The thaw has arrived!

Finally, the snow and ice has melted and I have made it to my first auction of 2010!  This sale yielded a number of excellent hand embroidered cloths and also some superb hand crochet lace work. All from the same household and all the work of a superb needlewoman!

This is just one of the embroidery motifs in a tablecloth made up of 25 squares each with a different flower.

Some of the linen and lace tablecloths were worked with Mary Card crochet designs. Mary Card was an Australian crochet lace designer in the early part of the 1900's.  Her designs are highly collected now.

She often used floral and bird motifs in her designs and also used animals native to Australia.

This one below sold as soon as it was listed on eBay!

 The hours of work that they involve are incredible. This is what you did when there was no T.V.!!  The family was obviously also well travelled as the suitcase with it's very nostalgic collection of baggage labels came from the same household (it held all the linen at auction).

So the linen collection also included items from Madeira, some Maltese lace and other excellent hand embroidered pieces.