Embroidered baskets of flowers and other nice items.

Pam K. recently featured a basket of flowers that she had stitched from an old pattern. I offered to scan some of my collection and she said yes please! So here they are - not all of them by any means! Just the ones I could fit on my scanner. While I was sifting through my collection for baskets of flowers, I pulled out a couple of other designs that I thought would appeal to some of my regulars. Seeing I had the scanner on, I thought I may as well make use of it.

Not a basket of flowers, but a lovely example of needlework. One end of a traycloth.
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Bluebirds, or blue doves! for certain bloggers who like these!
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Stunning piece of stitching - I think this must have been done for a competition. The reverse side is equally as good.
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One end of a traycloth - I love the way the handle of the basket is stitched to resemble cane. Lovely work here.
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Hanging basket of flowers?
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Not really a basket at second glance, but what the heck - I have it out, so I may as well include it!
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One of many doilies.
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...and only discovered tonight that I had this one! Same design, different colours.
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I bought this at an opshop yesterday.
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Calligraphy - another one of my hobbies.

I sometimes click on the "interests" links of other bloggers, and find ever more like-minded souls, and so it was when I clicked on the subject of Calligraphy. I discovered Medieval Lady and Scribe With Gold - both hosted by Patty. I promised I would put a sample of my efforts at calligraphy, so here it is - a menu for a dinner party we hosted for friends one Christmas. I have taken two short courses in the art of beautiful writing, and I have several pens and other implements, but to do it properly, one needs to practice regularly and I never seem to have the time to do it. The story of my life...so much to do and so little time to do it!

One of my first calligraphy efforts.
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A recent eBay win...cute transfers!
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Love those Opportunity/Secondhand/Thrift Shops!

Whatever you call them in your country, they can be full of junk, or full of treasures, and a great resource for the crafty people. I was in luck this week. If you have read The Blank Page this week, you will see that S and I went opshopping, and I found a few treasures. A lovely tablecloth, some nice doilies and an apron - orange gingham with Chicken Scratch stitching! Then, on Thursday I popped into Savers, one of our largest thrift emporiums (doesn't that sound grand!) and lo and behold, tucked away among the mundane printed and plain tablecloths, I found a light purple gingham cloth...you guessed it - Chicken Scratch again!
S of The Blank Page and Linda at Chloe's Place wondered if the three of us could set up a blog for Opshoppers. We could source the various opshops we know of, give them a write-up, and wait for others around Melbourne (or Victoria - or anywhere in Oz for that matter) to put their twopenneth in with info. about their favourite spots. Linda has suggested to me that it might be better to do a Website, but I am not that technically advanced, so if it comes to doing that, I would hand the project over to someone who knows a lot more than me about such things!
And for something a little different...there are a few blogging friends around who love old embroidery transfers. Well, have a look at my latest eBay win!

For all the Pussy lovers...

On a lighter note, I know that many of my new Blogging friends are CAT lovers, so I decided to post a recent photo of our pussycat Topsy. She is about 18 months old, and is like a small black panther! Naughty as can be, when she is clawing the leather couch, but at other times so cute when she is playing with her toys!!

Our Topsy, in her nest.
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Father's Day coming up...

Meggiecat and her Dad have put lovely items on their respective Blogs, relating to Fathers Day, and it got me thinking. My Dad died a couple of years ago, aged 94. He was an exceptional person - a wonderful father, and a faithful husband. My Mum was in and out of hospitals for the last 20 years of her life, so Dad was 'Mum and Dad' to my brothers and I. He worked full time, then came home and ran the house, never complaining, nor did he smoke or drink. This photo has always been a favorite of mine - just the two of us in a local park, where we spent many happy hours. He always had time to play with me when I was little, and talk to me as I got older. I will always have beautiful memories, and I hope we meet again in future incarnations.

Gina and her Dad, about 1950.
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My treasures from Hobart in beautiful Tasmania

Here are three of the items I found in the Rubbish Tip Shop while we were in Tassie. The other two were too large to scan, so they will have to wait until I can photograph them. I have put a brief description with each picture, but if anyone reading this wants to ask me something about them, just put a comment and I will follow it up.

I don't usually buy whitework, crochet, or anything lacey, as I have quite a lot of that kind of embroidery from my family linen. But I couldn't leave this behind...probably hard to tell from the scan, but the work is simply beautiful...how on earth anyone could throw this into a rubbish skip is beyond me. No appreciation of handmade craft obviously.
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