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Friday 27 February 2015

SOLD LE Livre du Point de Croix £18 €60 $95 Including Shipping (Very Heavy Book)

THE book of cross stitch! This is 200 pages plus of cross stitch and sampler heaven. It is a hardback in very good condition. it is also mighty heavy and the high overseas prices reflect the carriage costs, I'm afraid.
In this book you will coloured illustrations, charts and images of samplers on every page - it is choco-bloc.
Cahrts are culled from diverse sources, including the famous Sajou pattern books.
There is huge repertoire of decorative alphabets of varying sizes
as well as charts for figures, buildings, landscapes, small children and animals...
Floral garlands and bunches also have their own section
And I can't finish without showing you this lovely sampler composed of the pattern pages of a little paper leporello translated onto linen - a great project to try out.

SOLD 10 Sampler Charts * £12 €20 $50 Including Shipping

The first four charts are darling quick and fun to stitch Christmas Samplers for gifts or for a special display amongst your festive ornaments.
Hard to believe these charts are nearly 30 years old now - but they are still in pristine condition - and just as delightful as the day they were bought.
Charts which include initials have a full alphabet set for you to make your own personalization.
Then there are 6 unopened charts for you to enjoy with friends. Although unopened, the packaging is a little tired now
I bought these 25 or so years ago for a friend - but when her birthday came, her husband had retired and she said she had no time to stitch anymore! I kept hold of them in case things changed but she never did pick up her needle again
The first 3 charts are by the indefatigable designer, Marilyn Leavitt-Imblum.
The Told in a Garden charts are little Amish designs
including a prairie quilting bee.
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K-k-k Kit Up A Penguin

These little Phillip Island penguins have been injured by an oil spill. Although the jumpers are adorable, they aren’t a fashion statement but necessary to prevent penguins from licking and swallowing the oil. The sweaters also keep them warm as the oiled feathers stick together, allowing cold water to get to the penguins inner layers.
Some of the jumpers have been knit by one-hundred-and-nine-year-old Alfred “Alfie” Date, Australia's oldest man, who lives in a retirement home on the New South Wales Central Coast. He was asked to help because of his 80 years of knitting experience. It was a favour he could not refuse. A self-taught knitter, Alfie was inspired to learn the craft in 1932 when he wanted to make a jumper for his newborn nephew. Now decades later, Alfie’s nimble fingers are once again at work. He, along with hundreds of others, were responding to a plea for donated jumpers by the Phillip Island Penguin Foundation. The Foundation currently has plenty of penguin jumpers and needs no more donations at the moment.

Thursday 26 February 2015

SOLD Original Beatrix Potter Sampler Chart * £12 €20 $35 Including Shipping

Beatrix Potter is the Grand mama of all my charts - the very first chart produced by Needleprint and which to some extent became the format for all the other charts. This chart has been sitting for all its life in the file on my desk where I referred to it from time to time. It is a bit scuffed. But this chart has been out of print for sometime and I thought someone might like it. I'll even dedicate it to you if you want... just tell me how you'd like it dedicated.

SOLD Original Sarah Moon Chart * £12 €20 $35 Including Shipping

This is my original chart of the Sarah Moon sampler, which I bought at auction with some adventure and gifted to Ackworth School. So I have very fond memories of Sarah. This chart has been sitting for all its life in the file on my desk where I referred to it from time to time. It is a bit scuffed. But this chart has been out of print for sometime and I thought someone might like it. I'll even dedicate it to you if you want... just tell me how you'd like it dedicated.

SOLD Original Ann Trump Chart * £12 €20 $35 Including Shipping

This is the original Ann Trump - I loved making this chart because I had spent an entire day at Ackworth School photographing a sewing box and all its contents that were related to her. The story of the mystery of the sewing box is told inside the sampler chart. The chart has been sitting for all its life in the file on my desk where I referred to it from time to time. It is a bit scuffed. But this chart has been out of print for sometime and I thought someone might like it. I'll even dedicate it to you if you want... just tell me how you'd like it dedicated.

