Back from Vacation!

Hello Friends,
I have been away camping with my Mom and my kids. We had a great time and stayed very busy. We did so many fun activities: beach, playground, talent show, arcade, campfire, delicious meals, thrift shops, and a long zipline for Rosie! She is our daredevil! The tower was 75 feet high and the zipline 175.

Now, for a little sewing...
These amazing place mats were a gift from my Mom around the time I got married. They are handsewn. 

This cutwork is unbelievable. I believe the "net" embroidered areas are called "fil tire" (thanks Janice!). There are also some lovely loopy embroidered areas:

I don't know what type of embroidery that is. I bet Janice, Cynthia, Jeannie, or Martha will know!!
Take a look at the back, hard to distinguish from the front:

Here's detail of the center:

I would never tackle a project like this! It must have taken hours upon hours to make this place mat. Can you believe that the person who made this completed a set of 8?!!!

These are the most exquisite antique linens I own. I treasure them and could not imagine putting food on them. They make beautiful decorative mats for china or glassware. The store these came from is very special. Horsefeathers Antiques is home to a lovely lady who sells the most beautiful old linens and lace. Here's a story about Horsefeathers.

Linking to White Wednesday at Faded Charm

Vintage Redwork Quilt Progress

It seems like I've been working on several projects lately and they are all almost done, but nothing is finished! The vintage children quilt is pieced. The next step is to add 2 borders: one narrow, one wider. Then I will layer it and ask my Mom to hand quilt it. I love the look of hand quilting, but not the time it takes to do it! My Mom doesn't like piecing, but she likes to have quilting to work on while she watches TV, so it is a great partnership.

The pieced sections are just simple strips, but I love how it came together. I think the borders will look great. (Ignore the wrinkles- it was shoved in a tote yesterday for my Guild meeting.) Summer has been wonderful, but I haven't had much free time to sew. I finished everything but the smocking on the Corey bubble, then I lost the smocking plate I was planning to use (Sea You Later). I think I'm going to use a sailboat instead. Tomorrow DH and I are going to see the last Harry Potter movie, so maybe I can do the smocking while we wait for the movie to start!

This One's for You, Mizlilly!

 These little knickers are so cute! I bought them for $4 and they are in great condition. The fabric is a lightweight wool; soft to me, though Davy said it was itchy! He was a reluctant model at first, but he got into it and looked like Mr. GQ in the pictures. I am posting these for my friend Mizlilly. She's working on a project to make outfits for 2 little boys to have their pictures taken with a 1939 car. I know whatever she comes up with will be fabulous! Here's a little knicker inspiration, Mizlilly!