Weekend before last, I was at my sister's house and she pulled out this magazine her husband was reading during a doctor or dentist visit somewhere. Back in early December when my lace group demonstrated at Dickens of a Christmas, we demoed from The Brew Pub and a friend and I ate lunch there afterwards. While we waited for our food, a woman approached us and somehow in the conversation we acknowledged working at Purdue University. She asked if we would put out some copies of their free magazine, Helen. We agreed and I took a bunch to work. I've seen copies here and there on campus at different places and often picked them up if I had time and read a few articles. It just happened that I had picked up this very same issue at the library from the "freebie" magazine rack but had not read it yet. My brother-in-law had noticed an article that mentioned tatting so they brought the magazine home to show me! I couldn't believe the beautiful tatting inside - and from someone LOCAL! So I contacted a staff member at Helen Magazine and asked for permission to post about it here.

I received permission yesterday and also got an email from Charlotte Parker late last night. I had asked for a close up photo and hopefully, will be able to show them here either before I publish or in the next few entries. For some reason, the pics she sent were rejected and I've asked her to try again.

I had a couple of surprises in the mail last night! One is this fabric postcard from Bonnie Peters. I've heard about fabric postcards and seen them online but I've never seen one in person or received one. It's really unique and what a fitting message! I have it on my bulletin board at work now. I was going to post the side with the message but it shows both mine and Bonnie's addresses so it seemed better not to. I could crop it but then you don't get the full effect of the "postcard" persona. Here's a tutorial from Red Shoe Ramblings! (I like her inclusion of a bottle of wine and chocolate in the supply list.)

If I'd known I was going to spend all evening searching for "teenage" photos of my son who is engaged and putting together a slide show for their reception, I probably would not have stopped at Trader Buck's Flea Market on the way home. He only needed a few photos, but which few? As I got into the photos from a trip to Ireland ( a post on that coming soon!) I got sidetracked and what should have taken a little over an hour turned into three by the time I gathered up all the photos, scanned and sent them to him. As a result, I didn't have time to photograph my other mail surprise - my Summer Re-Gift Swap package from Kelly in NJ. I'll post about that tomorrow.

I've only been to this indoor flea market once before and that was a year or two ago. I don't know what prompted me to stop but I did. Early on I found a piece of unusual crochet that I really wanted but it was $12.95 and I didn't have much cash with me and payday is not til Monday so I passed it up with hope that it will still be there next week. I ended up spending that much anyway but I got 8 or 9 things for the same amount of money. I love cobalt blue glass. I also love ruby red glass and the peach colored glassware but blue is a little harder to find. There were a few pieces in scattered booths but I really liked this pitcher and it was only $3.00.

BEFORE I found the pitcher, however, I found this hanky with the tatted edging! I had not intended to buy anything - that was why I passed up the crocheted doily, but this was only $1.00. So I picked it up...and then I saw the pitcher....so why not? I had $5.00 cash. LOL! Famous last words. I haven't figured out what the pattern is. It sort of looks like hen and chicks but I think it could also be two rows of tatting. I'll look at it closer tonight.

I'm not going to show everything I got here - other pieces will be on my thrift store blog, Whatta Lucky Find, but I will show the linens and lace here. This is a table runner with beautiful hand embroidery. Some embroidery is machine-done and I seldom buy those but this is clearly hand embroidered. You can see the tiny knots in the back.

I also loved the crocheted butterflies. They are so unusual, both the big one at each end and the smaller ones attached only at the body with embroidered antennae. There are a couple of very small spots that I'm going to try to get out but overall, the piece is in excellent condition. I think I paid $3.50 for this one.

Well, I'm anxious to get this posted. If there are more photos of the bridal tatting, I'll show them in the next entry.