Roll up! Roll up! Lots of eye candy!

Well, all those doilies I mentioned below are now off the line and nicely pressed, so sit down with a cuppa (or a glass of red) and enjoy some eye candy! First off are three white pieces with drawn/pulled thread (I can never remember which is which) hems. The first photo is a closeup of the corner of one cloth, as it is a larger cloth than the others, and I thought it was worthwhile to show the work in closeup instead of the whole cloth, as it is in such good condition. This is an unusual example of Hungarian embroidery, set in a crocheted surround - correct me if I'm wrong, I'm no expert on crochet. The embroidery is perfect, very difficult to tell the front from the back. Thsi is a nice little item of cutwork, with subtle shading on the embroidered edges. I put this one and the one above on a shaded background, to highlight the work, as it would have got lost in the white glare of the scanner otherwise. These next two are simple doilies, nicely stitched. Cross stitched roses are a dime a dozen, as the Americans say! I have a number of doilies and cloths with roses cross stitched on them, but I thought this one was a nicer than usual example. This cloth is probably one of the thousands of doilies that have come out of China and the Phillipines in the last century, as they have a similar style. But I do like the colours used on the roses here. Good old thistles! There must have been a real craze for them at some time in the distant past, because I have at least a dozen varieties of the theme in my collection. Just another pretty centrepiece you say? But have a closer look at the stitching - tiny, perfect little satin stitches. Amendment dated 1st June. I had not looked closely at the back of this centrepiece until the weekend, and it was then that I realised those pink flowers are not satin stitch, but bullion stitches. Oh my, this person must have had perfect vision and nimble fingers...