One old, one new.

I keep trying to cut down on my eBay spending, but when I see something like this for $10...well, do you blame me for bidding?
In order to photograph the above cloth, I had to remove the one I presently have on my dining table. It is so pretty, I decided to snap it as well as the new one.

Two more...

This is a home made cushion cover, which looks pretty, but ordinary at the moment. My plan is to put something in the centre square, such as a doiley from my collection. Or, I could iron on one of the many transfers I have, and embroiderer something myself. Either way, I just couldn't pass up this pretty item with its possibilities!
I nearly missed this tiny gem, while I was riffling through a large box of doilies, most of which were crocheted and held no interest for me. But when this fell out of the pile, I grabbed it! It is a cover for an old fashioned powder compact. The embroidery is beautiful, with grub roses, one single strand used for the leaves, and delicate crocheted edging. It is embroidered on both sides.

Two doilies from another thoughtful friend!

I had lunch with Val today, and she gave me a late 60th birthday gift - an Origami box she'd made herself, containing these doilies, which she had found in a country store.

Sandwich tray doiley

Isn't this sweet? My friend Louise found it in an op-shop and thought of me immediately. I'm so lucky to have friends like her!

New doilies!!

I received these lovely doilies in the mail today, from Robyn, whose new blog I added to my sidebar just a few weeks ago. She had the cottage doilies on her blog for sale, and when I offered to buy them, she mentioned the crinoline lady doiley that her Mum wanted to sell, and asked if I wanted it. She didn't have to ask twice! Thank you Robyn - love all three of them!
This blog has been very quiet lately, as I have deliberately NOT been checking eBay for linens, and no op-shops these days seem to have anything worth buying. But I made a fatal mistake tonight...I looked at eBay. Only for a minute, mind you! An hour later, I'd put about 20 items on my Watch list. Really shouldn't have done that; I might be tempted to buy something/all of them. Oh well, I feel like indulging myself a little. Now that I'm 60, I am able to access my superannuation, and have arranged to have a monthly payment into our bank account, to 'top up' my wage, which is meagre because I only work part time. So, a small spend-up now and then on my collection (which is really an investment after all, don't you think?) can be tolerated.

What's news?

I spent the first Tuesday of this month at the Embroiderer's Guild as usual, in my volunteer role as 'Front Desk Hostess' which means I sit in the library (which doubles as a reception area) and answer the phone, greet anyone who walks in the front door, and catch up on EGV gossip. Not that there is any gossip as such, but another member is there in her role of Librarian, and we chat to each other as well as the members that drop in during the day.
The Display committee were busy setting up the new display for the month (it is changed once a month). This month's work is from members of the country branches of the Guild, and I was blown away by the quality of their work. All the work done by the experienced stitchers in the Guild is stunning, and this was no exception. A few projects used Australia's ongoing drought as a theme for their work - bush huts in arid land, on fire, being rained on...and so forth. There was stumpwork, blackwork, Jacobean work, Hardanger, quilting, patchwork, cross stitch, you name it. For anyone in Melbourne reading this, if you can spare the time to drop into the Guild (170 Wattletree Road, Malvern) this display is well worth a visit.
The July display is going to be "Doilies" and members have been asked to submit their favourites for display. I asked the co-ordinator how many she needed and she said "How many do you have?" "Probably about a thousand" I replied and she said at once "Oh gosh no, not that many! Just pick half a dozen favourites". Gulp...I love them all....Another Group leader has asked me to do a talk on my apron collection at the Guild in June, which I have agreed to do in spite of it being a working day for me. I don't get these opportunities very often, and I don't like to knock them back, so I'll have to ask my boss to cover my shift for that day.
One of the many nice things about my day at the Guild is being able to sit and stitch in between phone calls etc. I put quite a lot of work into the anniversary sampler I'm doing, so in another week I hope to be able to show it to you here. In the meantime I haven't got anything else to show - sorry!