Friday, January 21, 2011

Piles of Goodies

I've received a slew of goodies lately from Jenny in London. She has a wonderful eye for textiles and design. It was partially a Christmas gift and partially just sweetness on her part. I think she gets it from her mother, who often tucks a goodie into the packages I receive. This time her mother sent this lovely cutwork and applique doily/table mat. (I never know what to call some of these beautiful domestic textiles.)A small package arrive first with this--
Isn't this a lovely vignette? I had it sitting out in it's baggie for a while, just to look at. (vintage cotton fabric, floss and thread, and a sewing kit from a hotel.)

Then a huge box arrived, chock full of wonderful things.

Mostly, I am still totally blown away by this collection of wonderful DMC coton a broider thread--not all that easy to find in the U.S. and especially not in color. We had corresponded about it last summer when I learned about DMC discontinuing size 12 from Mary Corbet's blog and my friend found a closeout of old stock in a needlework shop. At the time she sent a wonderful collection of white, ecru and black coton a broider in various sizes--I just checked and can't find a blog post about it--I know I was having trouble getting a decent photo. Anyway, this was a total and very wonderful surprise. It's Coton a Broider size 20 in a rainbow of colors...Sorry for all of the reflections, but I feared if I took the thread out of the bags we would run amok and I'd never be able to stop playing with it, sorting and arranging the colors, planning projects...

To accompany the threads, a perfect booklet on Hedebo--I think these threads would be perfect for Hedebo!There were more things in the box. A booklet that hubby grabbed. I didn't see it close but it looked like car stuff.

The gentleman below popped out of the box. He came over to visit with Dolly but she's having none of it--she's still of an age where boys have "cooties." We call him Reggie from his Regency-era fashion. I think I will make Reggie a friend. He's lovely with a hand-painted face and nicely tailored clothing. We especially like his stylish hat.Some of the other goodies included were this lovely hand-painted chiffon scarf....this 70s colored scarf with sparkly threads throughout (they didn't show up in the photo)--this is one of my favorite color palettes.... my favorite magazine for pure browsing pleasure, Selvedge....and a catalog from a recent Victoria and Albert Museum quilt show that I really wish I could have seen (although I must say that with the personal descriptions I received, this catalog, and the detailed article I read in Quiltmania, I almost feel like I was there!)All of this arrived in the midst of my cold. Even though my head was foggy, I had the leisure to sit and really look over everything and really relax and enjoy it all. Thank you!

2 comments:

WhatKathyDid said...

Wowee! What a great gift. When I was in India for 6 weeks Jenny sent me a whole box of lovely things for me and for the teenage girls I was teaching. It was FANTASTIC! She is excellent at that.

Anonymous said...

All I can say is WOW...how wonderful. And you deserve all of these wonderful gifts. What an amazing treasure!