Nothing of any interest here, but..

..I have been taking lots of photos, but not of linen! I'm all linenned out at the moment. I have done a little on my Indian UFO Challenge, but not enough to photograph for an update report. There is actually one new cloth, but because it has a peacock on it, I've put it on my Peacocks blog.
The other photos are all of furred and feathered friends, and they can be found here.

Bluebirds tray cloth.

A nice little traycloth or centrepiece doiley, hand stitched with bluebirds.

White table topper with violets.

This is a delightful little cloth, all the more so because it only cost about $2! I say 'about' $2, because I bought three items for $5, and this was one. The detail closeup doesn't show the stitching clearly, so I will scan one section of the cloth one day for a better picture. It is stitched on Jobelan even weave (according to the label still attached to the cloth).

Orange bordered supper cloth.

I love these old cloths which have a woven coloured border and hand embroidery in the centre; I've accumulated quite a few now. This one is beautifully stitched; almost looks like machine stitching, but no, it has been handstitched by an expert.

Damask cloth with embroidery.

This is a most unusual cloth; well, it is the first one of its kind I have in my collection! I have heard of people stitching on to Damask cloths, and I have always assumed they would be embellishing the woven design. But in this case, the stitcher has obviously ironed a design from a transfer on to each corner and in the centre of her damask cloth and simply stitched it regardless of the completely different woven pattern! A very pretty cloth - I was very pleased to pay just $5 for it!

Blue cross stitch table topper.

Nice clean little table topper - blue cross stitch on white evenweave fabric.

I've been op-shopping!!

Do you know that old saying "It never rains, but it pours"? Well it certainly did for me, and I'm not referring to the wet stuff that falls out of the sky occasionally! Pam K. and I have been swapping craft magazines and other goodies, and I know she loves lace, so I decided to look for some yesterday. Another weird thing that happens (it's called Murphy's Law!) is that you see a certain thing all over the place when you don't want to buy it, but when you do want it, there is none to be found! I have always seen bags of old laces in most of my regular haunts, but yesterday - ZILCH. However!! I got lucky in linen. This is where I went, and what I found: Savers Charity Store: No lace, two tablecloths. Brotherhood of St. Lawrence: No lace, no cloths. Vinnies: One roll of lace for 50c. Red Cross: No lace, two supper cloths and a doiley. Local church op shop: No lace, one suppercloth. And I haven't found any linen in any of those op(thrift) shops for months! Here is one of the cloths on my line, and a closeup of the detail. It cost me all of $5. The others are soaking overnight, so I'll have piccies very soon!

Unusual vintage item.

This natty little shoe brush/polish embroidered holder arrived via eBay recently. I have several auctions going at the moment on eBay - old damaged or stained linen, a few UFOs, books, swapcards, etc. Most of them have bids which is heartening! I hope to put some of the proceeds in our bank account, but you know me - there is bound to be some nice linen eBay that I will try for!

The remainder of MIL's embroidery.

The following three posts are the last items that Ken's Mum gave me last week. Because they are larger than the previous posts, I took a photo of each piece to show the whole thing, then scanned them for closeup detail. If you are interested in seeing the person who did all this embroidery, go to my other blog to see a photo of us taken on the weekend!

Traycloth and close up detail.

Table runner and detail.

Pillowsham and close-up detail.

Great-Aunt's lacy crochet work.

This piece was stitched around the turn of the last century, making it over 100 years old. It was made by Ken's Mother's Auntie, who lived in England. Some of her stitched items made their way to Australia in the early 20th century. This piece was badly stained, and is damaged in the centre, when the cotton has simply worn away over the years. MIL used a piece of the iron-on mending fabrics to fix it. Not sure if that would have been the correct thing to do if it was in the hands of a textile museum! But at least she managed to save it before it fell apart completely. The crocheting has a few loose threads but is generally in pretty good condition as far as I'm concerned. I soaked it in Napisan overnight and hung it out in the sun all day to dry, and I'm fairly pleased at how well it turn out. I laid a piece of coloured paper under it for the scan to enable the crochet work to be seen more clearly.

Some of my MIL's stitching.

This is her first attempt at whitework when she was probably less than 10 years old.
Below are some of her doilies, stitched around the 1930's or 40's.

Missing links.

Some people reading this blog may have noticed that some of the links on my sidebar have disappeared; in particular the "Other Blogs That I Read". Well, it was getting very busy in that sidebar, and I had long been wanting to transfer the Other Blogs to Patra's Other Place, where I write about things other than stitching and linens. But I could never figure out how to put links on that blog because the template is different to this one, and I'm not so clever when it comes to mucking around with these templates. Sharon showed me how to put links on here in the beginning, but Anne is the lady I have to thank for transferring them across when she was here for lunch this week. Thank you, Anne! I will now be able to add more stitching blogs to the sidebar here, as well as extras to the side bar on Patra's Other Place!

New addition to the Collection from a VIP.

My darling M.I.L. often calls me to say she has found another little item somewhere in her house, that she thinks I will like. Last week she said she'd found a table runner that she had embroidered when she was a girl, but today when we dropped in for a visit, she had a pile of linen for me! She said she'd found them in a bag in the laundry, ready to be thrown out because they were old and stained, but then she changed her mind, and decided to show them to me first. I am SO glad she did!!! I have everything soaking in Napisan at the moment, but I couldn't wait to iron this one and put it on here for you to admire. The others will be ironed tomorrow, scanned and posted here over the next few days.

Sweet gift from a thoughtful friend.

I finally caught up with Sharon on Friday. It was great to spend time with her again, as since she started work full time, we don't get the opportunity to sit and stitch together these days. She gave me this gorgeous little doiley for my collection, as well as a cute brooch with kittens on it. I would have included it in this scan, but being so small, it may not have been clear enough to see here. Sharon has said goodbye to blogging for the time being. She will be missed by her many blog friends, who I am sure are all hoping that one day she will have the time and the inclination to take it up again. In the meantime, all the best my friend - look forward to seeing you guys again soon!

More on Assisi Embroidery.

This book arrived ex eBay last week. Although I have other books on Assisi work, this one greatly appeals to me because the designer really goes 'outside the square' as people say today. As well as the traditional two colour patterns, she has included some multi colour designs such as the butterfly on the front cover and the Noel bellpull on the back cover. If you click on these pictures to get a closer look, hopefully you will see what I mean. I'm bursting to stitch at least one of these soon!

Another little apron.

I could have taken a photo of the whole apron with the digital camera, but the white stitching would not have shown up clearly, so I thought it best to scan this, even though the whole design doesn't fit under the scanner. You can still see what it's all about.

Child's apron.

Isn't this a cute little apron? Small ballerinas in pastel coloured outfits are perhaps a little faded, but I think the embroidery cotton was pale to start with. I have another new embroidered item, but it isn't on here. You can find it here.