Vintage Needlework

Wisdom has it that one pieces together quilt tops during the summer (quilt tops are cool) and quilts all winter (quilts are hot).

My schedule doesn't permit that, so I've been quilting up a summer storm over the past week, using embroidery floss instead of quilting thread, allowing my normally tiny stitches to stretch and be seen.
  

It's a Chaucerian virtue of necessity (time! eyesight!), but also rather pretty, I hope.

Speaking of time, let's travel back to the British arts and crafts movement for these snippets of glorious needlework from Meg Andrews' collection.