The Winner of the Penelope Jacobean Embroidery Book is

Thank you to the many, many lovers of Jacobean stitchery who participated. The winner of the draw is: Suzan in the Netherlands. Commiserations to everyone else - but all is not lost - you can enjoy this book on line by clicking here!

Lady Douglas Hamilton From Cohasset and 36,000 Hand-Knitted Sea Boot Socks

I think I have mentioned before that at Christmas we had very special and, by most standards, the largest socks to peg up on the mantle at Christmas. They were my father's sea boot socks from the war. (Did I ever tell you our dogs were called Boson and Skipper?) Well, now I know that is all thanks to very special knitters in the US that I had such a roomy Christmas sock. On January 14 while in France I read of the death of Lady Malcolm Douglas-Hamilton (on the right of this photograph) who organized the war-time Bundles for Britain which involved no less than 900,000 knitters across the States. So many, that I would think you probably have someone in your family who put their needles together to keep the Royal Navy from hypothermia. Not only did these kind knitters provide 18,000 pairs of socks, but also... hold your breath ... 40,000 sleeveless sweaters, 10,000 sweaters with sleeves, 30,000 scarves, 20,000 pairs of wristlets and mittens, 3,000 pairs of gloves, 50,000 pairs of regular socks, 2,000 jerkins, 8,000 caps and 300 crocheted blankets. And, deep intake of breath, that is not counting the 400,000 civilian garments. It makes me quite teary to think of this astonishing effort. But what is just as remarkable and heart-warming is the fact that the wool for knitting was not simply supplied, it had to be bought and funds had to be raised to buy it. And those funds came from more work - the sale of jams and cakes and other fundraisers - children in South Carolina raised $1,120 with a water-melon eating contest.

Here you can see a pair of the sea-boot socks - beautifully knit. Natalie Wales, as she was before marriage, was born in Cohasset, Massachusetts in 1909. Natalie was sent to Spence School in New York and came out as a debutante in 1928. She was married a few times before she met Wing Commander Lord Malcolm Avondale Douglas-Hamilton OBE, DFC, the Conservative MP for Inverness and brother to the Duke of Hamilton. She is survived by one daughter.

Sherelyn Solves The Mystery

The other week I asked through this blog for help in tracing the embroiderer of this lovely panel. I knew from the stitcker on the back that the name was E Hornby Letts, but I could trace no other details relating to this person. Now thanks to some wizard sleuthing by Sherelyn in the USA - a professional genealogy researcher - I have learnt that she is Elizabeth Hornby Letts and she passed away on Christmas Eve in a care home in Fordingbridge, Hampshire. Sherelyn says : If I'm not mistaken, her maiden name was Alice Elizabeth Hornby and she was from originally from Salisbury, Wiltshire. It appears that her embroideries were passed to the charity store when she was moved from her home to the care home. Sherelyn went on to tell me that About 10 years ago, I found a woman's charming 1945 diary in an antique store here in Santa Cruz. In 2009, I finally got around to tracking down the woman's descendants. Her grandson, now in his late 70's, was so grateful . . . and I must tell you that the experience easily topped any of my work for paying clients. Since then, I've made it a practice to search for any family heirlooms (everything from photos to needlework to guns) that may have been sold or discarded by others who did not recognize the value of such family treasures Thank you so much Sherelyn!

Ottoman Mirrors - Inspiration for Stuart Embroidered Mirrors?

I love going to the Mercure and Rialto cinemas in Nice - they have the most comfortable seats I know. On one trip last week Richard and I opted to see Argo. Yes, I know I should have been paying attention to plot - but instead I had my nose down in the detail of objects and set dressings. And at one point when I saw this interior set in the home of the Canadian Ambassador to Tehran, my heart skipped a beat. Had I seen what I thought I'd seen? Fortunately the camera did come back to the same angle again for another shot. Yes, indeed, my eyes weren't deceiving me - look at that mirror behind Ben Affleck (the man standing.) Its shape reminds me of nothing so much as the ornate outlines of embroidered Stuart mirrors of the 17th century. If this is a genuine antique Ottoman mirror - and the answer is as yet unknown - then were mirrors such as this imported and seen and perhaps owned by upper-class English families? And could their design have been the inspiration of those lovely embroidered mirrors?