Embroidery Canvas for TreasureFinds and "Írásos" Enbroidery for NeedleworkMonday

This is a combined post for two challenges. I know it's not ideal, don't do this usually but now it's a must as the subject is the same ad doing two post about the same thing would be spamming.

So this is my entry to TreasureFinds hosted by @riverflows and also for NeedleWorkMonday hosted by @needleworkmonday.

First I'm going to tell you about how I got these treasures, then about the history of this embroidery and how it's done.

Embroidery Canvas for #TreasureFinds

I grew up watching my paternal grandmother using this technique to embroider tablecloths, pillowcases, wall hangings and other rustic home decors. She had a room full of these embroideries and with ceramics. It was her passion, her relaxation, she loved it. After she passed away, there were a couple unfinished pieces left and I thought it would be great to finish what she had started and practice as well. After that I thought I would buy a few canvases and do some more but that never happened as when I saw the prices, left without buying any.

Don't get me wrong, I had the money, that wasn't the problem but having so many tablecloths inherited already, I saw no point in investing in something I would probably never use as I have too many already. Then one day I was checking a local "Selling - Buying" group on a social media platform and saw these beauties.

A tablecloth, maybe for an oval coffee table.

A close-up photo for you to see the pattern.

A decorative pillow case, one of my favorites because of the rich floral pattern.

How can you not love this?

Another tablecloth for a coffee table with floral pattern.

This one is for a normal size table with a different embroidery type that is called "Írásos". This is the one my grandmother loved so much.

The story behind these canvases is quite interesting. As I said above, I knew exactly how much these worth as I saw it with my own eyes. Then when I saw the offer on that social media platform, I thought it would be expensive but since I had nothing to lose, asked the seller and to my surprise, she said a price that left me speechless. She said 5 Ron (Romanian currency), which is around $1.2. Now let me tell you how much one normal size like the last tablecloth cost at the store. It's around 100 Ron, $23.5.

The first three patterns are unknown to me, I don't know what embroidery technique is needed there, or yarn type, but could not let it slip out of my hands. I'm planning to go to the next craft market and ask the artists for some help, maybe I can find someone who knows what and how and can help. I tried to research online but came up empty handed. The last one is my kind of embroidery, but I'm going to talk about that in the second part of my post.

You are probably wondering why were these so cheap. I was wondering too. The woman said her grandmother had passed away and they have no idea what these are for and therefore she was selling them to make some money out of them. It was a bittersweet moment as I knew someone once paid a lot of money to get them but on the other hand was happy to get them so cheap.

"Írásos" for #NeedleworkMonday

This one is for #needleworkmonday as this is the one I started working on. A couple of months ago I promised @crosheille I would show her this embroidery.

The official name of the embroidery is Kalotaszegi varrottas, which means embroidery from Kalotaszeg. Kalotaszeg is a region in Transylvania, Romania with a significant Hungarian population. It's also called Írásos, which means written and the name comes from the process, as the canvas is designed first, then embroidered. At the beginning women were drawing the patterns by hand as there was no industry, machines etc, everything was done by hand. The canvas used is made of hemp, therefore it's not white but light cream or a bit darker.

First it was used to decorate shirts people went to church with on special occasions like confirmation, when the congregation welcomes the new members. The colors used were exclusively red, blue or black and only one color on one shirt, never mixed colors. After the WW2 these shirts were not made and used any more, the embroidery was used in table cloths, wall hangings, decorative pillow cases, bed covers, decorative bags etc.

The motifs include motifs from nature like roses, tulips, ferns, acorns, trees, lily of the valley, as well as object like basket with flowers, and animals, birds, snakes and butterflies most of the times.

It's not the most precise work but I'm still learning and would need to practice more.

I don't know when it's going to be ready, if ever, so I'm going to show you one made by my grandmother to see a finished one.

And now a message to @crosheille. Please don't consider this post as a real entry as I know it doesn't qualify. This is my first post and maybe the last for awhile. I haven't been active and can't promise to be in the near future as I'm involved in other projects and don't have the necessary time. However I wanted to do this post as I've promised you once I would post about this embroidery technique, so here I am.