SOLD Original Martha Brady Chart * £12 €20 $35 Including Shipping

This is the original and, by all accounts, much-loved Martha Brady. It has been sitting for all its life in the file on my desk where I referred to it from time to time. It is a bit scuffed. But this chart has been out of print for sometime and I thought someone might like it. I'll even dedicate it to you if you want... just tell me how you'd like it dedicated.

SOLD Living Rooms - Interior Decoration in Wales * £7 €20 $45 Shipping Included

We sometimes forget the power and wealth of Wales that give birth to the Tudor (Welsh for Theodore/Theodoric) dynasty - Henry VII, Henry VIII and the great queen, Elizabeth I. Wales and the Welsh marches in particular had centres of great wealth
so this study of the decoration of important Welsh houses helps shed light on other decorative arts such as embroidery and tapestry.
Living room walls, when not covered in textiles, might have painted oil-cloths or painted panels
and it is fascinating to see the emulation of textiles in that trompe l'oeil paintwork
I always want to call these elaborate plastered ceilings 'embroidered ceilings' - often they remind me of compartmentalized spot motifs - I particularly love the plastered embellishments around the fire-places. If you are interested in the history of ornament then this softback of 86 pages in pristine condition is a great place to start.

SOLD The Flemish Bond - East Anglia & The Netherlands * £7 €20 $45 Shipping Included

This fascinating softback back book of around 110 pages is in pristine condition. It is not principally a picture book - it is a serious study of the links between the Netherlands and the close cross-channel region of UK we call East Anglia which includes Norfolk and Suffolk. One of the earliest and most important links was the wool and cloth trade together with silk-weaving.
The book is not limited to textiles but also examines influences on art, ceramics, architecture, land-drainage, agriculture and fishing. If you are interested in the early links of Dutch and English, this book is a great place to start. 

SOLD 3 Large Format Guides * £10 €27 $55 Including Shipping (Quite Heavy)

I have spent the last 6 Wednesdays mesmerized by the TV adaptation of Wolf Hall. It was lovely to be reminded of Montacute House, home of the Goodhart Samplers, but I was also thrilled to see another of my favourite stately homes, Penshurst Place was used as a location. This is the fabulous home of Sir Philip Sydney
who was one of the most prominent courtiers of the Elizabethan Age
Penshurst Place is near to Tonbridge Wells and is not to be missed if you are visiting this lovely part of England
This large format guide book of 72 colour pages is in excellent condition.
Holyrood House in Scotland was famously home to Mary Queen of Scots
Mary was resident here for 6 years and you can see her chambers including her bedchamber and that of the ill-fated Darnley.
It was Darnley's mother, the Countess of Lennox, who commissioned the fabulous heart-shaped, so-called Darley jewel who had great expectations of her grandson, Mary and Darley's child. And indeed her grandson succeeded to 2 thrones - that of Scotland as James VI and of England as James I. This guide is large format 64 pages in very good condition.
With the exception now of Buckingham Palace, London's Kensington Palace is one of the most visited.
There are many textiles to enjoy there - some belonging to another ill-fated royal, Dianna Princess of Wales.
This, too, is a large format colour guide of 56 pages in excellent condition.

SOLD 4 Dutch-Themed Samplers * £15 €30 $55 Including Shipping

The first chart is for the wonderful sampler of 1663 now conserved by the Arnhem Open Air Museum - this rich combination of bands and spot motifs is so satisfying to work and the result is a heritage piece to pass down through the generations.
This second sampler, though British, draws inspiration from the loveliest Dutch samplers.
But look at it close-to and you will see why it is called Those Darn Birds - the entire sampler is worked in pattern darning - which is so simple and quick to work - you simply weave your silks through the cloth. The result is stunning and so different.
When I first visited Lonneke Trietsch some years ago in the Hague I saw this third charming house sampler with its two elaborate facing birds on her wall... 
Last but not least is one of the famous black samplers of Groningen from the Museum of Needlearts in Wedde - very easy to stitch and you will have a little beauty in no time at all!