Down the Garden Path

I found this small vintage tablecloth at a church rummage sale. The price tag: $3.00. Made of soft linen, each corner is hand-embroidered with a lovely garden scene. Three of the corners are show the same garden, the fourth has a larger scene, as pictured in the middle image.

I love the hollyhocks, the bird bath, the three wee birds pecking at something on the ground. I wonder who chose these colours from their embroidery silks, threaded their needle and pulled the thread back and forth through the design, knotting it and trimming each end? Was this one of many projects they completed or the only one? It is a sweet innocent design, the perfect cloth for a tea party for two in a summer garden.