! This is the first doiley holder I've ever seen. Neat...=). So you like to sketch too....like you, its been a long time since I was serious about sketching. But now...and again, I'm having fun with a set of watercolor pencils and my new artists book..... Your post is a treasure trove! They couldn't come to a better person than you Gina for the love of it all....=) About posting my family's needlework. I can only think of one piece right now, but its late and I'm sleepy! I'll try to post a picture of two anyway. Its nice of you to remember that. Every birthday my Grandmother would make me a hanky she would crochet the edge on. Better call it a day...

Maggie Ann said...

Hi Gina! Just stopping by to let you know I just posted several needlework pieces as you've requested....at my vintage blog. I know there are two more very special pieces but where? I don't know...grin. They'll turn up when they want too...I imagine.

Gina said...

OH, you have some lovely pieces here. What a treasure!
:-) Gina aka tatting goddess

Chelle said...

Holy smoke! What an incredible collection. Enjoy!

Unknown said...

Your beautiful supper cloth is crochet, not tatting, but it is very fine, gorgeous crochet. A definate show-piece, indeed.