Fabulous hand embroidered peacock!

The proverb "One good turn deserves another" certainly proves itself over and over again for me with my cyberspace friends. I sent some unworked vintage linen pieces over to Lakshmi in India, because those stamped linens are very hard to find over there. She does the most exquisite embroidery, and offered to stitch a peacock for me as her way of thanking me for the linens. This stunning peacock worked on silk arrived today. I am absolutely blown away - it is one of the most gorgeous embroidered items I have ever seen - and to think it was done just for me! As usual I was so impatient to photograph this and post it to my blog, I didn't iron it first. And the photo doesn't show the real depth of colour, but you can still see how utterly fantastic it is. Thank you very much again, Lakshmi!

This photo replaces the first one I took - the embroidery has now been carefully ironed.

Christmas bonanza!

That's what it felt like when I collected my mail yesterday! One of the packets was from Robyn, a lady who I got to know through eBay. Whenever she comes across embroidered peacocks, she lets me know first, before putting them up for sale on the internet - isn't that kind of her? A couple of weeks ago, she emailed me to say she'd found these, as well as a framed tapestry. Well, the tapestry would have cost a heap to post from Queensland to Melbourne, as well as the price of it alone, so I reluctantly declined that one. But I did want the rest, so once she'd received my payment, Robyn mailed them down.

This is a pink pillowcase with a machine embroidered peacock.


I took this photo in the kitchen under fluro. light, so the colour is awful. The nice thing about this doiley is that it is the same pattern as a small tablecloth in my collection.


This design must have been on a transfer, or a very popular stamped linen item for Semco, as I have several variations of it - doilies, traycloths and now a cushion cover. It is fascinating to see the different colours used by each stitcher.

Crocheted peacocks.

I've had these for a while, but hadn't got around to posting a photo because they were too hard to photograph. I had to find a dark background, and when I re-discovered them tonight while searching for something else, I had a brainwave - thrown them on the floor - the carpet is dark enough! The lady who sold me these, has an eBay site, and she knows how much I love Peacocks, so she emails me whenever she finds something I might like. She contacted me tonight about some new finds, and it reminded me that I hadn't posted a photo here of her last sale to me. If you are reading this Robyn - thanks again for keeping me in mind!

A new piece for my collection!

Nicki Lee commented on my last post, asking about the pattern for the bookmark. I was happy to post it to her, and she has responded by sending me this lovely piece of vintage embroidery which she found in an antique shop. Thank you so much, Nicki!

Peacock bookmark, finally finished.

A few years ago, I bought a cross stitch magazine which had a freebie included with it, of a peacock bookmark. I've been working on it ever since - bit by bit - but last week I decided I wanted it out of my UFO cupboard, so I've been working on it all week, and now it is done. I'm not going to make it into a bookmark - it's far too pretty! Instead, I'll add a border and put it into a small frame.

Finally - an addition to my collection!

I've had a few people drop into my other blogs and ask if I'd closed this blog because nothing had been posted for so long. No, I haven't closed it - I just haven't found any more embroidered peacocks! Until last week, and I found this little cushion cover at Savers Thrift Store. I think it should have cost $2.99, but there was no price tag, and the girl at the register was in a rush because there was a queue behind me, so she just glanced at it and said "Oh, fifty cents".
Thank you, darling!