I have to confess that my x-stitch has been temporarily abandoned. I have been so tired in the evenings that all I do is watch tv for an hour and then go to bed. Last night I was determined to break that behaviour pattern, and I blew the dust off 4 lovely Crinoline Lady embroidered mats which had come to me as part of an Auction box and needed restoring. So I sat down with a bundle of embroidery threads sent by a friend from a Ringwood charity shop (you know who you are when you read this!) and picked a pink as near to the original as possible, then in two strands and using tiny chain-stitches I stitched a new bonnet on the first. Aren't they dainty? Some of the flowers have been unpicked and need re-sewing too. I like them so much I may just try a couple more, but getting exactly matching material will be difficult. They will just have to be similar.
I like to think that the lady who had been unpicking them (and who probably embroidered them originally, possibly back in the 1930s when this design was so popular) was with me in spirit. She had been unable to finish them - I inherited a whole pile of bits and pieces from stuff she had made over the years, very useful bits and pieces too - and I am still working my way through the bits. I certainly got so much pleasure from doing such a simple thing - totally out of proportion to the few stitches set . . .
