It's been a while

since I posted.. life sure gets away from you at times. I have no actual crafty stuff to share, I have the lazy bug these days.
Back in April, I went to the quilt show held every year in a local church. Through a series of coincidences, I met up for the first time with fellow blogger, Maria, who, I have since found out, is also known by a number of local bloggers I have been following for years. I had morning tea with Maria and her friends and a lovely time was had by all. Maria (through reading my blog) knew of my love for anything with a 'Willow Pattern' and very generously gave me a few embroidered pieces from her collection.

There were lots of lovely quilts on display, unfortunately they don't photograph well inside the church. A couple of favourites.

A close up of the one below.

Love those scrappy ones!

My volunteer work with the National Trust takes up a lot of my time, and as usual, I was involved with 'Great Houses of Ipswich' again in May. I spent the day at 'Notnel', built in the 1860s and very carefully restored and preserved by the family who had owned it for over 25 years.

The house has recently been sold, so it was a great opportunity for locals to see inside.

I am hoping to get back to crafting soon.. I have a project in mind for one of those embroidered pieces,

Tuesday treasures

Today I'm sharing some more of my vintage linen collection.

This is a selection from my 'white stuff'. I have lots of pieces with beautiful crochet lace edges..

.. and others with white on white embroidery.

Even though I have no idea who made these pieces, I treasure the time and skill it has taken to create them.

Don't forget to pop over to Melody's to see who else is sharing today.

Tuesday treasures

I was hoping to join in earlier today but I was unexpectedly called in to work. A bit of a surprise on day 2 of the school term, but... anyway, that's how it goes sometimes.

My treasures today are fairly recent acquisitions, but special nonetheless. This lovely plate was a gift from my sister.. just because! She saw it on  a white elephant stall at a church fete and immediately thought of me. aren't I lucky to have a sister who knows me so well. The tray-cloth and salad servers were picked up in a local vintage shop.

I have a small collection of vintage kitchenalia which includes a few rolling pins and have been on the lookout for a glass one. Any I found were always more than I was willing to pay, so I was thrilled to receive this beauty from my beautiful daughter. Apparently it was a very good price (she's thrifty too), so that makes it special too.
Don't forget to pop over to visit Melody and see who else is sharing today.

A bit of a cover up...

Like many crafters, I have a bookcase full of pattern books, magazines and bits and pieces torn from magazines with the thought that maybe, one of these days, I might just make that! Fat chance! The several lifetimes I have mapped out to sort my stash would have to be extended to infinity in order for that to happen.

However, I do enjoy looking at them from time to time, to get inspiration and continue dreaming.. and just occasionally, to make something.

The book in the photo is one that I love and I have made quite a few items from it. Two of them are in the picture, one with dark blue beads and one with light blue. I have a bit of a thing for vintage linen, especially items used for serving afternoon tea. The cover with amber beads is one I picked up years ago from an antique fair and the net one with red beads came from my grandmother's house.

Along with my goal for 2011 of sorting my stash, I may have to include making at least one thing from some of the books I have received as gifts or purchased on a whim; after all, something must have attracted me in the first place.

I suppose this idea could be extended to all those recipe books I have in the kitchen.... but maybe that's a thought for another day.