Tray Cloth Treasures

I've been enjoying a 'vintage themed' summer, exploring antique shops, upcycling old furniture and working with vintage sheets.

18 months ago, my Nanny passed away, and when mum and I were clearing out her house, we came across some beautiful tray cloths.

I don't think my Nanny embroidered them herself, but they were definitely handsewn.  I decided to keep them and yesterday I fussy cut a few sections to create this:

The front

The Back

Detail

And you might have noticed I've used some of my recently aquired (& freshly laundered) vintage lace!

The 'soon to be' owner of this pouch appreciates vintage fabrics, and I hope she likes this tray cloth pouch as much as me!

Finally, a wee sneaky peek on another gift in the making:

I sewed all these (& more) on while watching the Olympics Closing Ceremony! My days just won't be the same now without a daily Olympics fix!

And just time to tell you about another friend who has crossed over into the fun world that is Blogland!  Head on over to my friend Ruth, at Simply Sew and give her a big blogging community welcome!

Hope you've enjoyed your weekend.

A Hot (Lacey) Mess!

I had recently been given a stash of vintage lace and trims, some of which were still in their original packaging.

Some if it had become discoloured and stained over time, so I unravelled the lot, and washed them on a 'delicates' cycle.

This is what they looked like after being in the tumble dryer!

Clean and fluffy, but incredibly tangled!

So while watching team GB completely fluff the 4 x 100m this evening, I unravelled, untangled and made sweet little balls of lace!

What I should really be doing with these next is ironing them out and re-carding them.  But after spending 4 hours helping the oldest teenager gut her bedroom today (4 bin bags later!) I have run out of steam! 

They are safely back in their vintage tin, and I just know I won't ever get around to re-carding them.  That doesn't mean I don't have lots of plans for these lovelies - they will most certainly get used!

Tomorrow is my first of two 'Christmas in August' open workshops.  I briefly thought about bringing in the Christmas cd and tinsel, but I just can't bear it! But I am looking forward to seeing what Christmas delights folks decide to make!

Hope you've had a great end to the week!