We went for a drive the other day, on the hunt for a suitable table for my sewing room. At an antique shop in a nearby town we spent a pleasant hour combing through all the knick-knacks, books, china and saucepans, collecting a few things we had to have. When we went to pay for them the owner of the shop remarked how strange it was that everything we had chosen belonged to one woman. A 75 year old spinster is in the process of downsizing, and there were many of her things displayed in the shop, including her entire baby layette and several exquisite little dresses. She came from a family of magnificent seamstresses and knitters, that's for sure.

I found two quilted items that had to come home with me. The tea cosy is hand stitched corded quilting, with a machine quilted lining. It has a few stains, but it's in fine shape so I will carefully wash it next summer when the thick padding will dry quickly. The pattern is formed with two lines of backstitching to form a channel, with pink cord threaded in. The backing is very coarse cream cloth, I can just see a glimpse of it through a small hole. The lining inside is pink cotton quilted in a plain grid.

This baby bib is intruiging, as it's machine quilted in a very dense pattern, with the tiniest of stitches. It's a very early eample of machine quilting, and it's so beautifully and skillfully done that it's obviously not a learning piece; this was made by someone who was an expert at machine quilting. And it was used to bits, as the ragged edges show. I may frame this, it's so unusual.
I did get my table, but we'll have to go back next week to pick it up; I think a few more of that lady's treasures might join our collections; it will be nice to keep them together.

And on a different note, Mereth is wildly amused by the cuteness of the Gammil bobbins wound with variegated thread. The thread colours make an interesting little pattern. Small things......