A Festive Giveaway Draw - Early Embroideries in Deerfield

Let's have another giveaway to celebrate this week. This is a charming booklet with illustrations of some of the fabulous textiles at Deerfield, Massachusetts which is now out of print and a bit difficult to find.

I was really privileged to be driven to Deerfield from North Carolina - all in one day - through 5 states - by one of the kindest people on this planet and a great doyenne of sampler needlework - Edna Medlin of Emlis. So this book is particularly dear to my heart. I hope Edna and all her family and you and yours have a great 4th of July in spite of the beastly weather and everything else flying about.

To enter the free draw for the give away - just click on the flying angel below. The winner will be announced 10 July 2012.

Congratulations Helen from Northumberland

The article on Solomon's Temples sparked a great interest and there were many entrants for this draw, so please don't feel too disappointed if you didn't win this time. There could only be one name, and that was Helen from Northumberland in the UK. We'll have another draw tomorrow night.

The Ides of July - Free Jigsaw Download

Happy first of July! (Can it really be July so soon, so wet, so dark?) As we all know the month of July was named after Julius the Roman Emperor who met his nemesis during the Ides of March. This is a vintage filet crochet pattern which could have been used as an insert in a table-cloth, bed spread or curtain. Alternatively, you can work the pattern for cross stitch using perhaps cream on a darker background - or red on white - whatever your fancy.  However, sadly, this is not going to work for Mac users. Instructions: Click here next Click Open, then click the .EXE file name and click Run, when you see the jigsaw puzzle, click Play Too many pieces? Try clicking on Trays on the top tool bar to create any number of resizeable trays to sort your pieces ........ you can also click the Cheat button and watch the puzzle solve itself! The software is by David Gray designer of Jigsaws Galore - the powerful jigsaw player and creator for Windows.

New York Historical Society - Online Sampler Collection

The New York Historical Society Museum and Library has around 80 samplers, many of which can now be enjoyed online.

The collection is eclectic with representations from many different cultures and backgrounds - Dutch, German, Spanish and English amongst others.

To visit, simply click here.