Crinoline Lady duchess set centrepiece, received from the U.K. last week. Incidentally, I have just added some more peacock embroidered items to my Peacocks Blog.
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..and the matching doilies.
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This is part of an apron I received today from Belgium. The eBay seller has a heap of vintage samplers and fascinating stitched items on her blog, but I am not going to be tempted! Well, not much anyway. She says this little half apron was a school project. It is beautifully stitched; makes me wonder why the person who did it would want to part with it..
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Remember the linen I cleaned for a friend while I was on holiday? Well, these are some pictures taken on the day I brought it back home, and Ken thought I had bought it all at an auction!
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M's linen in the back of my car.
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I think this was probably a traycloth or centrepiece. Very unusual design, with the orange flowers stitched in button hole stitch, then neatly trimmed. I've seen some examples of this kind of work that have been very untidily cut, which has put me off buying them, but this is nice.
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Duchess set small doiley
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Duchess set centrepiece
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New links on my sidebar.

I spend a lot of my time online not only reading my favourite blogs, but clicking on their sidebar links to see what they're reading that I might have missed...and of course, as we all share common interests somewhere along the line, some of YOUR favourite blogs eventually get added to my list of favourite blogs! And of course when a new name pops up as a comment on one of my posts, I have to return the visit! One of my new additions is Diana - The Lone Beader, who does the most beautiful things with beads. I have a small collection of beads that I've bought at craft shows, with the intention of using them to embellish some of my cross stitch and other embroidery projects, but I can only remember using them once - to add sparkle to a cross stitch Xmas card!

I won this gorgeous teacosy on eBay from a guy in England who said he was cleaning out an elderly relative's belongings. In the same package were the items below (the blue embroidery and the applique cloth). I couldn't quite believe this cosy was hand stitched when I saw the photo on eBay, but I decided to take a punt, and I am so pleased that I did. The stitching is so detailed, it is difficult to scan a good picture. On the other side of the cosy is a small patch of flowers.
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This is one item in a set of four pieces stitched with the same design. A long table runner, a placemat and two small items, possibly coasters.
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Nice little suppercloth embroidered, with an applique flower in each corner.
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One of four matching appliqued napkins.
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Attention Lovers of embroidered Peacocks.

Just a reminder to anyone who missed my post a few days ago - I have removed all my embroidered peacocks from this blog and relocated them to a separarate blog Patra's Embroidered Peacocks.
And if you are interested in stitching a peacock (or two) for yourself, Pam Kellogg has created some designs based on my linens that you can download and use. Pam is a very talented designer and stitcher, and I think she is very generous to allow her readers to download her creations for free.

Look at these! I received a parcel from NSW yesterday - NOT ebay for a change! No, it was from dear Ms Robyn, who knew I would love these handkies (and another doiley which I hadn't scanned tonight). Robyn, you would not believe how many times I have bid on eBay for crinoline lady handkies, and missed out! So I am truly chuffed that you should have found these and send them to me. Tar muchly!!
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No, I'm not going to take up CQ, but I just couldn't resist this book with stunning colour pictures of absolutely beautiful small projects. Especially at that price! (A$7.99). Have you seen this one, Sharon? If not, you are welcome to borrow this for as long as you like!
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One of a set of five placemats. Can somebody enlighten me - is this type of cutwork embroidery in grey thread also known as Madeira? I should know; I can always ask at the Guild, but I'm sure someone reading this will tell me!
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This is a huckabuck guest towel, with a stunning filet crochet edge at one end. Very unusual; all my other huckabuck towels have hemmed edges or narrow crochet or lace edges.
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A simply gorgeous "good morning" traycloth, with lots of coloured daisies on the left and right hand corners, and the teapot in the centre, featuring a piece of crocheted lace to hold the napkin. Should have been ironed first, I know..sorry.
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This is the centrepiece for a three piece duchess set. The two matching doilies are below.
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