Lovely Things in the Mail, a Challenge and an Experiment in Upcycling

I had two lovely packages in the mail this week, the first was this pair of beautiful silver coral and turquoise earrings which I was lucky enough to win in the Grow your Blog Party draw on Sharon's blog. Thank you Sharon, they are just stunning, and so me.

The second parcel came from Katherine, and contained these fabulous vintage feedsack fabrics. I am really going to have fun with these, they're gorgeous.

If that wasn't enough however, Katherine generously included this chart that she designed some years ago, long before she knew that I lived within a stone's throw of some of the places mentioned in the design. Just wow Katherine! I love it.

It's reveal day for the Needlecraft Haven Monthly Challenge. This month we stitched this design from Threadwork Primitives. I changed mine up a little bit by substituting a few speciality stitches, and finished it as a small pillow. I thought it looked a bit plain so I fastened one of my collection of vintage brooches to it to jazz it up a bit. I like the effect so much I think it might end up being used to store/display some of them in my bedroom.  I changed the date to 1813 and the initials to EB and FD as well.Five bonus litterati points to anyone who can tell why without scrolling down to the clue at the end of the post.

As for the experiment in upcycling, here is a second hand tablecloth I picked up recently.

And here it is again as a skirt. The jury is out on this one. I really like it, and think it looks pretty and summery, David thinks it still looks like a tablecloth, and Naomi's reaction was "No Mum, just no!". I'd appreciate honest opinions here, don't worry about hurting my feelings, as you can see the family don't!

And finally the clue I mentioned
As if I needed any excuse to put up a picture of Colin Firth in a wet shirt.

PS Go the The Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe for a great giveaway